Sharpie Shows the Hammer Sanding Line.

[@saveriosalerno9232]

Thanks Maggie for this excellent video..now I finally understand how to shave the felt of the piano hammer..you are a great technician!😉😉😉🥰

[@PianoTechMaggie]

Thanks! I might me doing this video over because my mentor wants me to show a side view. I'll leave this one up until then.

[@amydonnelly3507]

Great video thanks 👍

[@saveriosalerno9232]

Great Maggie😉😉

[@DeenaMilkers]

this is a very good idea. when learning how to sharpen edged tools by hand this is something did with the same theory behind it: the marker reveals where you have not abraded the surface. good stuff :)

[@luigilamacchia1253]

It is a very good explanatory video. But I always question myself wether it is worth to shave a so deeply grooved hammer. At the end, when you get a good shape, it will be good for playing at least an octave higher, that is it will be lighter and have a harder surface. Even a good voicer will run into trouble with such hammers

[@PianoTechMaggie]

Oh, sure. It all depends on the piano and the customer. I'm using heavily grooved hammers for the video, but in real life I have still done this. On an old piano that isn't worth much, it can sometimes take away some of the harshness & add more fundamental. Yes, the hammers are now lighter, but when a piano has other problems, this small change can make the customer very happy and the lighter hammers aren't very noticeable on top of everything else that is not quite right. On a higher end piano for a customer that has money, a rebuild might be better. For this video, I used the deepest grooves I could find. 😉 I may be redoing it because my mentor wants a side view. I was going to delete this one but may leave it up with a link to the new one. Not sure yet.

[@EricPeelMusic]

Felt belongs to animals. Choose another material.

[@EddSjo]

Cringe 😀

[@PianoTechMaggie]

@EricPeelMusic Hi Eric. Yes, indeed, felt belongs to animals. Unfortunately, I don't build pianos so have no control over what piano manufacturers use. So far, there isn't a material better than felt, so I doubt they will change. I see you are a percussionist and musician. This issue is a concern for all musicians, because most woodwinds use felt for their key pads, and many bass drum mallets are made of felt. Some marimba mallets are even made of felt, but those aren't the commonly used kind. I doubt woodwind makers nor drum mallet makers, nor piano makers are going to change their practices, so it is what it is. At least drum heads can be made out of synthetic material these days because they used to all be made of skin.

[@yewrforstnaymhearyewrlayst5566]

What Happens if You Don't Shear a Sheep? If one year's wool is not removed by shearing, the next year's growth just adds to it, resulting in sheep that overheat in summer. They have greatly decreased mobility and are in much greater danger from fly-strike, all of which causes suffering and possible death.

[@PianoTechMaggie]

@@yewrforstnaymhearyewrlayst5566 Yes, also true. The problem as I see it is the abuse of sheep that have been bred to grow too much wool. These sheep are already plentiful, so we can't really change the breed back to the "original". If farmers would simply do things like use some kind of pain killer or anesthesia when cutting excess skin off their rumps and cropping their tails, it would make a big difference. The slaughter process in some countries isn't as bad as the US. Things could definitely be improved for the sheep. On a related note, there is an old type of sheep that lives semi-wild on North Ronaldsay Island in the Orkney islands north of Scotland. They don't need to be sheared as much because they haven't been inbred like other modern sheep. They are interesting because they live primarily on sea weed and their wool isn't as itchy. If they are taken inland, they die. The locals paint numbers on them to keep track of who "owns" who because they live so wild. Look them up! They are interesting and beautiful! 😉

[@EricPeelMusic]

@@PianoTechMaggie I've started notating text messages in my scores to encourage percussionists to only purchase mallets made with synthetic yarn. And I include reminders about the benefits of choosing plastic drumheads over cow skin. Synthetic or plant-based materials sound just as good as animal-based, yes different, but just as good. The only reason piano makers build with felt is because we're born hearing this sound and we've demanded it. Most marimba and vibraphone mallets are made with synthetic yarn. Percussionists have adapted to it and prefer the sound, feeling, durability, consistency of synthetic materials. Synthetic piano hammers can sound just as good as felt hammers too, same with percussion, and have all the other included benefits as synthetic percussion mallets.