"New" Hamburg Hammers

[Tim Coates]

Roger,

I'm not sure what you are saying here.  Does the newer D have NY or German S&S
hammers on it?  Or, are your referring to the Renner hammers as the "German"
hammers?

If you are referring to the Renner Hammers as the German hammers, then the
reason the older D sounds as it does isn't because of the hammers alone.  There
was a transformation on the older D that was done in stages.  What you heard is
the tail end of that transformation.  The people who were at UC during the
first part of the transformation were Rolf vanWalthusen and Michael Wathen.
Eric Wolfley and Lawrence Becker then came on board and did more refinements.
To judge this piano on hammers alone is discounting the work done on many areas
of this piano by several people.

Tim Coates
University of South Dakota
University of Sioux Falls

jolly roger wrote:

> Hi Don,
>             I was in Cincinnati last fall for the Ohio state convention,
> Lawrence Becker hosted a group of CAUT participant's to share  ideas.
> His two prize D's One about a year old, the other a 1929 rebuild with full
> Stanwood treatment and very high strike weight. Wapin bridge, and Renner
> hammers.
> Both pianos sounded wonderful,  Obviously Lawrence showing off a little.
> <G>.  Would'nt we all in front of our peers?  Beautiful work.
> We had a grad student play the same pieces on the two D's and a Bossy.
> (Also ran)
> Interesting results.  Most of use preferred the tonal pallet and range of
> the the old rebuilt D,  from out in the hall.  My immediate comment to
> Lawrence, not knowing which was which, " That is not steinway hammers". He
> just smiled before telling us of the changes.
> Talking to the Grad student, however, she much preferred the New D. Several
> in the group played both pianos, and some changed their minds, once they
> sat at the instruments and got connected.
> A very worth while exercise, and very illuminating about the human
> connection of tone and touch.
> I hope Lawrence is reading this and will expand on his observations.  But
> you should exchange notes with him,  we could all benifit from the dialogue.
> For my money the German hammers had a greater tonal pallet, with that clear
> singing translucent French romantic sound at ppp, so elusive with juiced
> hammers. Not sure if I'm describing the tone that well.
> Please keep us informed of the chapter results.
> Regards roger
>
> At 11:59 AM 4/12/01 -0400, you wrote:
> >Hi John,
> >
> >In January I put a set of Hamburg's on our 22 year old D. (this piano
> >was restrung last August, used GC bass strings) Since then, every guest
> >artist and one piano faculty member have chosen this piano over our 3
> >year old NY D. In all fairness to the NY, it is in need of hammer filing
> >etc. but due to usage that has not been possible this semester. The
> >Hamburg hammers have a very nice clarity but less of a tonal palate than
> >the NY. The pianists that have used the older D preferred the clarity
> >and punch. I plan to work on the NY after commencement and then have a
> >chapter meeting here to compare the two and analyze the tonal
> >characteristics of each. Should be fun.
> >
> >I also but a set of Hamburg's on an old B in the practice rooms. Same
> >tonal situation as above. The students scrambled to sign out that room.
> >Go figure.
> >
> >Don McKechnie
> >Ithaca College
> >