Tom asked: >So what kind of letter [leather] is used to cover a hammer which has worn >through the >felt to the wood? >Backcheck leather, maybe? >And what kind of glue? Hammer leather aint no more unfortunately. The proper stuff was a specialized product even in the 19th century and required a special recipe and processing to achieve the required physical properties. There is simply no leather now made that is anything like hammer leather was and needs to be. That may change soon if a little project is successful - more on that later. So - whatever you use (and that includes for hammers that are layered leather, as in early 19th Century pianos.) is a compromise. joe wrote: >....is quite acceptable for your average "clunker". Of course, the client >needs >to be informed that this is merely a stop-gap until new hammers can be >installed. Well, according to Carl Kuetzing (The Science of fortpeiao building and design, Bern, 1844) "if felt is used as an underlayer, and then covered with leather, it is in the right place and in that way there can be a saving of some leather, but it should definitely not be used as the 'intoning' material". He continues that "felt is not durable enough as the strings cut into the felt". At the time, most (Viennese and other) pianos had an outer hammer layer of leather over felt. Keutzig's explanation shows that they regarded the felt as a quick substitute for a mass of leather (more difficult), but the outer leather was still regarded as important for: (1) durability; and (2) tone. Funny how attitudes changed and we ended up with all-felt hammers when them lazy builders simply left off the outer leather. Can't see any reason to apologize for an outer leather layer on a modern piano if it sounds good - except it probably won't because you can't get the proper hammer leather now, and what you can get probably will start flapping about after a bit of playing.... Stephen Stephen Birkett Fortepianos Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos 464 Winchester Drive Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2T 1K5 tel: 519-885-2228 mailto: sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett
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