Hi Gordon, Our presses are one of the styles Dolge used, and are old, but I can't say if they were actually his presses. We replaced the inner workings of the machines some years ago. We do have a molder which we use for making our hammer moldings that was from the Dolge factory. Ray Negron -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf Of gordon stelter Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 2:45 PM To: Pianotech Subject: Re: Ronsen Hammers Mr. Negron, I once heard that you use the actual, 19th Century hammer presses from Alfred Dolge's factory in Dolgeville, N.Y.. Is this true ? Thump P.S. On this trek I also found an extremely early ( 1895 ) Peerless coin piano, and a mint S&S Duo-Art ( "OR" ) in a church sanctuary. Bought the Peerless for $200, but the Duo-Art is probably still up there. --- Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote: > Hi Ray > Thanks. Good post & thanks for the clear mission > statement & philosophy.. > Maybe next time you could give us your thoughts on > tension & compression. > Dale > Hello, > > Dale Erwin asked me to post information to this list > in order to clarify some > comments that have been made about our hammers in > these tech discussions. So, > for anyone who is interested, here is some > information, and I will try to not > make this a Ronsen commercial. > > We don't call our hammers "cold pressed" because we > do use some heat to cure > the glue. The heat stays on for 30 minutes, at which > point it is turned off, > and the set is left in the press for an additional 2 > hours & 30 minutes. So, I > guess you could say we have "slow-pressed" > hammers.We have experimented with > heat, and true cold pressed hammers, and feel that > our method gives the same > result as a cold pressed hammer. We do pre- press > now, but use no heat in that > process. We also use hand presses, not hydraulic > presses. > > We manufacture hammers this way because our goal is > to make hammers similar > to those produced in this country in the 1920's. In > talking with technicians > over the years, especially Willis Snyder,we have > often heard about the beautiful > sounding pianos produced in the 20's, and the > properties of the hammers in > those pianos. As the industry changed, and most of > our business was for > rebuilders instead of manufacturers, we decided to > try to produce that type of hammer, > which meant re-learning how to make hammers. > Discussions with my father > Marty, who was the foreman at Pfriemer Piano Hammer > before starting Ronsen, got us > going in this direction. We continue to make changes > to improve the quality of > our hammers, including, thanks to Andre Oorebeek and > Serge Harel, the > addition of Wurzen felt to our inventory. Other > manufacturers have also worked to > improve the quality of their hammers. Like you, we > manufacturers also take pride > in our work. We at Ronsen know that most technicians > today prefer the harder > hammers, but we are happy with our niche in the > industry. If you have any > questions or comments, I can be reached at > ray@ronsen-hammer.com Thank you. > > Ray Negron > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover _______________________________________________ pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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