At 9:49 AM -0700 12/17/00, Murray Seminuk wrote: >The original leather on the hammers was European >doeskin........etc. Murray is right, and the best leather I've used is from Herzog in Germany, I believe called hirsch and elsch, correct me if I'm wrong. Stretch and thickness are important as is consistency in flesh vs skin side. Do not use American supply house buckskin, it's too coarse and heavy. I think that Jahn will supply what they call hammer leather which comes from Herzog and should be better than the American stuff. I dont think anything currently made (and there are those much more knowledgable than me who can add to this Im sure) is even close to what you actually find on old pianos, the whole leather making process is so different now. It is fairly easy to use, just common sense, consistency and a careful hand. Malcolm Bilson had a blue suede on his piano hammers for some time that was very successful, so experimenting can be fun. Just use hide glue so you can recover from any mistakes. -- Dave ----------------------------- Dave Doremus RPT New Orleans algiers_piano@bellsouth.net ------------------------------
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