Hammer Head Filing
Hammer Head Filing
Have you looked at your pianos hammer heads lately? The hammers on a piano are a lot like the mallets used to play a xylophone, except that all 88 notes in your piano have a separate mallet, or hammer.
Did you know the hammerheads receive more punishment than any other part of the piano action? If the hammer heads on your grand or upright piano have deep cuts and grooves from years of hard playing (as shown below) they may need filing. This is one of the many repairs we do here at Brigham Larson Pianos! The problem with worn hammer heads is instead of delivering a clean blow to the strings upon striking, they will instead wrap around the strings producing poor tone. It would be much like an accomplished violinist trying to play her instrument while wearing a wooly mitten on her left hand!
Getting your hammer heads filed will result in a much crisper, cleaner tone. This repair could either be done at your home or our shop here in Pleasant Grove. It requires removing the action (working part) of your piano and gauging exactly how much felt from the hammers would need to be removed and then the hammers would be shaped by hand sanding with a strip of sandpaper. After this, the hardness of the hammers would need to be adjusted to get the best tone possible and the piano action would then be put back into your piano.
(Hammer Heads being Shaped with Sandpaper)
If you would like to learn more about hammer head filing, or would like to schedule a piano tuning or repair from one of our expert pianos technicians, please give us a call at 801-701-0113 or visit our website at brighamlarsonpianos.com. We would love to discuss the best maintenance program for you and your pianos to get it sounding its very best! We also carry a variety of new and used pianos if you are looking to upgrade the piano you already have.
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