Wurzen felt

[antares@euronet.nl]

On vrijdag, okt 24, 2003, at 11:30 Europe/Amsterdam, Michael Gamble 
wrote:

> Andre - Could you dig out some info on the piano make "Steingraeber" I 
> have
> never heard of it in the UK and my puny knowledge needs up-grading. 
> They
> seem to be another "Fazioli", Right? Please post specs and data if you 
> can.
> Regards
> Michael G (UK)


OK,
Steingraeber is not a Fazioli.
They have been in the field much longer and so they got a 'background'.
It is the same with buildings, old and new : A bunch of new buildings 
have no personality, yet, an older bunch of buildings we call a town.
An old town has, usually, personality, or not.
Compare Steingraeber with Oxford, and you know exactly what I mean.
Steingraeber is not Ferrari, Mercedes or BMW (yet). Compare 
Steingraeber with Rover, Lancia, and Jaguar, and you probably 
understand what I am saying.

For more specific info, go to :

http://www.steingraeber.de/



> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Gamble" <michael@gambles.fsnet.co.uk>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 10:17 AM
> Subject: Fw: Fw: Steingraeber by candle light....../felt
>
>
> Thanks Andre for your enlightenment. For some odd reason I know the 
> name
> "Wieckert" although the early 1900s was a bit before my time.:-)

 From your posts to Pianotech I assume that your age is somewhere 
between 28 and 32 (?)

> What about
> "Royal George" then :-)

Royal george we found for some time on Yamaha's.

> What felts do Fazioli

Fazioli has made use of Abel, so far.


> and Steinway use I wonder?

Steinway has always used the very best felt available and today they, 
of course, use Wurzen.
You see Michael, this is actually very interesting for all of us :
In the old days, almost everybody used Weickert/Wurzen.
Then the Commies decided to enlarge their territory and the East of 
Germany fell into their greedy red hands.
That marks the end of the Wurzen era and the beginning of decades of 
lousy hammer felt.
The older European technicians may clearly remember the difference : 
the going down in quality of the former majestic instrument builders 
and the rise of those awful East European and Russian crappola pianos 
like Zimmerman, Tschaika, Czerny, the rape of a name like Rhönisch and 
Perzina, the appearance of cheap Petrofs, Röslers and Försters with 
really really awful hammers (felt).

And then........
After the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of the two 
Germany's, the coming back of Wurzen felt, because the former owners 
were able to retrieve their former possessions.

I was probably among the first technicians here to become aware of the 
new felt on the market (by sheer coincidence) and recognize the instant 
improvement in quality.
No wonder I wrote so many e-mails about it, and after all it does not 
surprise me that still only a limited amount of people know about the 
finest of the finest.
I consider myself as a typical example of an ordinary technician with a 
reasonable amount of talent and with actually a lower grade piano 
education. I have spent many years of my 'profession' milling around 
like a Don Quichotte without really having any practical knowledge. It 
happens to most of us because our awareness and consciousness of real 
quality and substantial improvements usually comes with age and 
experience, or because we were blessed and privileged with good Karma 
and kind benefactors.
Knowledge is the key to understanding and then the process of 
understanding is not like an instant coffee...
If I had known that etc etc.......

> It
> doesn't matter what the subject is, there's always a gap in one's
> knowledge:-!

Thanks! You got it!


> Regards
> Michael G (UK)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <antares@euronet.nl>
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2003 10:53 PM
> Subject: Re: Fw: Steingraeber by candle light......
>
>
>
> On donderdag, okt 23, 2003, at 20:44 Europe/Amsterdam, Michael Gamble
> wrote:
>
>> Please Ande Oorebeek, What is WURZEN? It sounds like some Harry Potter
>> solution. ;-)
>> Regards
>> Michael G (UK)
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: <antares@euronet.nl>
>> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2003 4:27 PM
>> Subject: Re: Steingraeber by candle light......
>
>
> Wurzen, Michael, is the name of a place in the East of germany.
> It is the place where the finest hammer felt in the world is made 
> today.
> Wurzen felt is called after the name of the place.
>
> It used to be called Weickert felt around the 1900 's and all the great
> piano makers used it then.
> today, STW uses it, along with Bösendorfer, Bechstein, Yamaha handmade,
> Steingraeber, and many others.
>
> It is just a matter of taste and the musical ability to distinguish the
> difference in quality between felt and felt.
>
> In the past I have written many words about this.
> The archives will tell you more.
>
> André Oorebeek
>
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