<!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 6.00.6000.16544" 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> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>  JD</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>  This is interesting feedback from the time yet look at the early Steinway NY hammers.  It was a very light hammer with seemingly fine felt.  It has an almost cashmere quality to it.  My guess is that the original Steinway sound was fairly dark/strong & mellow & brightened with felt compaction/playing/String marks & age to produce the tone Concert Pianist/techs required. Perhaps the evolution of this kind of powerful sound led to the evolutionary use of shellac & then lacquer as hardener. NOw we have ever harder hammers. However I think the pendulam is swinging back the other way toward a less dense/hard hammer in some circles & find that musicians here are begging for it or at least entirely relieved to sit at a piano that has dynamics,color & sustain.</DIV> <DIV>  Best regards</DIV> <DIV>  Dale</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><BR>         "In earlier times leather was generally used for covering<BR>         piano hammer-heads.  A strong belt- or sole-leather was used<BR>         to form the innermost layer, over which a an appropriate<BR>         number of layers of so-called pianoforte-leather were laid<BR>         to achieve the desired result.<BR><BR>         The demand for a bigger piano tone necessitated first a<BR>         thickening of the strigs and of the soundboard and these<BR>         made imperative a thicker hammer covering.  Since such<BR>         heavier coverings became too costly owing to the labour<BR>         involved in their production, people switched to using felt<BR>         for the covering of the hammers.<BR><BR>         Although considerable progress has been made in manufacture<BR>         of suitable felt for covering hammers that is not only thick<BR>         enough and strong enough but has also the required tonal<BR>         properties, nevertheless the tone produced by felt-covered<BR>         hammers remains the 'felt tone' an so far cannot match<BR>         in clarity the tone produced by leather-covered hammers.<BR><BR>         Experiments have been made to improve the tone by using a<BR>         top covering of leather.  Various reasons, which will not be<BR>         discussed here, have worked either singly or in combination<BR>         to thwart the hoped-for result.  The fact is, that at the<BR>         moment (1897) no hammer covering exists to equal the<BR>         leather-covered hammer in bringing  out the sustain, the<BR>         sweetness and the clarity of the tone..."<BR><BR>JD</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's new at <A title="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170" href="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170" target="_blank">AOL.com</A> and <A title="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169" href="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169" target="_blank">Make AOL Your Homepage</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>