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<DIV><FONT size=3><STRONG><EM> Hey David</EM></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3><STRONG><EM> Good and practical Advice. Sampling
is smart in these cases.Thanks for the encouragement on trying the Abels.
This Grotrian 9 ft.really responded well to what was definitely a very hammer
specific application & it saved me a lot of work & created the right
sound for this piano.</EM></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3><STRONG><EM> It's original hammers were
Renners of some kind & though worn out some of them were voiced well
nearing optimal tone for the intrument in the killer octaves.
So... With a no. 6 needle a quick acupuncture test determined what
kind of hammer stiffness this board was responding to & was
asking for & this guided my decision to use the Abel performance
hammers by piano tech. I hung on samples of Renner blues & the
Abels. It was Abels hands down in this
case.</EM></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><EM><FONT size=3> </FONT></EM></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3><STRONG><EM> BTW Barabara...This is not the usual Abel
provided by Brooks LTD. It is a massively heavy & wide hammer as were
the original equipment. The shape was all sucker shaped & wrong &
it was necessary to grind off much unneeded felt to get a nicely serpentine
shape, which dropped a lot of overall weight. With proper shaping,installation
& strike points the piano sounded all most optimal from note 1 to note 53
right after being installed & with only a very very thin bit of juice
in the bass to give it more presence,focus & growl. Across the bass
break I applied about three or four drops of the same thin solution on the
strike point of the first octave or so to pick up a little shine on the
sound.(break in fluid)</EM></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3><STRONG><EM> The only needling required so
far was from notes 54 thru approx 70. These hammers are stiff but they
worked well with this board and scale. I will follow it up in it's home
environment & dial it in a bit more but I don't anticapte much more is
needed.</EM></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><EM><FONT size=3> Dale Erwin</FONT></EM></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>it.
<BR>><BR>>I think you can draw the conclusion that generally speaking
the lower the<BR>>tension and lighter (or less stiff) the board the softer
the hammer that is<BR>>required. One problem is that not all scales
match the boards they are on.<BR>>You see low tension scales on a
relatively stiff boards, high tension scales<BR>>on loose boards and all
kinds of combinations both by design and because of<BR>>changes in the s/b
assembly over time. <STRONG><U> In those cases it's not clear to
me<BR>>what the best hammer will be as soundboard response will vary and
in<BR>>different ways. In those cases, sampling will have a better
chance of<BR>>steering you in the right direction.
<BR></U></STRONG>><BR>>David
Love<BR>>davidlovepianos@comcast.net<BR>>www.davidlovepianos.com<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
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