Hi Diane, My sum total knowledge of leather hammers is just somewhat less than Jim's, so I'm afraid I won't me of much help there. I can offer one general purpose observation though. I can't imagine any possible way to keep reasonably easily interchangeable coverings on a set of hammers through the violence of play, unless you can invent a sort of micro Velcro. Otherwise, I'd think it would require glue or a lot of heavy hardware, and lots of emergency service calls putting back that one that fell off or shifted to jam the adjacent hammer. I do wonder if something like the mandolin or rinky tink rails put on players would work with a thin leather covering the clip on the end of the tabs, no clips and hardened leather, or some other material. I also wonder if anyone has tried covering hammers with an artificial material like Baldwin is using for butts and catchers. It seems to be as tough and durable as buckskin in pianos (near as I can tell), and could prove to be a relatively cheap and quick fix. I don't know how it would hold up hitting strings, but it might be worth testing on a piano that's on it's last millimeter of hammer already. Ultra Suede has to be cheaper per square foot than deer skin, comes in a rectangular sheet so there's minimal waste, and will be of uniform thickness throughout and from batch to batch. Now, if it will just work in this application... Sorry, no real answers. Ron N
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