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6/2015

Special Edition

OPTIMIZINGOPTIMIZINGTHE SOUNDTHE SOUND

C. BECHSTEIN PRODUCES ITS OWN HAMMER HEADS

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More than two years have passed sinceBechstein began toying with the idea ofmaking its own hammer heads. After a

series of disappointing experiences with suppliers,Bechstein’s new owner, Stefan Freymuth, began towonder how difficult it could be to join three dif-ferent parts into a hammer head. “Even though this

factory is very old,” he explains, “our goal is to keepimproving and looking to the future. So, with this inmind, we beefed up our R&D team and invested a lotof money.”

The management felt that the hammer headsdelivered by suppliers were no longer up to the C.Bechstein standard. And talks failed to improve

Optimizing the sound

C. Bechstein producesits own hammer heads

Regardless of their production depth and with just a handful of exceptions, all Europeanpiano manufacturers traditionally outsource some processes. This particularly applies to theaction assembly and the hammer heads. Nonetheless, C. Bechstein has now ventured intouncharted territory by producing its own hammer heads at its factory in Seifhennersdorf,Saxony. We wanted to witness this with our own eyes and experience how it has changed the“Bechstein sound”.

Pre-fabricated hammer headsfor various Bechstein models.

Photo: Dürer

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By: Carsten Dürer

the situation, either, as Freymuth recalls: “It wasvery difficult to get the suppliers to come round to ourway of thinking,” he says, describing the situation.Leonardo Duricic, Chief Technical Officer andmember of the Management Board at C. BechsteinPianoforte AG, adds: “We realized that, although theEuropean hammer head manufacturers produce at avery high level, something important was lacking intheir production processes: a test bank. As our voicingspecialists could fit a hammer quickly, voice it andthus check the quality, we entrusted one of them withmanaging the production of the hammer heads.”Needless to say, hammer head manufacturersdon’t have this option. But Freymuth remainsunimpressed: “No, they haven’t got that option, butthat’s no excuse in my book. They didn’t show any will-ingness to do something about it, either. We couldhave set up a couple of instruments there and got avoicing specialist to check the quality of the hammerheads. Anyway, the feedback time would have beenjust too long, as we don’t install the hammer headsstraightaway. If something turns out to be wrong withthem, it’s hard for the supplier to pinpoint which feltand which process might have been faulty. But Idemand this service and excellence.”

Matthias König, Manager of the Seifhennersdorffactory, highlights the advantages of producinghammer heads in-house: “Now, of course, we have abetter control of our instruments. We can adapt all theprocesses, starting from the raw material: for one par-ticular hammer head model, for instance, we mightremove a bit more felt to improve the mass and the

sound; we can choose the material and design thehammer core freely, which means we can gear all theproduction steps for a particular instrument rightfrom the first chip of wood.” This also means thathenceforth Bechstein can alter the production ofthe hammer heads to match minor alterations toany other piano part.

Bechstein hammer heads

As there’s no secret in hammer head manufactur-ing, we asked Matthias König to explain us the dif-ferent production steps at Bechstein.

The wood for the hammer cores is pre-selected:hornbeam for the W.Hoffmann Vision and Tra -dition lines, mahogany for Bechstein and W.Hoffmann Professional, and walnut for the C.Bechstein instruments. Why such a differentiation?Partly for aesthetical and traditional reasons.However, Matthias Klingsing (head voicing spe-cialist) and Thomas Kumpe (piano-maker andvoicing specialist in charge of the hammer heads)prefer mahogany as it’s the hardest and performsthe best during processing. Klingsing explains thedifference between the hammer heads made byBechstein and those delivered by suppliers: “It’svery easy to stick the voicing needle into our hammerheads, which means you don’t have to use force duringthe voicing process. The result is a voicing of muchgreater precision as every needle prick is efficient.”

The wood is cut to size in Seifhennersdorf, wherethe wood for all the Bechstein brands is processed,

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The hammer head production factoryfloor with the new machines.Photo: Dürer

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before being shaped on one of the CNC mills.Naturally, the hammer cores are milled into theshape of a molding and subsequently cut up. Inthe next step, the bar arrives in the hall with newmachines designed by Bechstein’s R&D depart-ment: several felt cutting machines, a CNC mill toshape the upper and under felts, and the pressesto glue the felts to the hammer head cores. The feltcomes from Germany, as does most of the wood –or from neighboring European countries. Thewhite felt for the upper hammer felt and the new,deep blue felt for the under felt is supplied insheets. Both types of felt are cut roughly, thenmilled into triangular bars to be glued onto thewooden hammer cores later on. However, Bech -stein wants to be sure that the hammer heads willalso perform well in any climate around the worldand not contain too much or too little moisture.Consequently, the thick upper hammerfelt layersare conditioned in a climatic chamber prior to glu-ing.

The gluing process uses machines that work withheat, pressure and special glue that holds underthe strain of playing but doesn’t harden the ham-mer felt. The felt layer is weighed before gluing,however. Why? Thomas Kumpfe knows the ans -wer: “We want to ensure that we have enough masson every hammer head. The felt can easily contain aninvisible hole, which affects the weight, i.e. gives us thewrong mass. And as our quality requirements arehigh, there is little room for error here.” After the glu-ing process, due to the wooden hammer coresbeing pre-cut, one can clearly witness the resi -lience of the hammer felt.

Then comes the really fiddly work: every bar iscleaned by hand to remove any excess felt, sandedby hand and finally cut up into individual ham-mers. In contrast to other manufacturers, Bech -stein doesn’t rivet the felt onto the hammer core.“In all our experiments, we discovered that even a rivetwon’t hold the felt to the wood if the gluing process isfaulty. Moreover, the pressure exerted on the felt dur-ing playing can cause the rivet to burst,” explainsMatthias König. “But we’ve found a glue that doesn’trequire any riveting.” And it doesn’t alter the massof the entire hammer head, either.

During our visit, however, we noticed that theunder felts were all red, not blue. “We wanted to getthe production rolling,” says König, “but had to waitfor the blue felt as it was dyed especially for us. It’ssuch a unique blue that people will immediately recog-nize our hammer heads.” And Bechstein hammerheads are about to become even easier spot as thecompany is currently working on burning its logoonto every single hammer head with a laser robot.“It’s early days yet, but the results look promising,”explains Freymuth.

The result: a better sound

What ultimately counts, however, is the sound. Ofcourse, it’s the result of numerous factors and notjust the hammer heads, but Bechstein has con-stantly been optimizing these factors over the de -cades with a view to increasing the quality of itsinstruments. The Bechstein staff in Berlin and Seif -hennersdorf has something in mind as regards the

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Raw material: wood for the hammer cores(from left: walnut, mahogany and hornbe-am). Photo: Dürer

Hammer moldings shaped on a CNC mill.Photo: Dürer

Raw material: white felt for theupper hammer felt.Photo: Dürer

Raw material: blue felt for the under felt. Photo: Dürer

optimal sound of their upright and grand pianos.What is it like? Leonard Duricic tries to describethe sound they are striving for: “String musicians inorchestras can immediately identify with the Bechsteinsound thanks to its extremely clear definition. It isn’tsterile and sharp, but rather clear and powerful. Forus, it’s all about warmth of the tone. Our instrumentsmust be strong enough to stand out in front of anorchestra, but also be ideal for a dolce in a solorecital.”

After a shift towards agraffes, through which thestrings run, Bechstein only started using capo barson its instruments again in the early 1990s.Duricic adds: “The silvery sound of agraffe instru-ments worked well until World War II as it was in keep-ing with the taste of the time. With the advent of jazzand other styles, however, this sound pattern suddenlyseemed outdated. Nonetheless, Bechstein had a hardtime letting go. Even with the fresh start in the 1980swhen Karl Schulze took over the company, we werereluctant to stop using agraffes on the new modelsthat were already being designed as we were afraid oflosing the brand’s sound identity. Then, in 1994, webegan to abandon these notions: we initially fittedsmaller grands with capo bars and eventually usedthis solution for concert grands four years later. So youcould say that we gradually reintroduced an oldmethod that Carl Bechstein already used back in 1860– An old method for creating a modern sound, ofcourse.”

Alterations that influence the sound are imple-mented to adapt pianos’ sound to the generaltastes of the time. “Of course, you already have anidea of where you want to go on the drawing board,i.e. when you’re designing a new instrument, so youactually have to think about what the final tone shouldbe from the word go,” explains König. It goes with-out saying, however, that you need to produce alot of instruments before you can check whetheryou have succeeded in creating the sound original-ly intended. Feedback from musicians and pianodealers is extremely important here.

Matthias König, who has been dealing with in-house production and the quality of hammer headfelt for quite some time now, mentions anothernovelty at Bechstein’s production site. In the past,the back frame, i.e. the solid beams visible frombehind on an upright and from below on a grand,would be delivered by a supplier. Meanwhile,Bechstein builds the back frames itself – out ofsolid pine for the C. Bechstein grands, unlike mostother manufacturers, who use spruce. Moreover,the back posts are now slotted together instead ofmerely glued. These are just two examples thathighlight Bechstein’s strategy to stand out withtop-quality products: more independence fromsuppliers and the constant improvement of itsinstruments.

As the number of uprights and grands made inEurope keeps plummeting, the suppliers of thepiano manufacturers find themselves in a predica-ment where they either have to hike up theirprices to survive or seemingly cut corners in quali-ty control. As Duricic points out, however, a joint-stock company like Bechstein is required by law toshow two suppliers when it buys semi-manufac-tured products, which is easier said than done …

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The first cut for thehammer felt. Photo: Dürer

Triangular hammer felt barsafter milling. Photo: Dürer

Hammer felts in the climatic chamber.Photo: Dürer

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Upper and under felt layersglued on the hammer cores.Photo: Dürer

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The step towards independence – by producingyour own individual parts using your expertise inprocessing wood and other materials – is thereforea no-brainer. “However, we won’t start working metal,that’s for sure,” says Freymuth.

But back to Bechstein’s own hammer heads andthe impact of in-house production. In the voicingroom, two C. Bechstein D 282 grands stand side by

side: one with pre-voiced hammers made by a sup-plier, the other with unvoiced Bechstein hammers.“Mr. Kumpfe,” Klingsing explains, “just extended theupright piano hammers a little so we could installthem in the grand.” Of course, the mass of anupright hammer is much lower than that for agrand. Nonetheless, the sound of the second pianois already impressive: much warmer and rich in

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Thomas Kumpfe sandingthe hammer felt by hand.

Photo: Dürer

Complete hammer head sets waitingfor the processing.

Photo: Dürer

overtones, it seems to unfold much easily. Theattack point also seems different: more con-trollable, especially when playing quietly, lessharsh and more malleable. The sound fitssuch an instrument perfectly and harks backto the warm, lyrical voice of yesterday’s Bech -stein pianos. Nonetheless, it is very powerfuland lives up to today’s notions of what agrand piano should sound like.

The two top-range Concert 8 C. Bechsteinuprights that stand in the nearby company’sshowroom, voiced and ready for sale, provideanother example of the superior quality ofthe new hammer heads. You immediatelynotice what already stood out with the con-cert grands containing unvoiced hammers: alyrical and warm, yet voluminous sound andimproved control in the dynamics as the ham-mers respond to the gentlest of touches.

As our visit draws to a close, Stefan Frey -muth reiterates that the new developmentsare still ongoing before adding that our nextvisit might be about the entire action assem-bly. “It’s bound to happen someday,” he ex -plains. Watch this space!

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Three different sorts of hammer headsfor the various lines of brands.Photo: Dürer

Hammer head set for an upright piano placed in a C. Bechstein

D 282 concert grand.Photo: Dürer