Prehung hammers: Was, Voicing restrun Steinway S

[David Love]

There are some good reasons not to use prehung hammers:

1.  String heights in each section can vary quite a bit from the standard
bore specs.  Moreover, in the treble section alone a difference of 1/8"
from tenor to top treble is not uncommon.   If you want bore dimensions to
be exact, you have to do it yourself.

2.  Steinway hammers often benefit from heavy filing.  This is much easier
to accomplish pre bored and pre tapered in a hammer clamp.  Some of the
tone problems you mentioned can result from excessive amounts of felt in
the upper end of the set.

3.  You won't have as easy a time controlling weight without doing your own
tapering.  Whether you are using a table saw method or sanding disk method,
it's much easier to control the weight of hammers when you do this
yourself.  Though you can thin the hammers after they are glued on the
shank, it's more difficult and messier.

4.  Strike points vary on Steinway's by quite a bit due to inconsistent
indexing of the plate.  That can force you to hang at other than the
standard 5 1/8" that the factory hammers are glued on at.  Combine that
with a too long boring dimension because of diminishing string height at
the top of the piano and the hammers can easily be striking too far from
the capo bar resulting in weak tone in the upper sections.  

While I feel pretty confident about prehung Yamaha hammers, ordering
prehung Steinway hammers is asking for trouble.  

David Love
davidlovepianos@earthlink.net


> [Original Message]
> From: Avery Todd <avery@ev1.net>
> To: <billpillmore@earthlink.net>; Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Date: 7/5/2003 4:09:00 PM
> Subject: Re: Voicing restrun Steinway S
>
> Bill,
>
> I can't really give you any help with your question but I'm curious about
> the pre-hung Steinway hammers. All I've ever heard from people who've
tried
> them is that they would never do it again! Just curious.
>
> Avery
>
> At 03:52 PM 07/05/03 -0400, you wrote:
> >Just finished restringing a Steinway S with factory wire, scale, and 
> >preglued hammers.  The top octave and a half is very anemic.  does
anyone 
> >know what the factory does to prep these hammers (talking about doping 
> >here) or any suggestions.
> >Thank you
> >Bill Pillmore
>
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