<HTML><BODY STYLE="font:10pt verdana; border:none;"><DIV>Hi John</DIV> =
<DIV> </DIV> <DIV> You will find the address to bo=
th hammer makers in the back of the current journals.<EM> personall=
y find the tone of the Japanese hammers to be fairly one dimensional=
focusing on the brighter spectrums and not taking advantage of the funda=
mental frequency's as readily. As for juice some of the best s=
ounding pianos you've ever heard have varying amounts of solution in the =
hammers. Your reticence will diminish with experience. Please let me know=
if I may be of assistance.</EM></DIV> <DIV><EM></EM> </DIV> <DIV><E=
M> Dale <A href="mailto:Erwin@09-577-8397">Erwin =
; -209-577-8397</A></EM></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PAD=
DING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #00000=
0 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial">----- Or=
iginal Message -----</DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt =
Arial; COLOR: black"><B>From:</B> John Delacour</DIV> <DIV style="FONT:=
10pt Arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, September 23, 2001 4:41 PM</DIV> <DIV s=
tyle="FONT: 10pt Arial"><B>To:</B> pianotech@ptg.org; pianotech@ptg.org=
</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: 1 string, 2 st=
rings, 3 strings or more</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>At 23:54 21/09/01 -0500, =
Ron Nossaman wrote:<BR>>>We have found that when the scale and the =
soundboard are working together we<BR>>>are able to use quite soft =
hammers--such as those made by Steinway, Ronsen<BR>>>and Isaacs--wi=
th excellent results and with virtually no lacquer in the<BR>>>treb=
le. Even these will generally require some needling through the tenor<BR>=
>>and (sometimes) the bass and upper tenor. We couldn't possibly us=
e Japanese<BR>>>or German hammers. At least not as they are sold in=
the U.S.<BR>><BR>>Likewise, on all counts. Rather dramatically too=
, I might add. This is a<BR>>tough sell for most of the rebuilders out=
here (as it was for me before I<BR>>assimilated a few more basic soun=
dboard design truths than I had<BR>>accumulated at that point), but it=
's dead on in practice.<BR><BR>Interesting. So Steinway make their =
own hammers in the US. I was not aware of that. In Hamburg th=
ey use Abel's hammers (now covered with Laoureux felt, I have just learne=
d from Laoureux). Before that they used Renner hammers, which were =
made by Helmut Abel, then working for Renner.<BR><BR>The hammer I have ha=
d the most consistent and pleasing results with is the Imategawa with the=
unshaped walnut moulding. These I obtain without impregnation and =
do all the boring and shaping myself. Very little toning is require=
d and what is needed is easy -- and more important I have never had a sof=
t set. I detest any use of dope.<BR><BR>I'd like to try the Ronsen =
or Isaacs hammers. Have you got addresses for them?<BR><BR>JD<BR><B=
R><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>