<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16711" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As I understand it, there are two aspects to tuning lever "stiffness."</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>One is the shaft material, and it appears that carbon fiber shafts are the stiffest.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The other is the attachment of the tuning head to the shaft. It appears that the traditional "screw on" tip always has a degree of wobble or flex under stress. The "solid" attached heads have minimal flex under stress.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Both Fujan and Faulk have addressed both of these issues in their carbon fiber designs.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>21st century tuning hammers are wonderful tools!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ed Sutton</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=jpdraine@gmail.com href="mailto:jpdraine@gmail.com">J Patrick Draine</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=dnereson@4dv.net href="mailto:dnereson@4dv.net">David Nereson</A> ; <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, August 23, 2008 6:06 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: stiffest tuning hammer</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr>David, <DIV>You are probably referring to the Fujan tuning lever. See <<A href="http://www.fujanproducts.com/">http://www.fujanproducts.com/</A>>.</DIV> <DIV>Charles Faulk also makes fine tuning levers, which now feature a carbon fiber shaft <<A href="http://www.faulkpiano.com/">http://www.faulkpiano.com/</A>>. Charles was the first to use a titanium shaft on his levers.</DIV> <DIV>I own a Fujan lever, and a titanium shaft Faulk lever. Both are excellent tools. Others on the list have the current Faulk model with the carbon fiber shaft, and can give their own testimonial regarding the most recent version.</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>Patrick Draine</DIV> <DIV><BR> <DIV class=gmail_quote>On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 2:21 AM, David Nereson <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:dnereson@4dv.net">dnereson@4dv.net</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"> <DIV bgcolor="#ffffff"> <DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">    What's the brand name of the stiffest tuning hammer available, made of carbon fiber, I believe?  How much do they cost?  Why aren't there ads in the Journal?  Or are there, and I just don't recognize them as the hammer I'm thinking of?  It's been mentioned on this list </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">    --David Nereson, RPT</FONT></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>