I have placed two sets of new hammers into service in the last week. One was a set of Steinway hammers and one was my first set of Encore natural felt hammers from Brooks. Very different sounds, both very fine. They are side by side in one studio. The Encore hammers were brighter than I was expecting but are very pleasing to the prof. The Steinway hammers are darker by comparison and were easy to prepare; I just added a bit of lacquer in the top 2 and a half octaves. I have never hung a set of Renners, but the one time in a concert situation I was asked to "Please do something about the brash sound of this piano," I and the pianist were both very pleased at the way the Renners responded to needling. In recent years I have hung 2 sets of Ronsen Bacon felt, both now serving well, and I think about 3 sets of Ronsen Wurzens, all currently serving well. I've lost count of the recent sets of Steinway hammers I have hung. I have finally become accustomed to Steinway hammers being pre-lacquered so Steinway will probably change to some other configuration shortly. For now, I think the pre-lacquered Steinway hammers are just fine. I don't currently have a favorite hammer. There are lots of good choices to be had now. Enjoy it. Do not take the current situation for granted. It is an absolutely wonderful time to be a piano tech, thanks to all the great suppliers we have. Gratefully, Kent Swafford On Feb 14, 2009, at 3:14 PM, Nick Gravagne wrote: > Hi Dale, > > Pursuant to my phone calls to you and these recent posts, the > Weickert felts appear to be an excellent new choice; and I look > forward to using them ASAP. > > I have been wondering, however, where are those Renner Blue > advocates out there, of which there must be many. I know of several > Renner-only proponents (and first-rate technicians to boot), but I > do not think they subscribe to this list. I don’t wish to start a > mine-is-better-than-yours debate; but it seems that a professional > discussion of the relative experiences and anecdotal input on these > matters along with specific voicing techniques would be worthwhile. > Is a consensus of thought developing out there? > > Many experienced techs are loathe to use S&S hammers, either in the > past or present, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is > they feel they cannot get the bite they are looking for. They opt > for Renner or other or even Hamburg Steinway as they prefer to work > the hammer down rather than up. Other fine techs take the opposite > view by only using S&S as they feel they can’t get the warmth or > stability they are looking for. You and others have explained quite > well the merits of the new Weickerts and I am very appreciative of > that. > > I don’t know if this post will catch on, and I doubt that any of us > out here would be interested in a free for all; that is why my idea > is to consider the opinions of experienced techs when it comes time > to choose hammers for performance venue instruments such as Bs and > Ds. We all know that such pianos need to bite as well as carry, and > that most performers are going to voice frustration if this isn’t > the case. > > Having said this, I think it reasonable to assume the standard > axioms such as: It all depends on the needs of the performer; Let > the piano tell you what it needs; We don’t all have the same sense > of tone; you_fill_in_the_blanks. > > I would hope for professional replies, though I am aware that in the > world of Lists and Groups many believe that a no-holds-barred > approach is the most democratic, informative and should be > considered the norm. > > At any rate, I am interested in such an airing, and I believe that > such discussions have gone on in the past. Should this idea become a > thread, the Subject line may need revising. > > Thanks again to you and Ray for all the R&D work and its value to > the trade. > > Respectfully, > > Nick Gravagne, RPT > Piano Technicians Guild > Member Society Manufacturing Engineers > Voice Mail 928-476-4143 > > From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] > On Behalf Of erwinspiano at aol.com > Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 10:47 PM > To: pianotech at ptg.org; oorebeek at planet.nl > Subject: [pianotech] Weickert special felt update > > Hi Andre and all > Ray & I are still learning & refining the Ronsen process with > this felt. Ray & I have received the latest iterations of this felt > & will have product & piano at the convention in Burbank > > Any way the good news is > > I sent out a 1971 Steinway D rebuild to Sunnyvale Ca. on Sat with > a set of Weickert special concert density (concert density...my > term) hammers that is tonally outside of the box. It was not a new > board, but, It was fantastic. It is very much like the first test > set I installed on the Kawai kg-3 last summer & was curious about > the density of those first hammer sets/sheets. It works very well > with Rays pressing method. > On the Sunnyvale D... the initial sound was slightly dark in the > bass & low tenor but absolutely huge. In My Opinion, For New York Ds > to sound like N.Y. Ds' they require a firm crown so I put about 4 to > 6 drops of very weak key top solution on the crown of the bass > hammers & one drop on each string cut from not 21 to note 35. That's > it. Nothing but the initial filing on notes 35 thru 88. Break in > solution if you will. It was so easy I felt guilty > > Yes, the hammers would have played in, but the time it takes to > do this is not always available for D's that are going right into in > concert situations. However, this is absolutely a great choice of > felt & an extremely versatile hammer for this application. > This Steinway D had more color than a box of color crayons. > Pure tonal power,Lush,gorgeous,clear,sustain,projection, definition. > I'm telling you, Wurzen is on the right track. > > This piano ( the D) was allegedly in the Custody of Van Cliburn at > one time. Probably one of many. You Know? The client is a virtuoso & > can really play. She was thrilled. Truly a fantastic sound.The > voicing protocol was so simple it should be a secret. Never laid a > needle in it except to test density. The really fussy work in my > practice is prepping the set for an extremely even hammer weight > curve and a beautifully shaped hammer. This is where the time is > spent when doing custom action balancing & concert level voicing but > the voicing time in this case was very little. Truly amazing! > This felt is so resilient & bounces off the string so willingly > that the voicing stability & longevity should be fantastic & simple > to maintain. The felt is very promising...understament! > > > Dale Erwin > > > > > mean? Find out now! > > Carnations mean admiration, Tulips mean love - what do Roses mean? > Find out now! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090214/93a57dd4/attachment-0001.html>
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