David, Mah Brother Comments below Dale gets my full agreement on his use of the Ronsen hammer with Bacon felt. I just completed a change of hammers on a Yamaha S-400B using the Bacon felt and I believe it is one of the most beautiful sounding instruments I have ever heard. I would welcome any of my colleagues to hear this piano. The only thing I have done to the felt is to give the hammers a hard shaping and the tone is spectacular. Bruce Stevens My only question with "soft" hammers is that my artist clients seem to need a certain kinesthetic "pop" when the note is struck to feel comfortable that the piano is projecting properly, and sometimes mellow, dark, more fundamental-sounding pianos, pianos set up and voiced in a "softer" mode, do not give that "pop" that makes the player feel good. If the hammers are truly soft or soggy then problems occur. These Bacon felted hammers are firm without being hard as are vintage Steinway un juiced Steinway hammers. They are firm when a single needle is plunge deep & it doesn't just pop out but the felt gives it up grudgingly. Love that! I understand your dilemma full well & we/you must be able to take the hammer to the point it needs to be to give that sense your boys/girls require. Getting it there is done by the artistry of beautiful hammer shaping & string mating, ironing & dilute juicing protocols when required instead of endless needling. Also to taste something different requires trying it a few times. Many musicians are so brainwashed /ear washed that it takes a bit for them to go, wow ,this is really good,sweet...yes powerful,clear,etc. The tone gets to develop. What a ride. Also as the hammer seats & packs to the string, the top harmonics/partials fill out & sustain increases the more. Developing tone requires some patience & play in time. This is easy. Taking a hammer that's too hard & getting it to fill out on the bottom fundamental by excessive needling is the hard part. Did my Steinway D give that Pop? Did any artist complain or comment? Hmmm. Wait till you hear My Long A with Steinway felt hamahs Does that make any sense? It's something I work with all the time in preparing pianos for recording----I want the piano to sound clear at every volume, and brilliant, even piercing at high volume, because I know the artist needs to hear/feel a certain "attack sense" through his/her fingers to feel right. Different hammers for different folks & ears I'm looking for soft high-compression hammers, I guess. I wish Renner could give me a truly soft set of their best Wurzen hammers....Baldassin and I have talked about this a lot. Try the Ronsen Wurzen. I wouldn't describe them as soft...only slightly less dense but easy to get needles in when required. I'll have a CD of some tracks from the last two Atelier concerts for all you lucky dudes and dudettes who are coming to the California State PTG Conference in San Francisco next week. You'll give me your feedback, and we'll yap yap yap about hammers and voicing and recording and whatever. Looking forward to this Dave & the B with the Bacon felt will be there for all to hear. & we will voice some notes on it in class. SOund Good? Dale Best, David Andersen = -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070201/d797cbe4/attachment.html
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