Yamaha action with Steinway/European hammers

[Farrell]

Roger Jolly has written in the past about the wonders of adding a set of 
Abel hammers and Arledge bass strings to a Yamaha.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brad Smith, RPT" <staff@smithpiano.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 6:20 PM
Subject: Yamaha action with Steinway/European hammers


> Hey,
> I'm planning to install new hammers on a 20+ year old Yamaha C3.   Nice
> piano, good power, just has worn out hammers and key bushings.
> The least complicated thing to do is install Yamaha hammers, and in this
> case they would be 'pre-hung' from Yamaha onto new Yamaha shanks & 
> flanges.
>
> OR....
> I could install some other type of hammer, Renner, Abel, Wurzen (haven't
> tried yet) or even Steinway, onto the existing shanks/flanges to go after 
> a
> different sound.
> (Knuckles are decent enough to reuse existing shanks, even though I would
> rather just go with all new parts. )
>
> Question is, does anyone have insights on the benefits of putting 
> different
> hammers (i.e. non hard-pressed types) onto an
> excellent Yamaha action?   ( I love the precision of the Japanese/Yamaha,
> but I also serve several pianists who are dyed in the wool Steinway 
> people.
> who don't care for the tone of Asian hammers, even after careful-balanced
> voicing).
>
> I want to offer some different options to my customer, while being careful
> not to promise something I can't completely predict.
>
> I thought one possible course would be to offer them a different sounding
> hammer, onto their existing shanks/flanges,
> and if we ultimately aren't satisfied with it, we could go back and do the
> uncomplicated Yamaha pre-hung hammers as originally planned.
> It's a bit experimental, because I can't promise that they'll love it.
> Because of that, I would offer them that option at a reduced
> rate.   My sense is that we might really end up with an incredible piano,
> with a wider dynamic range, but retaining the Japanese precision.
> With a reduced rate, I feel I am 'compensating' the customer to some 
> degree
> for taking some chances with me, on a more experimental strategy.
>
> What would you do?
> I have a good relationship with this customer, and built up trust enough
> that they would stick with me through an 'experiment'.
> I always try to be as upfront as possible about what I can promise and
> predict...and what I cannot.
>
> Thanks in advance !!
>
>
> Best regards,
> Brad Smith, RPT
> www.SmithPiano.com
>


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