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I purchased this piano to be an experimental platform to examine the results of installing different kinds of hammers in a piano that was well-known in all respects. The piano that I wanted for this project needed to be familiar to the public, with an image that was already established and accepted about the way it played and sounded. With these factors understood, the change of hammer types would be easier to perceive and “hear” by knowledgeable technicians and musicians. The experiment finally included six different kinds / brands of hammers: (1) the original Yamaha factory set; followed by (2) Abel “Natural Felt” hammers, (3) and (4) two different types of Renner hammers, (4) Ronsen “Weichert Felt”

The experiment included not only the hammers, but application of the correct or traditional hammer voicing procedures to cause the hammer to operate as intended — this involves one or several procedures of filing, shaping, needling or application of certain chemicals to the felt hammers. A big surprise came into view as the project unfolded. In short, this one particular individual Yamaha piano was not responding well to any kind of upgraded hammers — it became evident that the soundboard / bridge in this one piano was very dull sounding, and needed technical revisions in order to restore and improve its sound qualities. To resolve the problem, I made the choice to “go for broke” for this piano, and installed an ultimate aftermarket method for correcting this type of condition on grand pianos, called the “Wapin Bridge System” — check this website for the details!

The end result of the experiment was the development of a remarkably smooth, resonant high performance piano which exceeded the abilities of most any of the normally produced pianos from the factory of this very popular model. The piano really played as wonderfully now as it looked. It was deserving to receive its special custom Wapin Logo (see picture to right). The new owners were thrilled to finally find a really capable piano that suited both their taste in furniture along with their desire to own an exceptional performance piano.