Putting a new set of hammers on my Yamaha upright to improve its tone. Brian King piano technician
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ส.ค. 2021
- I am putting a new set of hammers on my 41 1/2 “ Yamaha upright piano and this will save this instrument from the landfill and give it new life for many years to come because the board and bridges are good.
I have put sets of new hammers on many a grand piano where I just used the
hammer extractor Henry Hoglund gave me to remove the hammers from the dowelling, because with a grand piano action the dowelling goes right through the hammer head, but with an upright hammer you have to use cutters and actually cut away the old hammer from the dowelling because the dowelling does not go all the way through the hammer head.
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Great video Brian. So glad I’ve stumbled across this. I’ve just bought an old tiny white Zender piano to mess around with, and I’m awaiting the arrival of a new set of hammers. Very informative and helpful! Thanks. 🎉
You are so welcome. Good luck with your new hammers. The quality of the hammers you buy makes a huge difference. The good ones have the felt pulled under a tension that gives the head of the hammer a cushiony spring to it resulting in a warmer richer tone vibration of the wires. When you use the drop of the relaxed arm weight into the piano key and balanced there, it is so important that the hammer head felt is not hard as you are trying to create a sine curve of the vibration of the piano wires a warm rich singing tone. All the best with your new challenge!
Take care, Brian
Here us after my new hammers are on th-cam.com/video/fbPhGIqi9Wo/w-d-xo.html
Where did you buy new hammers. Thanks
Dear Saupham, I ordered the German Abel hammers through Brooks Ltd Piano Products in the United States. Their web site is brooks LTD Piano Products I hope this helps you. All the best, Brian
Did you try refacing and voicing first? Takin gout the grooves, checking regulation and voicing might have improved the tone.
Unfortunately the hammers were so badly flattened by over use that there was not enough felt left on them to reshape them egg shaped. I am really happy with the tone of the new hammers giving the piano a new chance at life! All the best, Brian
@@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 That makes sense. New hammers, well replaced always improve the tone. I'm doing it on a nice old paino I have in the workshop. Can't wait to hear the new tone.
I'm ao happy for you. Once the new hammers and action are regulated and voiced it will be so much
improved I am sure. I just got finished using Protek and getting rid of the friction in the flanges of the
damper rail of my Steinway model D German concert grand and it has made an absolute world of difference to playing it now! We keep trying to make it better. All the best, Brian@@jwybecker
How do you get the old hammers off?
Hi, I remove one hammer and it is numbered. Then, with it supported in my left hand, I use cutting pliers to split and break the heel of the hammer a little, getting closer and closer to the dowelling without touching the dowelling and with each new bite, I then try to gently twist the old hammer off of its original hammer shank. After about three gentle snips I twist again and that usually breaks the original glue and the old hammer will easily twist off. Then I use a hammer shank reducer to just clean off any old glue but on this action the hammers came off so cleanly that I just used an alpha knife to flip off any specs of glue still there and then I used 120 sandpaper to clean the end of the shank smooth enough that the new hammer twists on just easily enough that it is snug and can be twisted that the position and direction of it is identical to the original hammer on the left and the one on the right. That way it will be positioned as it originally was when new and your new hammer head lines up perfectly to all three of the piano wires for that hammer's note.I am sure that the hammer is no further down on the shank than the end of the shank so just smooth on top between the new hammer and the top of the original shank. I hope this helps. All the best, Brian
@pianoweighttouchbrianking809 Very helpful-Thank you!