A trip to Ronsen Hammer

[Erwinspiano at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/26/2007 9:42:04 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  Erwinspiano 
writes:

 Still recovering from MARC the Jet lag and trying to  get back in the saddle 
but I finally was able to spend time with Ray Negron at  the Ronsen Piano 
hammah plant in Lovely serene Boiceville in up state New  York.
  My Dad & I started enjoying the & using Ronsen  hammers in the early 70's 
on mostly uprights. 
    The business Rays father began is now  firmly handled by Ray & his 
brother Bob. The product is getting rave  reviews as any on the list  must know by 
now.
  On Rays business card it says "Custom Made  Hammers."  Gotta love that.
  They do not make shelf stock.  Everything is custom made to order as it 
comes in and Custom made  means very intensive hand crafting & the intuitive kind 
of craftsmanship  that only comes with years of putting your own hands on the 
felt,  the product & the hammer press. I had the privilege to have a little  
hands on & I can tell you ....it taint' as easy as Ray makes it look.  
I've probably used a least a hundred sets of his  hammers in the last 12 
years & have marveled at the consistency of each  set of hammers.  Now that I see 
the way its' done & the hand work  that goes into each set I understand why.  
Like many of you, Ray is a  very fussy a dedicated craftsman. He wants every 
set to be the best he can  produce.
  We pressed up a few sets of hammers while there &  it was fascinating to 
see the different qualities of felt in each stage of  manufacture. Making 
hammers is an art form that requires the tactile sense of  feeling pressure of felt 
sheets,cutting,sanding,slicing & most of all the  pressing.
  Here's the cool thing. Because felt sheets from  various makers are all 
slightly different densities as consistencies it  absolutely critical that the 
man running the press has the feel of how tight  to turn the press to allow 
adequate compression & tension to exists in  each set. Yes, this is a mechanical 
press as you'll see below. & each  of the 5 or 6 screws on top is turned to 
particular feel in Rays hands.   I learned that I do not have the magic touch at 
this point so keep ordering  from Ray!! 
  I also can extrapolate that if the press screws that  apply the downward 
force were attached to hydraulic cylinders that  the hand feel on the press 
wrench that adapts to the variable  stiffness requirement of felt sheets, the 
consistency would change &  possibly disappear.
  The side cauls also require this kind of feel, a feel  that also varies 
with what the stiffness of the felt is telling him.   Hmmm ....bio feed back. 
Cool.
   Any way we had fun & I was duly  impressed. So for now I'll stick with 
boards &  actions,
   Ray can make the Hammers.
    I can honestly say this is a very unique  hammer unlike any made anywhere 
else.

  Dale Erwin

 



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