Ronsen Hammers

[Ray Negron]

Hi Gordon,

Our presses are one of the styles Dolge used, and are old, but I can't say
if they were actually his presses. We replaced the inner workings of the
machines some years ago. We do have a molder which we use for making our
hammer moldings that was from the Dolge factory.

Ray Negron

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
Behalf Of gordon stelter
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 2:45 PM
To: Pianotech
Subject: Re: Ronsen Hammers


Mr. Negron,
     I once heard that you use the actual, 19th
Century hammer presses from Alfred Dolge's factory in
Dolgeville, N.Y..
     Is this true ?
     Thump

P.S. On this trek I also found an extremely early
( 1895 ) Peerless coin piano, and a mint S&S Duo-Art (
"OR" ) in a  church sanctuary. Bought the Peerless for
$200, but the Duo-Art is probably still up there.


--- Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote:
>      Hi Ray
>    Thanks. Good post & thanks for the clear  mission
> statement & philosophy..
> Maybe next time you could give us your thoughts on
> tension & compression.
>   Dale
> Hello,
>
> Dale Erwin asked me to post information to this list
> in order to clarify some
> comments that have been made about our hammers in
> these tech discussions. So,
> for anyone who is interested, here is some
> information, and I will try to not
> make this a Ronsen commercial.
>
> We don't call our hammers "cold pressed" because we
> do use some heat to cure
> the glue. The heat stays on for 30 minutes, at which
> point it is turned off,
> and the set is left in the press for an additional 2
> hours & 30 minutes. So, I
> guess you could say we have "slow-pressed"
> hammers.We have experimented with
> heat, and true cold pressed hammers, and feel that
> our method gives the same
> result as a cold pressed hammer. We do pre- press
> now, but use no heat in that
> process. We also use hand presses, not hydraulic
> presses.
>
> We manufacture hammers this way because our goal is
> to make hammers similar
> to those produced in this country in the 1920's. In
> talking with technicians
> over the years, especially Willis Snyder,we have
> often heard about the beautiful
> sounding pianos produced in the 20's, and the
> properties of the hammers in
> those pianos. As the industry changed, and most of
> our business was for
> rebuilders instead of manufacturers, we decided to
> try to produce that type of hammer,
> which meant re-learning how to make hammers.
> Discussions with my father
> Marty, who was the foreman at Pfriemer Piano Hammer
> before starting Ronsen, got us
> going in this direction. We continue to make changes
> to improve the quality of
> our hammers, including, thanks to Andre Oorebeek and
> Serge Harel, the
> addition of Wurzen felt to our inventory. Other
> manufacturers have also worked to
> improve the quality of their hammers. Like you, we
> manufacturers also take pride
> in our work. We at Ronsen know that most technicians
> today prefer the harder
> hammers, but we are happy with our niche in the
> industry. If you have any
> questions or comments, I can be reached at
> ray@ronsen-hammer.com Thank you.
>
> Ray Negron
>





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