<!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 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>Hi Andre,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hope you had a nice vacation.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My father was the first person to tell me about Weikert felt, and how = wonderful it was. He worked for Pfriemer Piano Hammer Co. starting in the late = 1930's. They sometimes used Weikert felt, until Pfriemer bought their own felt mill. Also, Vince Vilim made hammers with imported felt, but I = don't know which company he used. My father would be very happy that this felt is back.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ray Negron</DIV> <DIV>Ronsen Piano Hammer</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left>-----Original Message----- From: = pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf Of = antares Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 2:06 PM To: = Pianotech Subject: Re: SURFACING Hammers....Should be Wurzen Felt </DIV> On = 16-jul-04, at 19:39, Quentin Codevelle wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE><?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>Hi = all,<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>   <?fontfamily><?param = Arial><?smaller>Andre Told us that the Wurzen felt brings us back to the quality of felt = that could be found on pianos at the beginning of the 20th = century.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> <?fontfamily><?param = Arial><?smaller>At that time,was this felt available in the us too, or was the wurzen = felt only used in europe?<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> <?fontfamily><?param = Arial><?smaller>Is Ronsen the first hammer maker using this = felt?<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> <?fontfamily><?param = Arial><?smaller>Because there seem to be a lot of differences between the american = and european way to voice the hammers, so I thought a difference of felt = would explain why the two ways of voicing are = different.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>   <?fontfamily><?param = Arial><?smaller>Quentin<?/smaller><?/fontfamily> </BLOCKQUOTE> = Hello Quentin, The Wurzen felt as we know it now, was formerly called = 'Weickert filz'. The name 'Weickert' comes from the Weickert family = who owned the Weickert Filz factory in Wurzen (a city north of = leipzig). The Weickert family developed their piano felt in such a way that they = received international awards, so it might very well conceivable that they sold = it to the USA as well in those days. I just looked into Alfred Dolge's = "Piano's and their Makers" where he describes on page 120 the development of = the felt industry. He mentions "the Whitehead brothers of Manchester who = are said to be the first who made the manufacturing of piano hammer felt a = specialty" He also mentions "Billon and FFortin of Paris and Weickert (1847) of = leipzig, Germany. "Naish of Wilton, England, started on 1859. These firms = controlled the market until the author started his factories in = 1871. Alfred Dolge was a key figure in the American Piano industry and we can assume that = after he introduced his felt and felt presses in the US, his felt and his = hammers were of the highest importance in the USA. The Weickert family = probably sold a huge number of hammer felt sheets internationally, but it = probably came to a halt after A. Dolge entered the market. I personally think = that the Weickert family sold most of their piano felt to European hammer = makers and we find their products in all kinds of piano's, but mostly German = like old Schiedmayers, Blütners, Bechsteins, Hamburg Steinways, and many = more. The Weickert family was one of the oldest in the history of commercial = felt makers in old Europe so they must have had a severe impact on the market of = those days. The Brand family moved in after the fall of the Berlin wall. = They purchased the old Weickert factory and the son, Jack brand made it his = goal to retrieve the old secrets of making superb piano felt. I was among = the first Renner customers who discovered this 'new' felt which came back on the = market in the early 1990's and found out (to my amazement) that only a few = years later Hamburg Steinway as well as Yamaha used this very felt on their beautiful instruments. The reason why I write so much about = this issue, is that became aware of this new felt development in its earliest = stage. If Phillip Ford calls me "mr Wurzen", he is right. I am an absolute = advocate of this great felt development, started anew by Jack Brand, because it = was/is a great improvement of the lousy felt we had to work with during the = absence of the Weickert felt, caused by the Russians Communists who occupied the = East of germany, and thereby killed a famous and magnificent felt quality = (like they killed so many other high quality goods). As I am merely a = piano technician, I have not had the opportunity yet to really delve into = this matter, but on the other hand, I have had several opportunities to get = a little more knowledge about these piano industrial developments. friendly greetings from André Oorebeek Amsterdam - The = Netherlands www.concertpianoservice.nl www.grandpiano.nl <BR= >"where music is, no harm can be" </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>