Voicing

[gordon stelter]

Steinway apparently experimented extensively with
woven Teflon hammers a few years back. I have no idea
how this went.
     My first choices, were I to "fool around" in this
arena would be synthetic non-wovens and closed cell
neoprene sponge, of the sort which is used as
cushioniing on artificial limbs ( chunks of this as
scrap can be had from any prosthetics fitter ).
     Felt can be made from wool because the tiny barbs
on the fiber allow it to be "laid up" into a tightly
packed, interlocked mass. Some approximation of this,
either with adhesives or similar "barbs" would be
necessary witha  synthetic. But it does seem to me
that, eventually, a suitable synthetric, more durable
and less affected by humidity changes, will be
deverloped.
     Gordon Stelter
--- "Alan R. Barnard" <mathstar@salemnet.com> wrote:
> Don't remember even talking about an option re:
> pretreated hammers. I have
> talked with him a few times on the phone. Nice guy.
> But I ultimately placed
> the order on his website: www.pin.ca/ari/hammer.htm
> 
> There is quite a bit of very useful info on his
> site, BTW, and I recommend
> that newbies read through it. I just looked again:
> if there is any mention
> of pretreating his hammers, I don't see it there.
> 
> Question is: What should I do now? Lacquer? I never
> heard of Plexiglas used
> in this manner, only as hard plastic sheets.
> 
> Interesting thought, has anybody ever make hammers
> out of molded plastic or
> other synthetic material instead of felt? Glass
> soundboards, plastic hammers
> Teflon bushings (too bad the Steinway experiment
> wasn't the answer)--one
> could envision a weatherproof piano.
> 
> Alan Barnard
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@cox.net>
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 3:52 PM
> Subject: Re: Voicing
> 
> 
> >
> > >            Ron
> > >            This doesn't surprise me a bit. Ari
> ,at least in the past,
> > > prejuiced all his hammer sets with a plexiglass
> solution to some degree
> > > unless you specifically request none. He is
> fairly consistent about it
> > > but sometimes some get stiffer than others.
> Great hammers. Still more
> > > variables ehh
> > >    Dale
> >
> >
> > Dale,
> >
> > So did Alan specifically request non treated
> Isaacs? Alan, did you?
> >
> > And the Abels and Renners that so many folks like,
> even further hardening
> > them in some cases, are so hard as to be unusable
> with my boards. In
> pianos
> > that don't get boards, I can use the Abels and
> Renners like everyone else.
> > I have a cause and effect relationship with the
> board, far in excess of
> any
> > differences in hammer sets from set to set. So
> statistically, it's not the
> > hammers - it's the boards.
> >
> > Do you find the Isaacs interchangeable with
> Renners or Abels in pianos
> with
> > your new boards as well as with original boards,
> or boards built to the
> > original design?
> >
> > Ron N
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > pianotech list info:
> https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
> 
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info:
https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives


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