A trip to Ronsen Hammer

[Greg Newell]

Dale,
         Thanks very much for the pictures and 
the story. Both you and Ray are a great credit to this industry!

Greg Newell





At 11:05 PM 4/27/2007, you wrote:
>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
>
>
>
>
>
>----------
>See what's free at <http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503>AOL.com.
>

Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
www.gregspianoforte.com
216-226-3791 (office)
216-470-8634 (mobile)

2003,04,05 & 06 winners of
Angie's List Super Service Award
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