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I was recently contracted to carry out the initial after-sales servicing of a new Yamaha grand piano.

The new generation of Yamaha X series grand pianos features a number of improvements over their previous pianos. Personally I am not overwhelmed by the case styling, but it is what comes out of the box that was eye opening for me.

I was not totally surprised by the even and responsive action, but it was the tone of the instrument which made a big impression on me. This new X series features German Wurzen hammer felt. The “Wurzen-A” felt is identified by the two thin dark felt layers visible in the low bass hammers.



But it was not a new tone for me - I had heard this exact lovely sound coming out of Yamaha grands before. The first time was back in 2008, when I attended a two day voicing seminar given by André Oorebeek. In subsequent voicing seminars that André gave, the result was always repeated. André describes his voicing process in his voicing manual “The Voice of the Piano”.

I remember the impression I had back then: I had never heard a Yamaha sound like that before. I was such a cultivated European tone, a soulful voice capable of interpreting the most romantic music, while still allowing the piano to be pushed to a brilliant imposing sound when called for. André calls it “power and silk”.

André has used the Wurzen-A felt on action restorations for years to achieve his acclaimed results; it is good to see that Yamaha has now decided to use the same felt on its instruments straight from the factory. It makes a big difference and is a great improvement.

Jurgen,
I am so glad you brought this up! About 4 months ago I installed new H,S & F to a Yamaha C5 at the Cirque Du Soleil Zumanity show in Las Vegas. Prior to the replacements voicing had been an ongoing issue and 4 hammer filings had been done with more depth of tone voicing. Breaking strings was a weekly event. Ever since I replaced the the old set with the Wurzen felt hammers the pianist loves the instrument more then before. Also, the piano was re-strung with all new wire and GC piano Bass strings. The piano has been in service since 2003 with the original hammers. Two performances per show and two shows a night. I was amazed by the enhanced tone qualities without the hard attack. The strike point wear is visible but not as bad as the previous set. Light gang strip filing will be due soon but mainly just to dress the contact point. Very little voicing is required to keep the tone evenness, balance and power. Danny's GC piano bass strings are also a great complement to the performance qualities.