Research:leather covered hammers

[Diane Hofstetter]

List,

  This is a description of one of my current research projects and of the 
personal reasons it has become a vital interest to me at this time.

  I am 54, my partner is 67.  I always knew he would probably die before me, 
but my feeble brain never realized that he might spend a long time before he 
did so in a state of not being able to work and needing my care, so that I 
frequently can't work either.  I had a hint of that in 1993 when he had a 
heart attack, but he bounced back from triple bypass surgery very quickly 
and I stuck my head back into the sand again.  Then last October he had a 
stroke and everything changed.

  Now we are very dependent on our fleet of rental pianos to pay our basic 
living expenses, which they almost do.  But it is getting harder and harder 
to keep them up to the level of quality that I desire.  Before my father and 
he would do the tunings in the home after they were delivered and I would do 
all the reconditioning in the shop and the bookkeeping for our businesses.

  So there I was shaping a set of hammers from a rental last night and 
remembering something I have wondered for years. Whenever I have rebuilt an 
antique grand with leather covered hammers, I have been amazed to see what 
good shape most of the hammers are in on 150 year old pianos--after removing 
the destroyed leather.  Why I thought, couldn't there be some kind of covers 
for rental piano hammers?  If there was something that lasted only half as 
long as those leather covered hammers I would be _way_ ahead.

  Meanwhile I have a customer who wants me to replace the leather on the 
hammers of his mid-19th century Bosendorfer.  He wants it so bad that last 
time I tuned he produced a chamois that he had purchased for the purpose and 
asked me to cover them with it.  We tried it on one hammer and it didn't 
sound any good.

  I now have a beautiful, soft, supple deerskin which sounded wonderful on 
the Pokorney we rebuilt last Christmas and am wondering about putting it on 
his hammers.  Also there are questions about how to voice leather once it's 
on the hammers.

  Then there is the old Chickering upright that just came back from a rental 
customer which needs new hammers badly.  It was restrung 10 years ago, but 
the hammers are fried.  So I shaped them one last time and am going to cover 
them with deerskin to find out how they sound before replacing them.

  But is deerskin the best leather?  Is there any other material that might 
be better than any leather?  Would there be any material that would apply to 
the hammers easier and quicker?  Would there be any material that could be 
put on the hammers temporarily to completely change the voicing for just one 
concert?  Perhaps a material that could be clipped on for the rock concert 
and a different one for the classical concert?

  How could we measure the tonal differences of different materials?  How 
would we know their life expectancy?  How would we even find out about 
materials that might be just perfect but they are used to build private 
airplanes and we aren't even pilots, much less airplane manufacturers?

  These are questions I find interesting for their own sake and for the 
practical need I have in my business.  I will pursue the research project.  
My guess is that there are many other such questions burning in others' 
brains.  Can pianotech be a place where such research projects could be 
shared?

  Diane


Diane Hofstetter
245-M Mount Hermon Rd.#343
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
ph  831-438-6222
fax 831-430-9741
dianepianotuner@hotmail.com

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