Importance of the staple: was hammer felt (Renner Blues)

David Love davidlovepianos@earthlink.net
Sat, 21 Sep 2002 21:41:59 -0700


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If you mean that the staple is important in high humidity areas to =
ensure the hammer doesn't come apart, I'm not sure I agree.  My =
experience is that if the glue joint fails, no staple will hold it =
together. =20

As far as the hammer experiencing changes in tension, I must admit that =
living in an environment with fairly constant humidity year round (and a =
bit on the high side), I've never thought about tension in the hammer =
changing from season to season and with it the tone.  On the surface it =
makes sense.  I wonder though whether the change is enough to create a =
real perceptible difference, or if it does, how you would separate that =
change from tonal changes that might occur as a result of changes in the =
crown of the board.  Difficult to tease out all the variables. =20

The other question, however, still remains.  How important is the staple =
for creating tension in the lower part of the hammer.  The proponents of =
the Renner blue evidently feel that it is unimportant.  I know from =
listening to Brooks and the Abel clan that they feel it is a crucial =
part of the hammer.   Isaac O's remarks suggest that the stapled Renner =
is a different animal than the Renner blue in spite of the similarities =
in felt type.  I have to say that my experience suggests that the Renner =
blue has a high degree of tension in the felt which is responsive to =
needling.   The Renner hammer used for H. Steinway is also highly =
tensioned, and much harder at the outset.  My experience tells me that =
the needling requirements to get the H. Steinway hammer to open up are =
just that much greater.  But when all is said and done, is what you have =
left all that much different?  I haven't really done a side by side =
comparison.  Maybe somebody out there has.  I'd be interested to hear =
what they think.=20

One interesting sidebar to this is that I have found out the hard way =
that you need to be careful when (if) preneedling the Abel hammer.  It =
is very easy to release a tremendous amount of tension into the crown of =
the hammer which can make the hammer very bright and difficult to work =
with.   Whereas I almost always preneedle Renner hammers feeling for =
some give in the shoulders with a firm squeeze as I go, I find that a =
slower approach is more advisable with Abel hammers. =20

David Love



 ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Tony Caught=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: September 21, 2002 7:43 PM
  Subject: Re: hammer felt (Renner Blues)


  Dave,

  You wrote

  The importance of the staple is somewhat controversial.  There are =
those who argue that it adds tension to the lower part of the hammer and =
those who say it doesn't make any difference.  The Renner blue is, of =
course, without a staple.  =20

  Not having a staple would mean that you cannot use this hammer in high =
humidity conditions. However,
  As the hammer absorbs moisture from the air, the tension created =
varies greatly as does the tone. Possibly being not stapled would allow =
this increase of tension to spread more evenly over the hammer and not =
be restricted by the staple.

  Tony Caught
  caute@optusnet.com.au



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