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I have been looking at a 187 cm (6´2”) grand piano. I find its sound appealing, but a bit too harsh, too much like splitting glass and a bit on the loud side too. Sounds as if they have put in hammers made of steel ;-( . Having heard many good things about Abel natural felt hammers, I would like to take the plunge and have my piano technician put in a set of them. Only, Abel has three different qualities of natural felt: hard, medium-hard and soft. Generally I like a crisp tone with a good accent rather than a piano that is completely voiced down. I want a piano and not an organ. I guess we should look then at medium-hard or hard. Has anyone tested medium-hard ones against hard ones? The only way to find out will be to get a sample of both qualities to test on the piano and hear it play, but in the meantime it would be reassuring to have your opinion. It would not make sense, to voice down an entire set of hard natural felt if the medium-hard felt would just be perfect ...

Hi:

You've asked some good questions. The real answer is to find a piano technician who has 2 main skills:

1) Good voicer
2) Knows how to listen to the customer

I would let that person decide what hammers are best on your piano to get the sound you want. It may or may not be Abels at all.

Good luck!

Steve

Thanks. While I think good voicing skills are important with pianos, which seem to be not so wide-spread after all, I find myself particularly attracted to Abel natural felt:

- In an attempt to get closer to a "richer" piano sound (found in many 19th century pianos, I think), Abel has resuscitated the old way of making felt hammer heads.
- I have read a post here about Isaac hammers -- tennis ball instead of baseball against a wall (or something like that) -- which were praised for more complex and more dynamic behaviour because of their ability to react to different "blows" on the strings.
I think the Abel hammer heads must have something of that too.
- I am looking for a sound that is both clear and crisp and slightly softer and richer. Mind, the piano is for my living room and not for the concert hall.
- A restorer of mid-19th century pianos has given me a favourable feedback on medium hard Abel naturals
- On top of it all, the felt is produced in an environment-friendly way, not using pollutants to get all the fat out of the wool. This fat seems to add to a nice sound, while the hammers seem not to be bleached totally white.

For all these reasons Abel seems to me the most attractive choice. Has anybody tested the different hardness qualities?

I have used many sets of the Abel Natural hammers in both uprights and grands. As far as I know the company that sells them in the U.S. Brooks LTD. only offer one density. I have not heard of any other options.

I like these hammers, I like them allot. But like any hammer, you have to know how to work with them.

Puck01,

Here is another option for you on Abel hammers. Then you can have a conversation with the good fellows that actually make the hammer sets.

info@abel-pianoparts.de) Norbert and Helmut Abel.

Cheers……….

Hi Dan
Thanks for the e-mail address. I have already phoned them and Mr. Abel informed me.
My piano technician wants to get hold of a few such hammers to test before ordering, which is fair enough for me. We have already done a test with an extremely soft hammer which sounded horrible, even worse than it sounded in the piano it was taken from for the test, so he was suspicious. I told him that the natural felt hammer could not be compared to a soft modern felt hammer, in my opinion. But testing is all right for me, since I am going to pay for the whole thing. I am quite confident and looking forward very much to the experiment.
I just hope my technician will be able to get the spare natural felt hammers from the company in Germany that Abel referred us to, since the Abel company does not have any spare hammers for our tests.

Rod,
Is the voicing technique any different for natural felt hammers as opposed to the modern felt hammers?

I had a set of Abel Encore hammers put into my S&S B and they sounded great. Brooks sent me a few Encore performance hammers which are impregnated with hardener and a few regular Encores. The performance hammer is a very powerful, hard hammer and too much for my piano. It might be OK for a concert hall. I know there are other hammers such as Encore Lite and Select hammers, but I've only had direct experience with the Encores ane Encore Performance. The regular Encores, IMO are a great hammer.

Not really, I still pre-voice them as I do with most new hammers. I work the shoulders in my gang clamp, I shape them, hang them and then voice as you would normally do with other Abel/Renner hammers. The needles go in quite nice. I do find I get the tone I am looking for without much voicing. Just have to even thing out.
Most of the voicing is accomplished by proper hammer fitting.

I have not hung a set without pre-voicing so I can not comment on the tone out of the package.

I have had the harden at times, the last few in the treble.

Thanks to everybody!

Rod, thank you very much for this specific and precious piece of information! Not that I am going to do the job myself, but it reassures me, that an experienced technician will be able to do the right job, without any special training.
If I understand you correctly, you say that you sometimes have to harden the last few hammers in the treble. I suppose, it is just the last octave at the top or so? Do you harden the hammer heads with lacquer or do you use an iron (same as is used for clothes)?

I have only had to harden at the most 5 of the last hammers. I also do not pre-voice those. In fact I do not pre-voice the last 10 hammers.

I use lacquer.

I recently specified Abel "Medium" natural felt hammers for an extensively redesigned 275 grand. They sounded quite good out of the box. When I reviewed the piano the hammers had not been "voiced" in any way. The sound was clean, reasonably bright and with excellent dynamics. The sound was just about where I would like it to be from the factory. I could easily take them up some by simply sanding them a bit or down with some light needling. None of this 50 strokes in each shoulder silliness.

I’ve not tried the harder version of these hammers but can’t imagine why they would be necessary.

I’d be reluctant to use them on a smaller piano with a lower tensioned string scale. They would be a bit too hard, I think. Yes, they could be voiced down but that never sounds the same as a hammer that starts out a little softer. In my own work smaller pianos with lighter scaling still get Ronsen/Wurzen hammers

ddf

Thank you, Del!
So I should go for the Abel "medium" natural felt for my new 187 cm (6´2”) grand piano?
Wait a minute, you would rather get Ronsen/Wurzen hammers for such a size? I am a complete newcomer ...
And my piano technician thinks it would be rather daring to get stuff from overseas. Hmmm. What am I going to do? Testing would not be a bad idea in both cases. But where to get samples of Ronsen/Wurzen hammers from? Who could help out?

Hi Del,

I voice the sides very speariling. 8 stitches per side tapered down to 4 with a 3 needle 8mm length. It's just insurance cause I hate doing that work once they are hung and from what I know, mostly affects sustain not brightness.

Some other manufactured hammers change very little when you use this approach. New Yamaha hammers come to mind as I just finished a C7 with a new set of prehungs from Yamaha. NEVER AGAIN.
Hard as a rock and 50 strokes would not do it.
I used the Yamaha hammers on the venues request.

I too hate having to pulverize hammers. In fact Wally brook has told me not to bother with any pre-voicing. But I'm so use to it after the Renner Blue, days.

Where did you get the "Medium" natural felt hammers from?

Hope all is well.

Directly from Abel in Germany.

ddf

Ah, yes, I'd missed the part about Bern, Switzerland.

I also must have missed the make and model of piano, or have you not said? The hammers -- whatever they are -- will have to match the scaling and soundboard design or you will end up doing more voicing that is necessary (or desirable).

ddf

That's what I figured.
I may have to start ordering direct. I find it easy just to call our North American suppliers.
But we are limited with what is offered. Especially with Renner hammers.

O.K. lunch is over, back to work.

No I have not said the make of the piano yet. It is a Brodmann BG 187. European parts assembled in China with a quality check by Austrian ex-Boesendorfer builders. It's my first grand piano and it is still a lot of money for my budget ...
I agree with my technician who is keen on testing with sample hammers in any case before ordering a whole set.

If my information is correct—and it comes from a normally reliable source—this piano is basically a copy of the Steinway Model A. That being the case you’ll want a relatively light and soft hammer. I’ll stick with my recommendation of the softer Abel natural felt hammers.

ddf

Del, the "A" - current model or earlier scale?