Hi list, I've just been through a bit of a harrowing experience. I have approximately 4 years experience working for myself, and up to now have not had too many "surprises". My harrowing experience comes from putting a set of hammers on a Carl Ecke Grand, circa 1920's. I followed the usual procedure and sent for duplicate hammers from Renner Germany. Due to the timing of the order, end of year, the hammers took 8 weeks to arrive. I was glad when they finally did, because the owner of the piano started to get a little worried I think. Anyway, I went about fitting the hammers: setting and fitting the new samples, replacing every second hammer, paying strict attention to the alignment etc. As I progressed, I noticed that several hammers in the bass section were rubbing against each other. "Oh well I'll sort that out later" I thought. Well here I am 3 days later, with the problem finally solved. But did I sweat blood, aligning them to the string, then casting, then realigning, then casting, then scratching my head and you get the idea! Eventually with the help of a more experienced Tech, I got all the little buggers to hit the string and nothing else. I just wondered if this was a common experience with duplicate hammers. I did send samples with the order. The replacement hammers differed in tail length and the new hammers were about 0.5 mm wider. The bore angle was a pretty good match. The moulding shape also differed quit a lot, not drastic though. I eventually had to reshape the shoulders and the sides of the tails. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Paul Tizzard S.Africa
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