Ronsen Wurzen update (was Re: Hammer Rewhatevering)

[Phillip Ford]

>I am sorry that even after all my attempts there are still pianotech folks 
>who haven't got 'the message'.
>For years I have described the development of the so called Wurzen felt 
>and the Wurzen felt hammers made by Renner Germany, and during the last 
>year there has been a special development in the felt factory in Wurzen.
>They now produce the AA quality Wurzen felt, which brings us back right to 
>the early 1900's.
>
>If you are interested, then please read the Pianotech archives about the 
>development of Wurzen felt.
>
>friendly greetings
>from
>Andr� Oorebeek

That reminds me Andre (or should I call you Mr. Wurzen?), I think it's time 
for a Ronsen Wurzen (the other Wurzen hammer) update.  I installed a set of 
these on a Feurich 220 grand and I have to say that I was quite happy with 
the results.  My experience:

I installed the hammers without doing anything to them as far as prevoicing 
(needling, filing, juicing).  The sound right out of the box was very 
nice.  The hammers were not nearly as hard or bright sounding as I expected 
based on my experience with the Renner Wurzens.  Rich and warm in the bass 
and tenor.  I was happy with the sound as it was and was tempted not to 
touch the hammers.  Low treble to near the top was a nice clear musical 
tone, if slightly bright and slightly lacking in sustain, but not bad at 
all for hammers right out of the box.  At the very top the hammers were too 
soft to my taste.  I think you could put these hammers on and do nothing to 
them and get a result acceptable to many people.

 From about C5 up I thought the hammers could use a little work.  I started 
by lightly filing all the hammers to remove surface felt and cupping, with 
a little more aggressive filing at the top where I thought the hammers were 
too soft.  This brightened things up a bit and gave a little more focus to 
the sound.  I thought the bass had come up too much as a result and needled 
it down slightly.  The treble (say C5 to C7) seemed a little short or 
pinched to me, so I did some deep shoulder needling.  A moderate amount of 
needling, say 6 - 10 stitches with 3 needles in the 9-11 o'clock and 1-3 
o'clock positions, opened up the sound nicely, although it made it slightly 
too soft to my taste.  Another light filing and ironing brought the sound 
up.  The very top was still too soft for my taste, so I lacquered the top 8 
notes.  This brought those notes up nicely.  This gave the balance that I 
wanted.  I then went through and worked with a single needle to even things 
out.  The hammers responded well to the needling, with little needling 
required to give a noticeable change.  The hammers did seem to respond to 
battery type needling (needles perpendicular to the molding low on the 
shoulder to 'voice up'), although not as dramatically as a Renner hammer.
They also seemed to respond to needles straight down into the shoulders
(parallel to the molding) to reduce front duplex zinging, though not as
dramatically as a Steinway hammer.

A very nice result.  The piano had a beautiful tone, nice balance, and good 
dynamic range.  The hammers were almost right where I thought they ought to 
be right off the bat, so a minimum of manipulation was required, which is a 
good thing in my opinion.  I definitely recommend that you give these 
hammers a try.  I hesitate to make a final judgement from one set of 
hammers, but I will certainly try another set.  My standard hammers are 
Renner Blue and Steinway.  I put Steinway hammers on Steinways (unless 
requested not to) because I like the result.  I will also put them on other 
pianos that I think will benefit from that type of hammer.  I use the 
Renner Blues on pianos that I think will benefit from that type of 
hammer.  If my next set of Ronsen Wurzens is like this set, then they will 
replace the Renner Blues as my standard 'hard' hammer.  I'm also planning 
to try them on a Steinway to see how they compare to the Steinway 
hammer.  Perhaps they'll become my standard hammer period.

One thing that I wish I had done was lacquer a couple of sample hammers 
lower down in the scale to see how that affected the sound and the ability 
to voice those hammers.  Something to try on the next set.

Phil Ford