Wessell, Nickel & Gross USA

Every Mason & Hamlin piano is equipped with a Wessell, Nickel & Gross Action, carefully crafted to provide a seamless connection between the pianist’s hands and the piano strings. ✨
This precision-engineered action delivers consistent, even responsiveness, allowing pianists to explore the full tonal palette of the instrument. From the quietest, most delicate notes to the boldest, most powerful chords, it ensures complete control and dynamic range. 🎹🎶
Whether you're a beginner developing your skills or a concert artist shaping complex musical phrases, Mason & Hamlin pianos are built to enhance expression and mastery at every level.

🔍👇Bushings operate in very tight torque tolerances in piano actions—too tight and the pin won’t move; too loose and the pin moves too freely—and any change in torque will directly affect the touch of the piano.

We developed an innovative very hard, very dense material for its bushings. Not only is this material completely impervious to moisture, but still keeps extremely stable pin torque and uniform touch after being tested at 18 million blows. 🎹🛠

🎹 Searching for the Perfect Piano Hammer?

WNG Naturals offer the ideal balance with their medium hardness, delivering a rich, pleasing tone with minimal voicing required. 🎶 Perfectly suited for home pianos and small studios.

A conversation we are always having is about the consistency of composite vs. wood in a piano action. 🧐

🪵WOOD: From piece to piece, wood strength is extremely inconsistent. Wood is a natural, organic material that grows in an unpredictable fashion and cannot be precisely created or controlled. If you try to bend a set of 88 wooden hammer shanks you’ll find that roughly 10% of them are strong, rigid and ideal, while the remaining 90% are weak and flexible.

🎹COMPOSITE: Boasting an impressive strength-to-weight ratio, composites are the ideal materials to meet the unique stress, precision, and reliability requirements in a piano action. Within a set of carbon fiber hammer shanks there is only a 3% variance in strength. The end result is an incredibly responsive and reliable playing experience throughout the entire year for the pianist.

Looking for a lighter feel 🪶 and more dynamic control 🎼?🧐

Our Composite Repetition has an improved center of gravity that is closer to the center pin. This shift dramatically reduces the repetition’s rotational weight and makes it much lighter, faster, and more sensitive to play. The result is a easier to control action that pianist love to play. 🎹🏅

What's different about this classic center pin tool? 🔧

Smoothness of operation for the piano technician. Typically, this tool has unpolished steel rods that slide against bare aluminum that causes strain and stress on your hand.

Instead, we polished the steel rods and added bronze bushings. The result is a smoother non-binding operation. We also added a black anodized aluminum to prevent rusting and staining on your hand during extended use.

"Together with the anodized aluminum capstans, the WNG composite parts provide a new arsenal for action performance and weight control." -Dale Fox RPT

Here are five reasons why pianists should upgrade to a High-Performance Composite Action:

1. Uniform Playing 🎹: The composite action features consistent density and strength across all parts, ensuring a uniform feel, tone, and volume from note to note.

2. Silky Smooth Playing 💃: The unique shape and design of our parts shift the center of gravity and reduce mass, resulting in an exceptionally fluid and sensitive playing experience.

3. Improved Tone and Volume 🎼📣: Epoxy carbon fiber shanks are incredibly consistent in weight, density, and shape, allowing the hammers to strike the strings more accurately, producing richer tone and greater volume.

4. Reduced Maintenance and Costs 🛠: Our composite parts last over three times longer than wooden actions. They resist moisture and remain stable, requiring less maintenance and reducing long-term costs.

5. Personalized Touch🫰: Unlike immobile wooden actions, our customizable action allows technicians to adjust the heel size and location, personalizing the touch and feel of the action to exactly your liking.

Why do pianist and technicians prefer our Carbon Fiber Shanks over Wooden Shanks❓📢

Unlike wooden shanks🪵, which can vary widely in mass and strength even when adjacent, uniform composite shanks provide reliable performance, enhancing the pianist's ability to produce both delicate pianissimos and powerful fortissimos with precision. The uniform strength of WNG composite shanks ensures consistent touch weight and inertia, delivering steady energy to the strings and reducing the effort needed to maintain a consistent force.