A piano forte hammer (10) has an elongated head (12) with a nose (24) defining side surfaces (26), and a felt body (14) disposed to extend about the nose. The felt body has a nose region (15) for contact upon a piano string and first and second tail regions (20, 22) having surfaces affixed in contact upon the head side surfaces. The felt body, in the tail regions only, contains a predetermined measured amount of acrylic copolymer, the felt body nose region being essentially free of the acrylic copolymer. The hammer may be formed by a process including the steps of: providing a first volume of aqueous solution containing the predetermined measured amount of acrylic copolymer in a slot; disposing a first tail region of the felt body, prior to assembly about the nose, in solution in the slot; allowing the felt body to draw essentially all of the solution from the slot, into the first tail region only, by natural wicking action; and repeating the process for the second tail region of the felt body, the nose region being left essentially free of acrylic copolymer.