---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Good post Joe I share much of your work logic when it come to hammers . I will concede that there are some very good hammers being made by Renner for Andre & Co. that will do essentially what Ronsen Wurzens do with out years of needling or the customary voicing instability that charachterizes so many hard & usually never voiced properly brands of hammers. There are many fine techs who prefer this style of tone building & those that do it well ,I salute you. I have yet to personally encounter this type Euro Wurzen but under the right circumstance I would . Probably a concert situation but for now I'm getting everything I ever wanted in the tone dept. with very little manual labor. I think I'm getting Lazy....... make that spoiled As to playing in I'm not sure work hardening is the appropriate terminology to what is actually happening. I consider the crown packing phenomenon a very important tonal component Further observations are that Medium density hammers such as Ronsen , Isaac or perhaps Euro Wurzens & others , squash down & take a set. Compression set , if you will , & internal friction is somewhat rearranged. I've seen some pretty goofy looking shapes of hammers that sounded good in spite of it. Just my take Dale Erwin As I have been using hammers from Ronsen for over 30 years, I pretty much know what to expect. The last few notes in the treble were weak. I expected that. Ray presses the hammers as hard as he can, in that area, w/o busting up/distorting the moulding. This is a GOOD thing, as it allows the tech to bring the hammers up to an acceptable brilliance, rather than other hammers that are too bright at the onset and get absolutely crappy with a little playing. I hate voicing, i.e. sticking needles, consequently, the less of that I can do and still achieve a good overall tone, the better!!! Now that the piano has been played, (heavily), by some of my pianistic friends,<G>, the tone is really coming into it's own. All of this w/o sticking needles into the felt and destroying the interlock of the fiber(s)! To me that is what it's all about: With a good scale, good board/bridge, good action and attention to detail. Needles are the LAST thing I want to do or need, in most cases But, I digress from the initial "hypothesis" of "work hardening hammers". I believe the hammer MUST be played in, in order to achieve it's maximum potential. How long this takes, depends on the hammer and the piano AND it's amount of use. This "playing in" can be sped up with my "Pounder", but this alone will not do the whole job. If anyone were to ask me what hammer I would recommend for the maximum tone production, for a given piano, I would say only one word: WURZEN! The cost is so very much the same, from one set to the other, that there is no contest....Buy the best! Joe Garrett, R.P.T. Captain, Tool Police Squares R I Erwins Pianos Restorations 4721 Parker Rd. Modesto, Ca 95357 209-577-8397 Rebuilt Steinway , Mason &Hamlin Sales www.Erwinspiano.com ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/62/32/10/d2/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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