Walter 175 hammers

[David Love]

I wonder if the impatience with which the hammer or felt makers go through
the felting process doesn't have a lot to do with the difference.  Instead
of a denser interlocking felt fiber achieved by mechanical means, it is,
perhaps, achieved now more by heating and pressing.  That would make for a
dense but less resilient hammer.  I don't really know enough of the details
of felt making but there are some interesting insights in the "Tone
Building" book that Del Fandrich recently edited and released. 

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net 
www.davidlovepianos.com

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of John Delacour
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2007 10:44 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Walter 175 hammers

David Love wrote:
> Last I knew they were Ronsen Wurzens.  You can tell by looking at the low
> bass hammers and you should see some yellowish concentric circles moving
in
> toward the core...

Ah!  Now that's interesting.  I had Abel make me a special set of 
hammers not long ago that had these very pale buff lines and guessed he 
had used Wurzen felt, though I haven't yet had a reply to my query -- 
probably because I didn't ask for Wurzen and also didn't get the 
undercover I very clearly specified.  I haven't fitted them yet, so I 
have no idea what they sound like.  The only time I've seen it before is 
on Broadwood grand hammers from about the turn of the century -- a very 
nice-looking hammer.  I can't think that it will do any harm for 
hammers, but I've also had a sheet of treble damper felt supplied from 
Germany and here the layering of the felt is certainly not desirable : 
it is very difficult to cut smoothly and it can easily be torn apart 
along the line of the layers, which is useful on the rare occasions you 
want to do that, but but not for a whole sheet.  I have reverted to 
French felt for the treble dampers, which is  softer and better felted. 
  As for the bass, I have just got some Yamaha strips and have a 
feeling, though they are more expensive, that I will start using these 
for all pianos, since the quality is far higher than what I get from 
Germany of France.

Getting good felt has been a problem throughout my career.  When I look 
at the quality of the stuff they used 140 years ago, sometimes I despair.

JD