hammerheads

[BobDavis88@aol.com]

from John Musselwhite:

> Other hammers can sound very nice on a NY, but I always get the feeling
that
>  something is missing. That "something" is lacquer, IMO.

from Andre Oorebeck:
>>I now understand, that the hammers you get from Steinway NY are too soft.
Well, here is just what I mean! if you don't like them, why could you not
talk about it and have them make different ones?<<
----------------
from me (Bob Davis)
I agree with John. We're talking concept, not quality (well, mostly).
Steinway NY have added some kind of stiffener to their hammers for more than
a hundred years. First it was hide glue, then shellac, then lacquer. The
concert guys use a lacquer base and finish with keytop/acetone. Anyway, it
has been and still is considered one of the world-standard sounds. I think
the times they have had complaints about the sound it was more a matter of
problems in execution rather than concept. There have also been times the
felt wasn't as good due to supplier changes, etc.

The pianos on which their reputation was made used VERY light  (and
resilient) hammers. These made a very nice, open sound. I assume it was a
desire for more power that led them to a heavier hammer, but a heavier hammer
also requires greater stiffness, which means difficulty in manufacture unless
you beef up the molding, which makes more weight, etc. You don't have to go
very far with this before you create another set of problems. There has also
been some variability in the quality of their felt. Some of it has had more
"bounce" than others, and this is the number one criterion for voiceability.
Loose felt can be either resilient or not so, as can tightly felted felt,
depending on the wool and how it is treated. If you add a heavy molding to
unresilient felt, you have to add so much lacquer for brightness that the
resilience goes down even further, actually killing the power.

I also think they're getting better felt now, and the quality of their
hammers is for the most part quite good. The new higher leverage parts allow
the actions to carry a little more hammer mass (at the price of deeper dip),
so the danger is still in allowing the hammers to remain too heavy. Good
tapering and filing are a must.

We as technicians want control, control, control, of whatever supplies we
have available. We want to produce whatever tone our client wants, as well as
draw the most from the piano's resources. While we can and should look around
for resilient hammers, we don't have the luxury of insisting on the
 _perfect_  hammer, because the perfect hammer for one piano in one situation
will not be the best in another situation. Hammers have more range than many
people realize, and a good voicer aspires to make any hammer sound good, and
to be able to produce any number of sounds from the same piano. I've said it
before and I'll say it again, I think there are more good hammers out there
these days than bad - we just have to learn how to treat them.