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Practice grand hammer life

  • 1.  Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-23-2018 09:59
    Hi All,

    I'm wondering how long do your practice grand hammers last?  Also, how many piano majors v. practice grands do you have? We have 16 grands and 60+ majors in the piano dept.

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    Paul T. Williams RPT
    Director of Piano Services
    School of Music
    813 Assembly St
    University of South Carolina
    Columbia, SC 29208
    pwilliams@mozart.sc.edu
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  • 2.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-23-2018 21:15
    Paul, this is a tough one. We have 5 grand pianos that are dedicated to our piano majors. All in individual locked rooms. I am not sure how many piano majors we have but it is probably closer to 15. Perhaps others will have more to offer as far as typical ratios. 

    Our hardest played practice grands seem to seem to get about 7 to 10 years out of a good set of hammers. I have not been able to track this carefully because when I arrived in '09 we had 2 Yamaha G2s that were just "SHOT" including hammers. We shuffled some around & then within a couple of years we were able to purchase a new Yam C1 & then a C2. Then we moved a Mason with like new Renners on it from upstairs-it is still doing really well, and then an older Steinway S which already had half worn-out hammers. It is our weakest link & needs to be taken out of service ASAP. 
    And then our 5th one is a new Steinway Model O, upstairs in the TA office/practice room. 
    Looks like I may not be much help my friend!

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    [Kevin] [Fortenberry] [RPT]
    [Staff Techician]
    [Texas Tech Univ]
    [Lubbock] [TX]
    [8067783962]
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  • 3.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-25-2018 13:09
    If we had sufficient budget, I would replace hammers on practice room grands for piano majors every three to five years. That said, we have hammers still in service that are ten years old (isn't that about fifty in "dog years"?)

    We have an embarrassingly low ratio of piano major practice rooms to piano majors, what I only hope is the worst ratio of anyone on this list. There are ten classical piano majors, another ten jazz piano majors, and about another ten "performer/composers" for whom piano is their primary instrument. Although classrooms and the piano teaching studio are made available to all of these folks whenever they are available, there are a measly THREE piano major practice rooms. Plus, our practice room are so small that they cannot accommodate anything larger than a 5' 8". (We have Yamahas.)

    The Colburn School here in Los Angeles (gold standard of all things piano-related) on the other hand, has one practice room for each piano major. The instruments in those rooms range from seven to nine foot models of Yamaha, Kawai, Steinway and Fazioli pianos. As the Beach Boys once commented (on this very subject, if I am not mistaken), "Wouldn't it be nice…"

    Alan

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    Alan Eder, RPT
    Herb Alpert School of Music
    California Institute of the Arts
    Valencia, CA
    661.904.6483
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  • 4.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-25-2018 13:24
    Do the piano major practice rooms at Colburn come complete with coffee maker, refrigerator, and hammock as well as the fancy piano? Hey, a private room, might as well move in!






  • 5.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-25-2018 13:40
    Good post Alan, I also just found out that we do have 25 piano majors this year. So 5 piano to 25 majors. This does not however, include jazz students/jazz piano students. Not sure how many on that but we do have two jazz professors & one who is a FABOULOUS jazz piano teacher from Colorado. 

    6 to 7 years does seem just about right for hammer life on these high usage & borderline "abused" pianos.

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    [Kevin] [Fortenberry] [RPT]
    [Staff Techician]
    [Texas Tech Univ]
    [Lubbock] [TX]
    [8067783962]
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Member
    Posted 10-26-2018 09:15
    thumbnail image
    This 1915 Steinway O is typical of the conditions our piano majors deal with. We have eight tiny practice rooms reserved for them. Tuning and repair is about all I can do for 126 pianos and a very busy concert/recital schedule. We just accepted another donation of a 1912 Steinway M. The piano faculty will request $3,000 to do a little upkeep by outside contractor since I am only allowed to work 20 hours per week.


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    Dr. Roy Howard
    Piano Technician, Wichita State University
    Wichita, Kansas
    2rhoward@att.net
    316 207 6704
    www.amluthiers.org
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  • 7.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-26-2018 10:06
    Roy,
    That is very familiar. It matches conditions at UNM for the first 11 years I worked here, 8-10 hours a week with 65 pianos (became half time in 1997, and grew to 3/4 time with 95 pianos currently). You can only do what is possible with the hours and budget available.
    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain






  • 8.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-28-2018 18:03

    The answer to this question has to be within a context, mine is a general answer.
    Drawing from time with Norman Neblett: "Hammers regularly shaped last longer
    than those that aren't." At <g class="gr_ gr_418 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="418" data-gr-id="418">first</g> this may seem counterintuitive, it isn't. New or replacement
    Norm filed the hammers as soon as there were grooves enough to almost remove. The hammers lasted longer and fewer strings were broken.

    Which brand of hammer lasts the longest with the least amount of service? There are too many variables to address such as school politics and: "Has the pounding student graduated, yet?"



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    Ed Whitting, RPT
    Lake Forest Ca.
    949.830.6847
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  • 9.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-29-2018 12:33
    Hi everyone,
    A related question: Titebond Molding glue is popular for hanging hammers. When it comes time to replace them, are there any considerations for removing the old hammers if this glue has been used? Heat or chemicals? Or should they be easily removed with an extractor?
    Assuming one wants to reuse the shanks and doesn't wish to cut the hammers off.
    thanks

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    Scott Cole, RPT
    rvpianotuner.com
    Talent, OR
    (541-601-9033
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  • 10.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-30-2018 05:39
    Heat then pop off.

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    Mario Igrec, RPT
    http://www.pianosinsideout.com
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  • 11.  RE: Practice grand hammer life

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 10-30-2018 12:01
    That particular is my standard product for gluing hammers and gentle heat from a heat gun will soften it enough to remove the hammers easily with extracting pliers.  The glue tends to remain a bit rubbery and I find that the residue on the shank is best removed by additional applications of heat and the poorly named "shank reducing tool" (you don't really want to be reducing the size of the shank).

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    David Love RPT
    www.davidlovepianos.com
    davidlovepianos@comcast.net
    415 407 8320
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