Hello Joe, I am aware that Schimmel used a white felt front rail punching in the 1990s. I'm not sure who manufactured that felt. Perhaps you have some information on that. Otherwise, you may be jumping to conclusions to assume that any firm, white 6 mm thick felt is made by Wurzen or is indeed the Crescendo felt. The Crescendo Punching felt has only been available for a few years. Since then, there have been some changes made to the formulation of the felt to yet improve on the quality and resilience. I am no expert on felt - felt making is a world unto itself. But I have been studying the subject and am gaining some insights into the complexity and diversity of felt production. Contrary to what you write, the Crescendo felt is not "hard/firm pressed". Rather, it gets its density through a proprietary method of "fulling" which involves agitation of the felt fleeces while using special lubricants to attain a deep interlocking of the wool fibers. This way, you get a firm felt with a lot of natural resilience of the wool fiber. This is what sets this special felt apart from other felts, which use heat and pressure and sometimes steam to attain density and firmness. A by-product of that process is hardness. Resilience is lost, for the most part. This leads to a knocking sound when used is an application such as a front rail punching. I am constantly getting feedback from technicians who are amazed that Crescendo punchings can give such a defined key dip and aftertouch yet still cut back on key noise. Just today I heard about about an accomplished player who perceived the touch as "softer" after the old, mushy punchings had been replaced by Crescendos. Perception is in the fingers/ears of the pianist, of course, so who is to argue? I suggest replacing the original Schimmel front rail punchings with Crescendos and try them out. Just my biased view <G> Jurgen Goering Piano Forte Supply (250) 754-2440 info at pianofortesupply.com http://www.pianofortesupply.com ---------------------------- Joe wrote: snip... They are Wurzen, hard/firm pressed felt...just like the Crescendo ones I got from Jurgen a while back! And here I thought this was a NEW thingee! snip... The main complaint, (once I pinned her down), was that the Schimmel FEELS too "Mechanical"! And she can hear the key hitting the bottom while she is playing! These two things REALLY bug her. snip -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 2500 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20060429/42e89acd/attachment.bin
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