<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; cha= rset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fffff= f">My response to Ric's two part question is that from my perspective (voici= ng), that the lacquer reduces the ability of the hammer felt fibers to move = around the molding and to reqroup so to speak. This to me is why needling fr= ees up the movement and produces a larger, rounder tone with more volume on = an unlacquered or mildly treated hammer.  Needling a lacquered ham= mer can improve timbre but rarely in my experience volume or power= .  I can't speak to the studies of internal friction because I have nev= er been privy to the larger volume of what is written.  I have thought = however that the older hammers probably didn't require much voicing - not li= ke we do today. They weren't juiced and they weren't hard enough to req= uire monumental needling.  The study that you have noted using the thre= e Abel, Renner, Imadegawa is interesting because as Andre just noted it real= ly is a difference between the European and American style of hammer product= ion.  I just mentally group the Abel, Renner and Imadegawa as virtually= the same hammer manufacturing theory with their own twist applied - very di= fferent for the NY S&S approach.  I think what we have now in the S= teinway hammer is not a proactive approach to hammer manufacturing but a "Oh= MY God, they sound like crap. What are we gonna do?" approach that has been= in place since the 1960s.  I do however give them credit for trying to= correct things but the days in which you won't have to juice a Steinway D f= or concert use is still ahead of us.  And I think it has been so long s= ince a really great hammer has been made in this country that few alive (or = certainly in a position of authority at the piano manufacturing level) has t= he knowledge to drag us out of the doldrums.  I am very excited about t= he Ronsen Wurzen hammer and have just the B to try them on. Topperpiano (TP)= </BODY></HTML>