Hi, David, All,
I completely agree with your assessments here...especially the lacquer
and "angel shot" notes...
I currently have six Hamburgs (four Ds and two Bs) to hand; and have
cared for a fair number of other Hamburg models and ages for many
years. While there are (especially since 1995) a number of increasing
production "convergences), this has only served to reinforce the
difference between the hammers. While the newer NY hammers are somewhat
smaller, denser, and lighter, they still require a good deal of
attention before being ready for prime time. That said, since I have
those techniques under pretty good control, with reproduceable results,
so, I'm not likely to change my approach.
Additionally, I'd like to add some anecdotal support for David's comment
re: the Hamburg D hammers being "quite suitable" for NY D. Some time
ago, I wound up having Ds of each flavour on the same stage at a school.
There was, of course, no money for parts, and, even if there had been,
the room and the pianos were so busy that serious maintenance work
simply was never really possible. In any event, it came to pass that
the hammers on both instruments were worn to the point that the
suffering of the instruments was becoming obvious to even the head of
the school. Around the time that the comments were getting out of hand,
we (miraculously) had a four-day weekend come along. I spent the entire
weekend swapping H,S,&F between the pianos, traveling and re-regulating
everything in sight, cleaning up the hammer shaping, refitting the
hammers to the strings; and got through a semi-final tuning and voicing
exercise just as the weekend was ending. While I do not recommend this
for the faint of heart, the difference was immediately noticeable; and
very positively received. The change was so well received, in fact,
that, over a year later, when I left, those same hammers were still in
place on the same instruments.
I have several more NY Ds and Bs in my sights on which to do the same
replacement...Hamburg hammers, along with new actions. We'll see...it
does always come down to money.
Kind regards.
Horace
On 1/17/2017 9:57 PM, David Love via Piano Technicians Guild wrote:
> Please do not forward this message due to Auto Login.
>
> Well, I take care of several Hamburg Ds and have put Hamburg D hammers on several NY Ds. IMO the Hamburg D hammer is quite suitable for the NY D (assuming a healthy belly). I don't care for the NY D hammer because the raw hammer is so soft that it requires more lacquer than is good for the long term health of the hammer. For a smaller piano with lower impedance characteristics and therefore less lacquer required it can work ok. But the D is a different animal. This is sort of off topic though. As I said earlier, the main difference you will find between the Hamburg and NY is the hammer and you will need a set of needle skills to work effectively with the Hamburg piano. Don't try and do all the voicing through the strings, you'll have to pull the action. Some needling in the lower and upper shoulder off the strike point will be required. Of course once you get the hammer set you can touch up with very shallow needling. But don't try and resolve f and ff levels with crown
> needling. You'll end up with a mushy top and quite possibly a mid and lower shoulder that is too firm. I don't like the "angel shot" method either. For a one time fast correction it's fine but it focuses on the back side of the hammer to the exclusion of the front and that is not a good approach in the long term. If you do only crown needing ala the NY hammer the piano may sound fine at lower dynamic levels but when you push it will be harsh and the tonal connection between tonal levels will be compromised.
>
> The hammer must to be made to flex with increasing force and that means controlling the spring in the lower part of the hammer. Once there it will be fairly stable but it can take some careful work to get it there and you must always test at all dynamic levels. As the dynamic level increases, the lower part of the hammer comes more into play and you must account for that. But it is not quite as simple as that. Once you create some flex in the 1:30 3:00 range (and the equivalent on the opposite side) you usually don't have to address that again for awhile, if at all. The 12:30 1:30 range will be useful for higher level dynamic ranges (mf ff) and the 12:15 to 12:00 range (and, again, the equivalent on the opposite side of the hammer) for lower level playing (p mp). Shallow crown needling for ppp, una corda voicing, and individual string matching within the unison finishes it off. I have a lengthy presentation on these methods but I haven't given it in a class format for
> awhile so contact me off list if you want and if you have additional questions and I'll try and answer or compile some diagrams.
>
> David Love
>
www.davidlovepianos.com>
>
>
>
Original Message------
>
> David, do you take care of a Hamburg grand at your school? How old is it? Has it needed new hammers? What other work has been done to it?
>
> ------------------------------
> John D. Chapman RPT
> University of North Carolina School of the Arts
> School of Music Piano Technician
> Winston-Salem, North Carolina
> 336-596-1035
> chapmanj@uncsa.edu
> ------------------------------
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Original Message------
Well, I take care of several Hamburg Ds and have put Hamburg D hammers on several NY Ds. IMO the Hamburg D hammer is quite suitable for the NY D (assuming a healthy belly). I don't care for the NY D hammer because the raw hammer is so soft that it requires more lacquer than is good for the long term health of the hammer. For a smaller piano with lower impedance characteristics and therefore less lacquer required it can work ok. But the D is a different animal. This is sort of off topic though. As I said earlier, the main difference you will find between the Hamburg and NY is the hammer and you will need a set of needle skills to work effectively with the Hamburg piano. Don't try and do all the voicing through the strings, you'll have to pull the action. Some needling in the lower and upper shoulder off the strike point will be required. Of course once you get the hammer set you can touch up with very shallow needling. But don't try and resolve f and ff levels with crown needling. You'll end up with a mushy top and quite possibly a mid and lower shoulder that is too firm. I don't like the "angel shot" method either. For a one time fast correction it's fine but it focuses on the back side of the hammer to the exclusion of the front and that is not a good approach in the long term. If you do only crown needing ala the NY hammer the piano may sound fine at lower dynamic levels but when you push it will be harsh and the tonal connection between tonal levels will be compromised.
The hammer must to be made to flex with increasing force and that means controlling the spring in the lower part of the hammer. Once there it will be fairly stable but it can take some careful work to get it there and you must always test at all dynamic levels. As the dynamic level increases, the lower part of the hammer comes more into play and you must account for that. But it is not quite as simple as that. Once you create some flex in the 1:30 – 3:00 range (and the equivalent on the opposite side) you usually don't have to address that again for awhile, if at all. The 12:30 – 1:30 range will be useful for higher level dynamic ranges (mf – ff) and the 12:15 to 12:00 range (and, again, the equivalent on the opposite side of the hammer) for lower level playing (p – mp). Shallow crown needling for ppp, una corda voicing, and individual string matching within the unison finishes it off. I have a lengthy presentation on these methods but I haven't given it in a class format for awhile so contact me off list if you want and if you have additional questions and I'll try and answer or compile some diagrams.
David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com