Ronsen Bacon Hammers on a Baldwin SF10

[Regi Hedahl]

I installed a set of Ronsen Bacon hammers on a 1986 Baldwin SF10 and got excellent results. I installed them on a set of WNG composite shanks and flanges and did my own boring, tapering and tails. I duplicated the original hammer weights but lightened them as much as possible from around C5 and above. The upper octave hammer weighs are now around 2 grams lighter than the originals. I also paid close attention to optimizing the strike point in the upper 3 octaves.  I did not need do any voicing whatsoever to these hammers.

The piano now has a warm silky sound and much more dynamic range than previously. It is much easier to play softly and get the melody to ride above the rest of the music.  One of the concerns was these softer hammers not producing enough power in the large room this piano is situated but the piano has plenty of power and brilliance.

Here is a video recording of this piano. I tried my best to capture the actual sound of this piano but it has a warmer sound than what was captured by my mics. The reverb is the natural reverb from the room.

https://youtu.be/LA---tkZrhg

Also, I did the work in the customers airplane hanger way over in Wisconsin.   As a result, I was rewarded with several airplane rides. The piano is located at the Merrill Wisconsin municipal airport terminal and available for anyone who would like to try it out. This is one of the nicest sounding piano I have worked on so come try it out if you happen to be in the area.

Regi

[John Formsma]

Love it! Sound is very good, and also the airplane experience is fun as well. An uncle of mine has a small plane he built from a kit. I've gone up in it once and it was great!

John Formsma, RPT

New Albany, MS

[David Kroenlein]

Did you move fron TX to WI?

[Regi Hedahl]

No, I took a road trip to WI to work on this piano. I sold the customer this piano a while back. I am now on my way to WA to visit family. Texas is too hot in the summer and business tends to be very slow this time of year so it's a good time to get out of there and do other things.

Regi
.

On Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at 11:57:16 AM UTC-7, Stringthumper wrote:
> Did you move fron TX vto WI?
>
>
>
>

[David Kroenlein]

Aint that te truth!

--

Sent from Gmail Mobile

[Regi Hedahl]

Here's a recording of Clair de Lune on this Baldwin after I installed the new hammers. These hammers really produce a clean sound that is not typical with this piano. 

Regi

[pian...@ihug.co.nz]

Very nice Regi, thanks for sharing.

Stephen Powell

[Joseph Garrett]

Regi,
The new Bacon Hammer felt is, imo, very much like the original felt Baldwin used when that piano was built. Good match = good piano!<G>
Kudos,
Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: Regi Hedahl
Sent: Jun 9, 2017 3:31 PM
To: pianotech
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Ronsen Bacon Hammers on a Baldwin SF10

Here's a recording of Clair de Lune on this Baldwin after I installed the new hammers. These hammers really produce a clean sound that is not typical with this piano. 

Regi

Captain of the Tool Police
Squares R I
gpianoworks.com

[Jon Page]

What would have made this recording even better would have been to tune instead of ET, Ron Koval's Victorian Temp; otherwise known as Koval 2.1. I have a 5'6 C. Bechstein in the shop and this piece is  sublime in the KVVT and my Medium Stretch (soon to be slightly modified). Both the Temp and the stretch are already loaded in the latest VT upgrade.