favorite hammer?

[A440A@aol.com]

 Glen asks:

>I am a new tech and want to buy a good tuning hammer.  I already have a
>piece of junk so this next one is going to be the last one (hopefully!).

>Which one, how much and where?

      I was very lucky to have gone to a school that had a lot of different
hammers.    We all sorta selected one that we liked over the year.
 Unfortunately,  the one that really felt best to me was a mid 30's Schaff,
with a rosewood handle and octagonal shank.  The sort of hammer you just
don't go out and buy.  I got a big ol' Ford hammer,  Cause it had a brass
ferrule.......duh.
      I knew I had an angel, when, two months into my new career, in a
strange town, at a garage sale,  I spoke with a man whose father had been a
tuner. That afternoon,  I bought a 40 year old case of piano tools, and right
there in the middle was the hammer of my dreams. In beautiful shape, well
burnished by an unknown hand, and equipped with a onepiece tip from Joe
Kulicek, (Chicago).

       It was nestled amid rock hard mutes( Tonk Bros, Chicago), a carefully
cased blue steel "A" fork,(with the gold embossed "Standard of American
Federation of Musicians",   a metal can of graphite, and two tins of Pure
Mutton Tallow, one with the label "Harry McQueens ",  the other newer one
read, " Made by Viola McQueen, widow of Harry McQueen".  Ah,  but I
digress...........

     Your hammer will need to fit you.  Your arm length, your tuning style,
etc.
The more hammers you have tried, the better chance you will have of getting
one that naturally becomes an extension of yourself.
     Ask several tuners in your area if you might try one or two of their
"back-ups" for a week.  Tell them that you are ready to find one that fits
you, They should understand, and they may even sell you one that you find
really works for you.
      Use several before deciding on one.  You will soon enough recognize
something you don't like in some, (the balance, diameter, or whatever),  and
then you are well on your way to getting a focus on your own needs.  Good
luck, and don't let a "way-expen$ive price" guide you into getting something
that doesn't really fit.

Regards to all,

Ed Foote
Precision Piano Works,
Nashville, Tn.

       Oops, forget to mention that "Mrs. Viola McQueens Mutton Tallow"  is
the best stuff I ever put on the keyframe guide pins of Steinways.
     Some of the pianos at the school change their keyframe/keybed mating on
a yearly basis, and for six months each year, the guide blocks are earning
their keep holding these keybeds down.  The tallow has out-performed every
type of lubricant I tried.  go figure.........