---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment On 20-feb-04, at 20:13, Richard Brekne wrote: > antares wrote: > >> Ricardo, >> You know my answer loud and clear. >> (; > > I sure do... and that weighs very heavily in my mind. Still... its a=20= > NY bird and there is always this issue about what things were meant to=20= > be vs what someone else thinks they <<could>> be. So let me tell you this : Just two days ago I made an appraisal for a customer who owns a fifties=20= (1958) NY Steinway S. It was an interesting experience. I noticed the following : The hammers were very crude and totally worn=20= out, the sound was harsh and had nothing to do with the Steinways we=20 know from Hamburg. The keys were made of a cheap looking wood, like cigar box wood, and=20 the holes in the balance rail were huge. Just 1 Month ago, we repaired a similar NY Steinway O. The keys were of=20= the same soft wood and the bushing holes were so wide that we had to=20 use an extremely thick cloth to make new bushings. The dampers were totally different looking. In the treble they were all=20= flat dampers and very hard, and it had no trichords at all. It looked and sounded like an instrument that could be improved a great=20= deal with new strings, new and better dampers, new bushings, and new=20 hammers. Let me say this again : The best hammer felt ever made was the so=20 called Weickert felt, produced around the end of 1800 and the early=20 1900's. Before the Commies got in, the name changed and from then on it was=20 called Wurzen, after the place where it was fabricated (just North of=20 Leipzig in eastern Germany). This felt was sold all over the world and it had certain very refined=20 qualities. What were those refined qualities? It had an extremely remarkable=20 resilience, needed very little voicing, and, in the history of felt=20 making there never before had been a better quality. This felt was widely used by all the famous piano makers and hammer=20 makers. Name any well know maker in old Europe, they used Weickert=20 felt. Because of eastern Germany becoming a satellite state of the Soviet=20 Union, the factory no longer produced the finest piano felt ever, but=20 instead was used for purely industrial felt and it was the end of a=20 truly wonderful product, and the beginning of carton-like and harsh=20 sounding piano hammers. After the reunion of the two Germanies, a family member of the former=20 Wurzen factory owner came back and was able to regain his heritage thru=20= the so called 'Treuhand', a special law which made it possible to buy=20 or regain lost properties. This was at the end of the 1980's and it is now more than 10 years=20 later and I can tell you that the Wurzen factory now again makes the=20 very same high quality felt for piano hammers. I have used Wurzen felt since the early 1990's and I have heard and=20 seen the developments. In my personal opinion as a voicing technician, this felt is far=20 superior over any other felt in the World (I have used them all). That is the main reason why I have written so many e-mails about it and=20= why I have urged my colleagues to wake up and try it. The Renner factory uses about 90 % Wurzen felt and the quality hammers=20= it makes for the European market are the very best. We design our own hammers and we discuss the whole process with Renner,=20= resulting in the finest hammers available. No more cardboard felt, no more endless voicing with sometimes 100 jabs=20= (or more) with three needles on both sides. No hammer dopes, nor steaming. The resilience is fantastic and the outcome is predictable, thanks to a=20= very refined technique and a superb brand new felting press, designed=20 and used by Renner. This felting press makes it possible to make a superbly controlled=20 product and is the final answer for refinement. We (grand Piano) have used these new hammers and we have never before=20 had such a fine result. It makes it very clear that hammers are the crown jewels of any=20 instrument. They make or break a tone, provided the voicing tech knows=20= his job. We also have used Wurzen since the early 1990's and it is remarkable=20 how well this hammer felt holds. The latest and finest quality Wurzen felt is the continuation of a=20 superb process, started more than a hundred years ago. > The owner will end up making the final call... I just want to be able=20= > to influence her.... fairly. :) Maybe this little story will help you. )(; >)) friendly greetings from Andr=E9 Oorebeek Amsterdam - The Netherlands 0031-20-6237357 0645-492389 0031-75-6226878 www.concertpianoservice.nl www.grandpiano.nl ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4640 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/23/9c/f3/fc/attachment.bin ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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