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I treated one of my pianos with hammer softener and absolutely loved the way it brought out rich bass and mellowed out the overall tone. It now seems to me that there was the added benefit of greatly increased sustain, almost like the sustain of an electronic keyboard? But I am far from an objective listener. Does it make sense that sustain would be enhanced by softening the hammers?
Don, playing the blues in Austin, Texas on a 48" family heirloom Steinway upright, 100 year old, Starr, ca. 100 years old full size upright, Yamaha U30. Yamaha electric.
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With less "noise" in the tone, the "normal" modes are now heard better.
In a seemingly infinite universe-infinite human creativity is-seemingly possible.
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BDB and Chris, can you elaborate? Now the lower notes on a piano of course sustain much longer than the higher notes, but I don't know if the reason(s) for that apply to higher and lower partials on the same string. To my ears, it does apply.
Don, playing the blues in Austin, Texas on a 48" family heirloom Steinway upright, 100 year old, Starr, ca. 100 years old full size upright, Yamaha U30. Yamaha electric.
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In the case of very worn hammers which have been filed enough to reduce their weight, there is one more possibility for increased sustain, especially in the bass and tenor range.
Older hammers can sometimes look massive, yet have a low density. Once you file away much of that size, they can become quite light. If the hammers had become too light, softening could correct hammer contact time that had become too short. Adding back contact time by softening the hammer would increase the volume of the fundamental of those notes.
As already mentioned, the resulting change in harmonic distribution/volume would also create an illusion of even stronger fundamentals and cut the hash/trash in the tone.
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In the case of very worn hammers which have been filed enough to reduce their weight, there is one more possibility for increased sustain, especially in the bass and tenor range.
Older hammers can sometimes look massive, yet have a low density. Once you file away much of that size, they can become quite light. If the hammers had become too light, softening could correct hammer contact time that had become too short. Adding back contact time by softening the hammer would increase the volume of the fundamental of those notes.
As already mentioned, the resulting change in harmonic distribution/volume would also create an illusion of even stronger fundamentals and cut the hash/trash in the tone. These were new hammers.
Don, playing the blues in Austin, Texas on a 48" family heirloom Steinway upright, 100 year old, Starr, ca. 100 years old full size upright, Yamaha U30. Yamaha electric.
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