<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.5730.11" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 2/2/2007 6:59:57 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, Bruce.Stevens@verizon.net writes:</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>Hi David, <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>What you said about "a certain kinesthetic pop" does make sense.  When it comes to selecting hammers that produce a certain tone for a particular customer, we come up against some challenges.  This set of hammers I used on the Yamaha were from a recent order from Ronsen....I think it was better than in the past.  In the past, I have found the some of the sets with Bacon felt were a bit soft and did in fact require some juice (even though I gave the hammers a hard shaping to remove some of the soft, squishy felt and to establish the "Steinway" shape.... I actually think there is something to this Steinway shape).  </DIV> <DIV>In my working with Ray, I have asked him to prepare my hammers with a Steinway style look in the raw.  </DIV> <DIV>Dale pointed me to the Wurtzen felt that Ray was using a couple of years ago and I have a number of sets on the shelf.  I think they are a bit too hard for certain situations and asked Ray in Rochester is he had anything with a density between the Bacon felt and the Wurtzen felt.  2 months ago, he emailed me and said he found some.  I placed an order for 4 sets and found that they were in fact a bit less dense.  I like what I see and hear. </DIV> <DIV>Now I feel that I have some options when it comes to changing hammers.  </DIV> <DIV>I have a Hamburg B that I did a quick hammer change and installed a set of Bacon felt hammers so that Chris Robinson could use the piano his voicing class last year in Burbank.  These hammers were soft... Beautiful tone... But, too soft.  I didn't get that "certain kinesthetic pop".  I let my children practice on the piano and I would occasionally play it as well.  I think we enjoyed the tone but we all felt it lacked something (the pop).  I could have juiced the felt and improved the situation but I discovered that the piano had a radical and varying string height and I had bored the hammers incorrectly.  I had no choice but to change them again.</DIV> <DIV>Before my wife Rachel and I hosted the South Bay Chapter December meeting, I felt I needed to make a change in the tone of the piano and I installed the newer Wurtzen hammers from Ray.  The transformation was spectacular.  The "pop" returned but it was not too bright.  </DIV> <DIV>In another situation where I was going to restore a Steinway M for a customer, I had this individual play the Hamburg B with the Wurtzen felt and a Steinway M I had just finished on which I installed the Bacon felt.  This customer choose the Bacon.  I completed this piano 6 weeks ago and he is thrilled with the result.</DIV> <DIV>In another situation, I have a customer who preparing to have his Steinway B restored and he has asked to see various pianos that I have restored.  He has played my Hamburg B as well as the recent M that I finished.... He liked the B vs. the M.</DIV> <DIV>I don't mean to drone on and on but you made such a great point about the "certain kinesthetic pop" and I wanted to share some of my experiences.</DIV> <DIV>I found Mark Potters post very interesting.  Steve Schell has had a similar experience with the Steinway D of the Long Beach Symphony.  He felt it projected into the hall and the recording engineer loved it.  The problem was that the artists didn't get the "pop" and eventually, he had to harden the hammers.  He should detail his experience some time to those that are interested.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>I look forward to seeing you and the gang in San Francisco.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>Sincerely,</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>Bruce Stevens</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV><BR> <DIV> <DIV>On Feb 1, 2007, at 3:36 PM, <A title=mailto:Erwinspiano@aol.com href="mailto:Erwinspiano@aol.com">Erwinspiano@aol.com</A> wrote:</DIV><BR class=Apple-interchange-newline> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 2/1/2007 10:49:40 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,<FONT size=5> <A title=mailto:david@davidandersenpianos.com href="mailto:david@davidandersenpianos.com">david@davidandersenpianos.com</A></FONT> writes:</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> <DIV><BR class=Apple-interchange-newline> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 16px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; orphans: 2; widows: 2"> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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.</SPAN> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The only thing I have done to the felt is to give the hammers a hard shaping and the tone is spectacular.  </SPAN></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Regards,</SPAN></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Bruce Stevens</SPAN></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV> <DIV>Wow. Coming from you, Bruce, that's high praise.  My partner, Steve Bellieu, heard and played a Steinway "B" you had remanufactured/rebuilt and said it was among the best he'd ever put his hands on. If you know Steve, you know that's almost unheard-of praise from him. We will try a set of the Ronsen Bacon in our next project, a 1948 American "B".....</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>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.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>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. The balance between clarity and force of attack and throaty, golden singing tone is a constant challenge in recording and performance. Preparing and voicing a piano for intimate, near-field recording AND great sound in the house is a big challenge for me, and 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.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>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.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>Best,</DIV> <DIV>David Andersen </DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 37px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: -37px"><B></B><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 37px; TEXT-INDENT: -37px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica; COLOR: #000000" face=Helvetica color=#000000 size=3><B>From: </B></FONT><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>David Andersen <<A title=mailto:david@davidandersenpianos.com href="mailto:david@davidandersenpianos.com">david@davidandersenpianos.com</A>></FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 34px; TEXT-INDENT: -34px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica; COLOR: #000000" face=Helvetica color=#000000 size=3><B>Date: </B></FONT><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>February 1, 2007 10:48:39 AM PST</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 21px; TEXT-INDENT: -21px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica; COLOR: #000000" face=Helvetica color=#000000 size=3><B>To: </B></FONT><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>Pianotech List <<A title=mailto:pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>></FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 50px; TEXT-INDENT: -50px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica; COLOR: #000000" face=Helvetica color=#000000 size=3><B>Subject: </B></FONT><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3><B>Re: Ronsen Bacon felt</B></FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 58px; TEXT-INDENT: -58px"><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica; COLOR: #000000" face=Helvetica color=#000000 size=3><B>Reply-To: </B></FONT><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face=Helvetica size=3>Pianotech List <<A title=mailto:pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>></FONT></DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV> <DIV><BR class=Apple-interchange-newline> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 16px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; orphans: 2; widows: 2"> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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.</SPAN> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The only thing I have done to the felt is to give the hammers a hard shaping and the tone is spectacular.  </SPAN></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Regards,</SPAN></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Bruce Stevens</SPAN></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV> <DIV>Wow. Coming from you, Bruce, that's high praise.  My partner, Steve Bellieu, heard and played a Steinway "B" you had remanufactured/rebuilt and said it was among the best he'd ever put his hands on. If you know Steve, you know that's almost unheard-of praise from him. We will try a set of the Ronsen Bacon in our next project, a 1948 American "B".....</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>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.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>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. The balance between clarity and force of attack and throaty, golden singing tone is a constant challenge in recording and performance. Preparing and voicing a piano for intimate, near-field recording AND great sound in the house is a big challenge for me, and 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.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>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.</DIV> <DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV> <DIV>Best,</DIV> <DIV>David Andersen </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>