<!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 6.00.6000.16414" 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><STRONG><EM>  Hi Geoff.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>   Good response to your associate by the way. </EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>   There is so much Myth about hammer construction it sometimes boggles my mind. The colored under felt as Bill points out is just a way to designate hammers or make them ....pretty.  It isn't a harder or softer felt just colored & <U><FONT size=3>separate.</FONT></U>  The other coloring is or was at one time a stiffner or a moth proofing agent. In formerly colored area & in Less stiff/hard  hammers I routinely add 3 or 4 to 1 lacquer solutions in  acetone to beef that area up & give the felt higher up, a foundation to push against, instead of absorbing enrgy.  Sort of like the foundation of a house.  This way it actually contributes something Instead of being just dead weight along for the ride.  </EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  BTW adding under felt actually diminishes resilience because the top felt is bent & compressed less completely around the molding.  Hammer without it</EM>  <FONT size=3><U>are not</U></FONT> <EM>inferior or cheaper necessarily, but it is an extra step to include the felt & a bit more fussy in the pressing operation.  IE. the U.felt sometime wants to slide around under pressure. The under felt is more of a device to resist the Molding cutting in to the top felt.  Nothing lost particularly if a bit of cutting in the under felt happens.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM> Remember we don not want maximum resilience in a hammer as the advertisements for various makers would have you believe. We need limited resilience.  This is our medium in which we can work,voice & create tone. On an imaginary felt/hammer/ stiffness scale of 1 to 10 , hammers in the 4 to 8 range are desirable & the extremes are not.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  As to layers the felt sheet is a homogeneous mass and we put way to much thought into layering as a concept.JMO. I shape hammers & cut thru the proverbial layers all the time on every set & it is not detrimental to the tone but an enhancement.  WHen the strike point is well defined I also experience a more defined & clear tone.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>   However,There is a tufting of the felt as we file & we all experience this but the fibers can usually be cleaned up & fiber be made to behave & lay down by sanding with finer & finer grades of paper. I usually end up at 4 to 6 hundred grit. </EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>   The idea that cutting thru layers some how diminishes the tension & compression aspect or component of the hammers construction just doesn't bear itself out in day to day practice & is verifiable by certain experiments inflicted in the hammer. Ie. sanding  a hammer into any or odd shapes or making fairly deep razor cuts directly into the shoulder & then listening to the sound before & after the cut.  You all suspected I was a twisted sort now it's confirmed.  But this is the way we learn stuff.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Cheers Geoff</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Dale</EM></STRONG></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>This afternoon, after store hours, I asked a salesman at the store I work at one day a week about the way he describes hammer construction and performance to his customers. Basically he is telling customers that the colored section next to the wood is a second layer that makes the hammer harder, (or whatever), and that the multiple layered hammers perform better, last longer and are subsequently more expensive and therefore only found on pianos that cost a little more. Single layer hammers, (solid white), on the other hand, are softer, don't perform as well and wear out quicker.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>I shared with him that I seem to remember "learning" somewhere that the colored section was, functionally, simply that. A colored section. That the coloring of that section was used to identify hammers made to certain specifications and/or for certain buyers. Also, that hammers with that colored layer were only found in pianos whose manufacturers went to the trouble to actually define those characteristics to the hammer manufacturer. </SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>The fact that the colored layer hammers are only found in the slightly more expensive better made pianos is a given. As is the fact that the colored layer also usually indicates a higher quality hammer. My conversation with this salesman was not an argument. I was just curious and was hoping to learn something. But at the end of our conversation we both had the same questions:</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>: </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>Is that colored section actually a second layer? (We could not tell by feeling it.)</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>: Is that colored section, or second layer, actually functionally different than the rest of the hammer? </SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>: In other words, does it actually do more than merely act as an identifier for the characteristics of that hammer?</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>The way he describes hammers to the customer probably doesn't require change. Simplifying things for the average customer is not necessarily a bad thing. We just want to know for ourselves. </SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>-- Geoff Sykes</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=265220904-17032007>-- Assoc. Los Angeles</SPAN></FONT></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Book Antiqua" size=2 FAMILY="SERIF" PTSIZE="10"><B><I></I>Dale Erwin--Piano Restorations<BR>4721 Parker rd<BR>Modesto, Ca. 95357<BR>Shop 209-577-8397<BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Abadi MT Condensed" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Abadi MT Condensed" color=#000000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12">Web site <A href="http://www.erwinspiano.com/">http://www.Erwinspiano.com</A></FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Abadi MT Condensed" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"> </FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Book Antiqua" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SERIF" PTSIZE="10"><I><BR>Restoration & Sales of<BR>Steinway & Sons & other fine pianos.<BR>" Soundboards by Design"</I><BR></B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">AOL now offers free email to everyone. 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