Here’s the difference a new set of German Abel hammers can make to the piano’s tone! Brian King
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ก.ย. 2024
- On August 16th, 2021 I showed you in a you-tube • Putting a new set of h... my progress in restoring my fifty year old Yamaha upright piano. Listen to the difference the new hammers has made because Troy Scharf tuned it today! I’ll attach the link to that first you-tube video I made while I was installing the new hammers showing how clangy the old hammers with their flat grooved heads sounded compared to how rich and warm the tone is now with the new hammers on with the action regulated and with the piano now tuned. I still have a squeak to get rid of in the damper pedal and the job is pretty well done. The restoration was done by Brian King.
• A MUST watch if you wa... - บันเทิง
I got an old Netzow upright made in the early 1900s the other day. I have never worked on a piano, and I dont know how to play either.
The whole thing was chewed up by mice. I intend on replacing all the hammers, dampers, and all the felt pieces in it, as the mice chewed every piece of felt in the piano to pieces. I know it's probably not worth the cost of the new hammers, but the old girl has a beautiful sound, and so far, the soundboard looks to be in good shape. Once I replace everything, i will learn to play piano.
I have been looking at hammers and came across Able. I know im crazy but I believe what one man can do, another man can do. The hammers you put in sound amazing. Thank you for the video. It gives me confidence that Able hammers will be the right choice.
God bless you.
All the best wit putting new Abel hammers on your piano and new dampers as well. You will need to have the
expertise of a qualified piano restorer I would think. The hammers must be parallel and travel the same distance apart all the way to the strings and they must strike on all three wires evenly. Brooks in the U.S. sells the Abel hammers. Good luck with your new found hobby. Brian
Brian it sounds magnificent! Are the strings original? I cant imagine they are 50 years old and sound so beautiful. You are obviously a very good technician. This is a beautiful sounding instrument with such a lovely warm tone. It is voiced perfectly. Bravo. Great job!!
Thanks so much Garry. Yes those are the original wires! I was surprised none of them broke tuning it! but Troy said the wires are not pitted which is a good thing. He showed me where the first two numbers so 71 down in the piano indicate the year the piano was built so it is exactly fifty years old this year! The amazing thing is that the new Abel hammers from Germany didn't require any voicing! Each new note just suddenly sounded beautiful instead of clangy as it did with the old hammers! Take care Brian
I have a 1904 grand piano I'm so tempted to see what abel hammers can do
Hi there, Might i suggest that you first have a qualified technician check the piano over to be sure that the bearing is good that the sounding board is not cracked and off the ribs and that there are no cracks in the bridges. Sometimes just needling the original hammers can make a huge difference to creating a lovely warm tone especially if it is voiced properly after the hammers have been carded to make them egg shaped again as they were when they where new but without the grooves any more. I really like the tone of the pianos that have the new Abel hammers on them but these pianos were structurally sound to begin with so I would say that is what you need to check out first. All the best with it. Brian
so sweet. thank you
so glad you liked it! Just saw your comment now! sorry. Brian
Sounds like a new piano!
Yes for sure! because the sounding board is still as original the new hammers allow a return to how the piano
was intended to sound when it was first built! All the best to you. Brian
Hi Brian what is that first Chopin tune called? Sounds great! I like the others as well!
It is the melodic part from the Chopin Etude in E major, Opus 10, No.3 and it is called Tristesse. I'm glad you enjoyed it! All the best to you, Brian. @@ChoBee333
Lovely color, bloom and sustain! Did you do any needling to the shoulders or elsewhere?
No I didn't find it needed any needling because when the piano is all closed up on such a short piano it needs all the colour it can get! and I didn't want to risk softening the felt at all. It is fun to play on it with the front off and hear the overtones I can create. All the best. Brian
Increíble como cambia el sonido con martillos alemanes. Consulta: En pianos antiguos (50 - 80 años o más) es necesario cambiar cuerdas si estas se ve que están en buen estado? después de tantos años les afecta el sonido ?
Estimado Jose, Si el fieltro se endurece debido a los surcos profundos, es necesario cambiar los martillos.
Brian
@@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 Thanks for responding Brian, but I was referring to the piano strings (or wires). If these look in good condition and are even 60 - 80 years old, will it be necessary to change them to get a better sound? or it's not that relevant
@@Jose_Miguel_1971 Hi Jose, The steel wires can often be restored by rubbing them with ooo steel wool but if they are badly rusted you will need to restring the piano. Often the bass strings just need to be loosened off and unhooked and twisted one and a half rotations in the direction the copper comes off the wire, at the bottom. and hooked back on to the hitch pin. Be sure to tap the eye tight to the plate before fully pulling up the tension. This can often totally revitalize a dead sounding bass string! without having to send the whole set away to have a new identical set of bass strings made to order. I hope this information helps you. All the best, Brian
@@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 Yes, your explanation is very clear, thank you very much Brian
This upright piano’s tone changed dramatically! From which website did you buy those abel hammers? I have watched some videos about installation of abel hammers on both upright and grand pianos. Some of them sounded bright afterwards, but yours is so warm! I just wonder if l also call my piano technician installing those hammers that you installed in, will my piano give such warm sound as well?
Hi Anar, I would say that if your piano is the same one you are playing La Campanella on on your you-tube channel then that loud clangy sound is exactly what my Yamaha piano sounded like before I changed the hammers!! so I believe that if you can order original Abel hammers it will dramatically improve the tone of your piano. Your piano looks higher than mine so it would have a larger sounding board which is all to the good in giving a more powerful bass as well. I used to order the Abel hammers through Pianophile in Brossard, Quebec but they very recently closed down their business. You can order them through Schaff Piano Supply in the United States and ask them specifically that you want to buy a set of Abel hammers made in Germany. Their website is
www.schaffpiano.com and their telephone number is 1-800-747-4266. You will need to send them the end hammers of each section so that you can have them bore the new hammers at the perfect original angles as the original hammers are at. Then once you get them you might want to try installing one hammer say at the start of the middle section and see if the tone is as warm as you want. Or you might choose one hammer that is really extremely grooved and flat and especially noisy and change it being sure that you have the correct hammer in the sequence. Tell them the make and model and height of your upright. I wish you all the best of luck with changing them. It sure changed the sound of mine from cold and noisy to warm and pleasant to play on! Brian
@@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 Thank you so much for information! Piano that l played la campanella was not mine. My piano is petrof upright piano which was made in 1982. I bought that piano 4 years ago. It sounded absolutely fantastic before 4 years. But now even with professional tuning, my piano does not sound as perfect as it used to sound. I hope with those hammers my piano will sound as good as yours! I live in Azerbaijan which is very very far from US.... So how can l send my piano' s original hammer to the website that you sent?
@@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 is it possible to buy entire action mechanism? I could not find the price of original German made piano action from internet. What is the price of that? Do you know this?
@@anarpianoplayer5133 Hi Anar, I would suggest to you because you live so far away and are worried about losing the end section hammers in the mail, that you first chose one of the worst sounding hammers on your piano, and "card" meaning reshaping the felt on it to gently "egg shaped", using a carding stick of sandpaper and taking as little felt off the hammer as possible but returning the hammer to its original new shape and see how the hammer makes that note sound now when you lay you play that note in the following way... ( be sure that your reshaped hammer is striking equally on all three of the note's piano wires) .....
lay the flat of the flesh of your finger length flat on the surface of the piano key with your hand relaxed and imagine the piano key is a waterbed and sink in to it slowly all the way to the floor as you pretend the key is a "cat's tail" as it is trying to run away from you and you are grabbing it by the tail and drawing it towards you and gently balance your relaxed weight it the key as your finger takes your weight and shapes you for the next note you want to play, while you very gently snap the pad of your finger towards you.
If you love the tone you hear from this weight touch that is all that is necessary for each key of your piano. If there is enough felt left on the now egg-shaped hammer then you are done. But if the note still sounds hard or harsh you should try to buy yourself a three needle voicing tool that is used for softening the felt and then study you-tube videos on voicing and watch them and learn how the piano technician softens the felt after reshaping hammers if that is needed without overdoing it! Be sure to have the piano tuned before you voice it.
I hope this works for you my friend and the best of luck with your piano. I do think if your hammers are really badly grooved that reshaping them might make the hammers too light an action for you and your best option would be to insure the end section hammers to a value more than what you paid for the piano and then call Schaff and talk to them about shipping you a new set of Abel made in Germany hammers. All the best of luck to you Anar. Take care, Brian
@@anarpianoplayer5133 I think you would have to talk to Schaff or possibly
Brooks Ltd piano supply 1-800-326-2440 their e-mail address is Brooksltdonline.com They could tell you if they can supply a whole new set of action parts for your piano but it could be very costly I think and the piano may not be worth spending that much money on it. Then there would be a lot of regulating work needed to be cone done once new parts are put in place! All the best, Brian
Beautiful! What are names of all the pieces that was played.
Sure Samuel, First is from the Chopin Etude in E major and the melody is referred to as Tristesse. Next is
To A Wild Rose Opus 51 by Edward MacDowell, and finally is most of Debussy's Clair de Lune. All the best to you. Brian
Hi Brian, such a lovely sound ! Would you mind sharing the model of your piano ? Is that a U3 ?
Hi John, I made a you-tube video for you tonight th-cam.com/video/o6ajV_SsYIc/w-d-xo.html
to let you better hear the tone of the Yamaha upright. I could not find the model number of the piano on the plate! so perhaps it is one of their cheaper pianos I don't know but it is 42" high and its serial number is K10033. I believe a U3 is 52" high so that model would have a much bigger and clearer tone with a much more resonant bass for sure. I hope you enjoy listening to tonight's video using this 42" high upright. I have not played the piano since I put the new hammers on it last September so they sound as brand new Abel hammers sound. Take good care, Brian
@@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 wow, thank you Brian. Really helpful ! And congratulations again. Lovely mellow sound !
@@LoopJohnB You are very welcome. I'm really glad it was helpful. All the best to you. Brian
Nice video. How does the impact of new sets of hammers effect the "feel" of a piano? I have a Mason Hamlin Model B, 1930's. The hammers currently is visually flat and grooved. The grandchild of the owner (passed) claimed that all the parts are all original, hence some 90 year old hammers(!). I am not sure of the truth of the claim. Lots of things can happen in 90 years. The piano is truly a gem. Overall, it is fantastic compared to other "golden" era pianos which has not been redone I have come across. A good pianist will have no trouble getting her to "sing". It sounds a bit bright, but well within good taste. The keys feel "light" to me. I checked the weighing, and is within reasonable "range" of about 55 grams. Hence for the question here. I am trying to prioritize which "service" I need to do for her.
Hi Danny, When you order a new set of hammers you send the company in this case Pianophile in Brossard, Quebec, a sample from the end of each section so that they can duplicate the hammers' shape and size and so that they can properly bore the hammers at the correct angle. You want the hammers to be duplicated to the same physical size and shape for each hammer as the original and you want to duplicate the weight the piano manufacturer used originally for their hammers. This is very important. Hammers can be reshaped over the years when they become grooved. Eventually however there is not enough felt left on the hammer to allow for the proper momentum of the hammer and at the same time leave the hammer having its proper shape. If the hammers sound as you say too bright they can be voiced needled but the voicing should only be done by a professional and only after the piano has been properly tuned. The hammers need to be 'egg shaped' in order to get the piano wire to ring and have a singing tone that allows the pianist to work for overtones. Weight touch and knowing how to use gravity and the finger in combination is a real art in itself but so rewarding to do when the piano is as you say truly a gem. If you could have a qualified piano technician who you trust look at the piano that would be your first step as he must first ascertain whether the piano is structurally sound with tight tuning pins and a sounding board that is tight on the ribs and bridges that are not cracked. So often people dry pianos out over the years due to not maintaining a constant humidity in the winter time. If you spend the money on a new set of hammers and the piano is not structurally sound that would not be a wise investment. I do wish you the best of luck with regaining the fullest potential of this Mason Hamlin piano. Pianos from the 1930s were truly beautiful instruments. All the best, Brian King ARCT, ORMT, BSc.
I meant to add Danny in response to your question about the feel a new set of hammers will feel a little heavier due to the fact that the hammers are new and not worn so they are the size and weight and shape the hammers were when the piano was brand new. Brian
@@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 Thanks you so much. Yes, that was my feeling and hope. If it is in fact true that everything on the piano is original, the hammer would be some 90 years old. I may as well have it replaced when I have the piano regulated. Even if I can "file" the groove away, it will effectively lose weight, going against the heavier action I like. As a point of reference, I prefer the "weight" of a "typical" modern Kawai vs modern Yamaha for example. Or I like the "weight" of the earlier 60's, 70's Yamaha G5, before they went "light, fast and bright". Love your TH-cam. Please continue doing what you do.
@@dannygo4230 Thanks very much Danny. It is an art to card hammers properly because you want to take the least amount of felt off of the crown and make it gently egg shaped as you see when looking at a new hammer. It is not just a matter of sanding off the grooves because if there is too much flat striking the wire it actually dampens the wave sine curve you are trying to create instead of creating it and you make the tone even worse. It acts as a damper then when it is too flat. Be sure to have the qualified technician you choose examine the piano first and determine if it is structurally sound. All the best with restoring it. Take care, Brian
@@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 You have given me so much knowledge and insight, and clearly, just the way you played the piano on the video, it is evident that you love the piano. I am pretty advanced pianist (Chopin Fantasy Impromptu, A flat Polonaise) but ironically, I have never developed any relationship with any technician. I have always has access to fine pianos, but only rely on my childhood Shaeffer and Sons to practice at home (for reasons that is faulty). I believe I am truly lucky to get this Mason and Hamlin, and would like to give it the attention she deserves. Thank you much, again.
It's difficult to change the hammers? (:
Hi Alex, If you are doing it yourself it is tricky the first time because you learn as you go along. I realized that you must not have the action away from the strings when you glue your new hammer on!!! It is true that you remove every second hammer so if you are changing hammer #31 and you skip hammer # 32 leaving the original hammer in that position and remove hammer #33 and skip hammer # 34 and remove hammer # 35 etc but do not glue on more than one hammer with the action away from where you can check it to the wires at a time because you MUST align the hammer so that it is square to the wires and so that it is going to be touching and vibrating all three wires of that pitch square on when you travel the hammer up to the strings! It is not enough to have the action out of the piano just because you have every second hammer removed and think that your hammer you are going to glue on "looks" centred between the two adjacent hammers!!! Best of luck with it if you do try Alex. The new Abel hammers have a warm rich tone to them if you want to gain that kind of a tone from your piano. Just be sure with every new hammer you position that it will be in fact striking all three of the wires when it travels towards them! Brian
@@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 I'm just learning (no tech near where i live so...) and think i understood you. Thanks for the advice! :D
By the way, i just see the final result and it sounds nice!
@@alexrivera.churchpianist Hi Alex, If your piano is valuable you might want to pick up an old upright for practically nothing and experiment on it first. Be very careful in removing the old hammers that you don't twist the shank when cutting the heel of the hammer to remove it. I took each one off one at a time and removed the hammer away from the piano so as not to twist the shank and damage the centre pin. I used an alpha knife to remove any glue and have the shank end just a bit narrower diameter so that the new hammer would go on without have to twist it against friction and again damage the pin at the bottom. Good luck. Brian