Thanks André... for your devotion to the craft... It's exciting to see such a strong new interest in making hammers the good old "Slow" way... it seems with hard pressed hammers we spend lots of time undoing what was done in the pressing... Most technicians in the US are not trained in working up the hard pressed hammer. I've seen that formal training Europe has much more emphasis on preneedling and needling to bring up resiliency. In this country it seems that a lot of hot pressed hammer sets just get installed and a little needling here and there is all they get. It seems that many of us have forgotten or maybe have never even experienced the kind of full spectrum tone color that a beautifully made and voiced hammer can elicit from a piano. The only advantage to hot pressing is for the hammer maker who can make them faster that way.... One of the great things about these new/old hammers is that they don't take hours and days of work to bring up the resiliency... it was never erased by heat in the first place but truly built by tension in the press and by getting the felt sheets right. Jack Brand, who - as you know, is the owner of Filzfabrik Wursen, will be telling the story of the miraculous rediscovery of the old felt formulas at the California State PTG convention next week.... I've heard the story from him personally and it's quite an amazing tale.... If your at CAstate DON'T MISS HIS CLASS! Thanks again André.. sincerely, David Stanwood PS - My mantra quote for voicing ideal from Alfred Dolge: "The art in hammer making has ever been to obtain a solid, firm foundation, graduating in softness and elasticity toward the top surface, which latter has to be silky and elastic in order to produce a mild, soft tone for pianissimo playing, but with sufficient resistance back of it to permit the hard blow of fortissimo playing." >On Feb 14, 2009, at 8:16 PM, David C. Stanwood wrote: > >>Hi André, >> >>You must be feeling good that that the world is >>finally rediscovering old world hammer felts by >>Filzfabrik Wurzen. You've been ringing the >>Wurzen bell for some time now. It's all very >>exciting! >> > >Hello David, > >It is certainly nice to see that, in the end, quality prevails. > >> >> >>An important component of the Wurzen felts, or >>any old style hammer felt, is the cold >>pressing. In the New World, Ronsen has been a >>Rock of Gibraltar in providing the cold pressed >>option since I first discovered them in the >>'80s. I know that at least one big European >>hammer maker, namely Abel, is now providing >>cold pressed hammers as a stock item - with >>their Natural Felt. >> > >For many years I did not want to buy Abel >hammers because he is/was making hammers with >VFG felt. In the piano industry, I 'grew up' >with VFG felt because the >Weickert felt was not anymore available. >I got to know 'Wurzen felt' around the end of >the 1980's, and with a sigh of relief because >voicing finally became a pleasure (again). >If Mr Abel now makes hammers with Wurzen felt, >warm pressed or cold pressed, I think it is to >his and our advantage. > > >>This is a new trend... is Renner cold pressing for you? >> > >No, but they do not kill their hammers because they always sound good. >Moreover, they have a fully automated press (I >think they are the only hammer maker with such a >very modern machine) which ensures great >evenness and stability. >I am pretty critical. If a hammer is no good, I shall not use it. > >In friendly cooperation with the Renner >technician, I have developed my 'own' hammers >which I can use on all types of grands. >So far, I have had only very good reactions from >the many customers I changed the hammers for. >It tells something about the high quality of the Renner hammers. > >On the other hand, it would be very healthy for >the market if there are other hammer makers who >also make very good hammers. >I live in Europe, and because of the VFG felt, I chose for Renner. >If I would live in the USA, I would probably do >business with Renner and certainly Ray Negron. I >know Ray makes very good hammers. > >> >> >>(My apologies if this subject has already been covered in past posts...) >> > >The list is an evolving source of knowledge. >It is a place where we can learn from each other. > >friendly greetings >from >André Oorebeek > >Antoni van Leeuwenhoekweg 15 >1401 VW, Bussum >the Netherlands > >tel : +31 35 6975840 >gsm : +31 652 388008 > ><http://www.concertpianoservice.nl>www.concertpianoservice.nl > >"where Music is, no harm can be"
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