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

[Kent Swafford]

On Sunday, September 22, 2002, at 07:17 AM, Farrell wrote:

> My info from several classes at conventions is that staples are only 
> there because "the consumer expects them".

Maybe. Earlier this summer I came to a Steinway L with a set of Ronsen 
hammers less than a year old. The hammer felt had popped loose from one 
side of the molding of a single hammer. When I removed the offending 
hammer from the action, I found that the staple had been pulled out of 
the molding, but that the staple had never been installed properly; the 
staple had been bent up and one leg of the staple had never reached the 
wood of the molding. It just made me wonder, had both legs of the 
staple made it to the wood, would it have been enough to keep the felt 
from popping loose? Was it just a coincidence that the felt with the 
bad staple came loose?

Kent Swafford