Robert,
What do reshaped hammers mean? I have seen this in some of the pianos you have on your site and am wondering as to what this means.
Sonja-
Good question! When hammers impact the strings, over time they develop deep grooves which are compacted felt. It creates a brittle tone. Hammers that are really worn can even flatten a bit. So, you can bring new life to hammers by reshaping them to the egg-shape which produces the best tone. Better than that, you get down to virgin felt which has a warmer sound. You can only reshape hammers so many times until you get to the wood – then you have to replace the hammers. These hammers have plenty of good felt to work with, so years down the line they can be reshaped again a number of times.
I may use this question and answer in my next video newsletter!
Robert,
Why isn’t the pin block made of metal? It does not need to transfer sound and metal would not have to be replaced.
– Kenneth
You ask a very good question. In fact, before the turn of the 20th century, Mason & Hamlin did indeed produce a limited number of upright and grand pianos that had metal, threaded pinblocks – not wood! These were referred to as “sidewinders” because the pins were parallel to the strings, not at right angles like in traditional pianos. They abandoned the design in a few short years and I am not aware of any other piano manufacturer utilizing metal pinblocks.
There are several benefits to wood pinblocks. First, the pins are threaded very finely. This allows for precise tuning. It is difficult to have metal machine screws with the geometry and strength to allow for the extreme fine tuning necessary in a piano. The fact is, there are over 20 tons of combined string tension in a piano. With a traditional pinblock when you restring the piano, you can use slightly larger pins and get excellent tuning stability. With a metal pinblock, the machine screws don’t allow for that possibility. Worse yet, if the metal breaks, it can be very difficult repairing. In traditional pianos with a wood pinblock, you can even replace the pinblock if necessary.
So, there are good reasons why nearly all pianos have had wood pinblocks for hundreds of years.