Hi This is something David Stanwood has been doing for many years, and is part of his bag of tools for diagnosing what a pianist / owner wants when a hammer change is to be executed. That adding (or subtracting) to the mass that hits the strings can and does affect tone really should be no suprise at this point. The basic knowledge goes back as far as the quandry about using heavy hammers vs light hammers goes. Nigh on 20 years ago now Ed McMorrow launched his controversial Light Hammer philosophy which took light hammers to new extremes. Stanwoods Strikeweight Ratio methodology directly employs the use of non felt or wood mass to the hammers as part of evening strikeweights, and I've found this technique employed in very old pianos. I get the feeling ofte times that much of what is known in our trade gets lost in the maze as it were since there is no real or very little formalized schooling for new technicians. Of that what does exist students are expedited through very short programs. One is lucky to find more then 2 years study line anywhere. Coupled with the fact that we are after all so very few in the world and our numbers are not sufficient to support a library of published works in all major languages.. its probably a hopeless cause to try and keep all knowledge that should be kept current, current. Cheers RicB ........... This technique has been covered in convention classes before: A Bosendorfer voicing class and Richard Davenport’s “Prelude to Hammer Replacement” come to mind. (Davenport mentioned extensive use of shank clips as an alternative to doing nothing at all in situations where hammer replacement and all that should go with it are not an option for economic reasons.) In our recent experience at CalArts we had such dramatic feedback that we felt compelled to offer our testimonial. Does this scenario ring a bell for any others out there? Thanks,
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