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

[Tony Caught]

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Hi Dave,

Have put comments in your notes below.

regards

Tony Caught
caute@optusnet.com.au

  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: David Love=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2002 2:11 PM
  Subject: Importance of the staple: was hammer felt (Renner Blues)


  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
  Many of the pianos I service (Kawai Yamaha Samick) that have stapled =
hammers have not lifted however I have noticed that in some cases the =
hammer felt on the tail side of the staple has lifted of the wood. In =
these instances I am sure that the felt would have seperated further if =
not for the staple. And yes, I have seen some hammers that are stapled =
still lift of the wood. Not so with the wire "T" rivets.
  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 change is very noticable. Not really dificult to tease out the =
variables, go to any piano, steam the hammers to much and you wind up =
with a mushy tone.  Same difference. We do it all the time (to improve =
tone) in this case nature does it for us.
  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
  The staple is inserted after the felt is placed under tension, I would =
think that the staple is going to cause a greater surface tension (and =
an uneven felt tension) on the felt as it compresses the felt under it.
  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

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