Fred, See Alan McCoy's post of a couple of yesterday. A Model D is no different than any other piano. If the soundboard works--and the stringing scale is well matched to it--massive granite-like hammers are both unnecessary and undesirable. The piano will have good power, great dynamics and voicing will last. As will the hammers themselves. Hammers can be a bit lighter, action ratios can be a bit higher, action response can be quicker and more articulate. Life can be good. Steinway, along with many other pianomakers, knew this "secret" some decades back. Most seem to have lost it in these "modern" times in their rush to emulate the hard and brassy sound that has now become so prevalent. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Manufacturing Consultant 620 South Tower Avenue Centralia, Washington 98531 USA Phone 360.736.7563 Cell 360.388.6525 Fax 360.736.5239 E-mail 1: del at fandrichpiano.com E-mail 2: ddfandrich at gmail.com | -----Original Message----- | From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On | Behalf Of Fred Sturm | Sent: April 15, 2009 12:04 PM | To: caut at ptg.org | Subject: Re: [CAUT] Weikert felt; was 80 year old S&S hammers | | | My take is that, for a thinner, more responsive board | and lower tension scale (like this), you need a softer | hammer, a lighter hammer, and a higher action ratio, to get | the most out of it. The other end of the spectrum is the | Steinway D, which in current iteration seems to need a heavy, | hard hammer with low ratio.
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