[pianotech] Weickert special felt update

Sat Feb 14 05:52:37 PST 2009

Dale (Big Daddy) & Ray,

I'm on my second set of Weickert hammers. They will be going into a 1905 Baldwin E that I'm rebuilding. It has the original board which I have shimmed. I can't wait for the results. The first piano I used them in was a Steinway M. My customer said she could not remember the piano every sounding so good. (I thought is was just my great voicing <gggrrr>)

Keep up the good work.

Al

  From: erwinspiano at aol.com 
  Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 12:47 AM
  To: pianotech at ptg.org ; oorebeek at planet.nl 
  Subject: [pianotech] Weickert special felt update

     Hi Andre and all
      Ray & I are still learning & refining the Ronsen process with this felt.  Ray & I have received the latest iterations of this felt & will have product & piano at the convention in Burbank

  Any way the good news is

    I sent out a 1971 Steinway D rebuild to Sunnyvale Ca. on Sat with a set of Weickert special concert density (concert density...my term) hammers that is  tonally outside of the box. It was not a new board, but, It was fantastic. It is very much like the first test set I installed on the Kawai kg-3 last summer & was curious about the density of those first hammer sets/sheets. It works very well with Rays pressing method.
    On the Sunnyvale D... the initial sound was slightly dark in the bass & low tenor but absolutely huge. In My Opinion, For New York Ds to sound like N.Y. Ds' they require a firm crown so I put about 4 to 6 drops of very weak key top solution on the crown of the bass hammers & one drop on each string cut from not 21 to note 35. That's it. Nothing but the initial filing on notes 35 thru 88. Break in solution if you will. It was so easy I felt guilty

     Yes, the hammers would have played in, but the time it takes to do this is not always available for D's that are going right into in concert situations. However, this is absolutely a great choice of felt  & an extremely versatile hammer for this application.
      This Steinway D  had more color than a box of color crayons. Pure tonal power,Lush,gorgeous,clear,sustain,projection, definition. I'm telling you, Wurzen is on the right track. 

    This piano ( the D) was allegedly in the Custody of Van Cliburn at one time. Probably one of many. You Know? The client is a virtuoso & can really play. She was thrilled. Truly a fantastic sound.The voicing protocol was so simple it should be a secret. Never laid a needle in it except to test density. The really fussy work in my practice is prepping the set for an extremely even hammer weight curve and a beautifully shaped hammer. This is where the time is spent when doing custom action balancing & concert level voicing but the voicing time in this case was very little. Truly amazing!
      This felt is so resilient & bounces off the string so willingly that the voicing stability & longevity should be fantastic & simple to maintain. The felt is  very promising...understament!

    Dale Erwin

  mean? Find out now! 

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