hammer maker's corner

[Isaac OLEG]

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Hello Ari Isaac,

I've heard of your hammers by my friend Arno Patin, are they imported in
Europe ?

Could you please explain how layers are made when the standard hammer's felt
is made ? I cant get the picture of it.

Are not the sheet- used usually more dense in the treble from the start ?
that was my impression on the few I've seen.

There where many very good cold pressed hammers in the 30' and before WWII
in Europe.  Actually the felt used on most of the French refelting jobs is
laoureux felt and it does not produce enough tone and no strength, but it is
also due to the way it is used of course.

I suspect that your idea is that if the felt has not been needled the tone
will stay longer, and the voicing will then be more stable.

Are you selling your felt only eventually ? That could be of some interest
to try it for our hammer maker , Desfougeres, if only he cares for that.

Are you offering more or less pressed hammers on desire ? I guess it can be
better to have some possibilities with the needle, than to work with
hardening agents ?

Best regards.

Isaac OLEG


PianoTech
19 rue Jules Ferry
94400 VITRY sur SEINE
FRANCE
tel : 033 01 47 18 06 98
fax : 033 01 47 18 06 90
cell: 06 60 42 58 77



 -----Message d'origine-----
De : pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]De la part
de isaacah
Envoyé : vendredi 20 septembre 2002 18:01
À : pianotech@ptg.org
Objet : re: hammer maker's corner


  Hammer maker’s corner





  From my twenty-year experience of making hammers I have learned there are
only two methods of making hammers: one method makes hammers to fit
production equipment, the other is building equipment to fit hammer tone
production. Most hammer makers around the world today use the former method;
a few small makers use the latter.



  Franz Mohr, at that time working for Steinways, told me once ‘The need for
voicing equals poor hammers’. Years ago, he said, you didn’t need to do
extensive voicing right after hammer installation, all that was needed was
some evening out, today …



  Those hammer makers using the former method rely on the technician to, as
part of hammer installation, do the voicing necessary to get the musical
tone piano players will want, more often than not this means a good deal of
voicing.



  I, too, was aware of the truth of Franz Mohr’s observation. Also, during
the years when I had my rebuilding business I distinctly remember how I
hated having to spend hours voicing this or that make of hammer – I tried
them all. So when I decided to make Isaac Cadenza hammers I had two
priorities; first, that the hammers would make the piano speak, musically,
second, that Cadenza hammers would not require much voicing either as part
of the installation or during the rest of their life span.



  To do this I could see only one way: to develop a sheet of hammer felt
which reflects the string scale in a significant way and to construct
pressing and shaping equipment to press and shape Cadenza hammers while
maintaining the integrity of the felt.



  The felt sheets we – Earl Dunlap and I – developed are different from all
others because of two characteristics: there are no layers, the wool fibers
are felted throughout so that you get something like a three dimensional
grid of interlocked fibers and the felt density, the amount of wool fiber
per cubic volume, increases from bass to treble. The increase in felt
density matches the increase in string taughtness from bass to treble so
that when Cadenza hammers are installed they will have the musical color
range as well as the power range without the need for voicing for those
characteristics. Playing the hammers in - 5/10 hours, is a big part of
voicing Cadenzas. Where additional brightness is wanted a few drops of
hardener, any hardener, applied slightly above the shoulders will be all
that is needed.



  Cadenza hammers hitting the strings function like a tennis ball hitting a
wall. In the case of a tennis ball the energy hurling it towards the wall
is, upon impact, reversed and flings it as far as it came, maybe further. In
the case of Cadenza hammers much of the energy hurling them to the strings
is transferred to the strings, this is so because the strings are not
completely rigid. The beauty of a hammer functioning like a tennis ball
hitting a wall is the automatic result of a wide range of musical color
without the need for voicing. The reason for this is the flexing of the
hammer from strike point to staple or pin. This flexing will be greater or
lesser depending upon the intensity of playing – bingo! Color range. It can
happen only if the felt is made to flex.



  Thanks for reading this, I’ll try to have something to write every so
often and I promise not to put you to sleep.

  Ari Isaac.


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