The next step down in terms of hardness will be to Ronsen (there's not much in between). Three choices: Bacon felt, Wurzen felt Weickert felt. Sampling is best if you can. Bacon will be the softest and expect to have to harden them slightly. Wurzen and Weickert are firmer felts and may not require hardening though it wouldn't be unusual to have to harden somewhat in the top end. Pop off a couple of hammers at the ends of the sections and weigh them and give that info to Ray to set up a target weight when he makes them so he can choose the appropriate sheet weight and molding type. I routinely use these hammers in situations such as you describe with good results. Some voicing is always required to tweak the set and get the balance and level you want but you won't be putting 30 stitches in the shoulders of each hammer or have problems with voicing stability that harder hammers can present. The Bacon felt will require one light application of a hardening solution through the entire set and maybe a slightly stronger application starting about G5 to the top with the top half dozen notes possibly needing possibly another application. Unless it's obvious that the hammers need more hardening be sure to let lacquer cure for at least a couple of weeks before additional applications as lacquer will continue to harden over time. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Denis Kelly Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 11:16 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Hammers for small vintage Baldwin Grands I have two Baldwin grands in the shop for rebuilding. As to hammers, I'm looking for a somewhat mellow sound. Previously I've used Brooks Encore hammers by Abel, but they were too bright. Ideally the hammers should be similar in weight to the originals, and not need a lot of voicing. Any suggestions? Thanks, Denis Kelly -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100402/b9c48b39/attachment.htm>
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