Yamaha C3 voicing

[Roger C Hayden]

Today on a 1964 G3 with not much wear, I filed, (shaped) the hammers,
deep needled the shoulders, lightly filed the sharpness off the corners
of each hammer with a single stroke, string voiced the whole piano,
cleaned the action and cavity, and fine tuned all in two and a half
hours.  Result, clean, bright, long sustain, and quite even tone.  The
piano was absolutely transformed.  (Regulation was still pretty good.)  I
will bring down the brightness if the pianist so desires by needling
closer or even into the strike point.  If I go too far, a not too hot
iron rolled quickly over the crowns brings the tone back up.  No great
chemical revolutions happening, and not a hammer ruined.  

I use a board with a straight groove in it that fits the hammer heels
nicely.  Set the board under the hammers with two sections of heels in
the groove, and go to work.  Naturally the angled hammers have to be
filed individually at first, but the parallel hammers can be filed with a
3" paddle and coarse sandpaper glued on.  The felt comes off evenly and
quickly.  I then lightly file all hammers with finer paper glued on
another paddle while they rest on the board, giving me a very level
playing surface.  I use an inch and a half paddle with fine paper glued
on it for taking a single light swipe at the corners of the hammers at
the crown, this seems to focus and clarify the tone wonderfully.

For needling I use a single needle tool, and holding down several shanks
at a time, simply stab quickly and rhythmically into the shoulders,
working right on up the set.  It takes not a lot of time or energy, and I
have bled only a little.  If more mellow is needed I simply work closer
(and generally shallower) to the strike point.  For many older dried out
deeply cut hammers I skip the filing, (too little felt left before the
wood), and deep needle behind the string grooves.  Cheap way of getting
'something pleasant' back into the old box.  Again, you can usually do
the whole set in minutes.

I use to resist needling until I saw a seminar done by Wally Brooks at a
PA. convention.   The board's firm supporting of the heels and quick
rhythmic repetition was the key to quick and uniform accomplishment.

Voicing used to frighten me.  Now I relish the chance.

Roger Hayden,  RPT

On Tue, 17 Oct 2000 19:46:01 -0600 Jeff Stickney <jpage@selway.umt.edu>
writes:
> Dear list,
> 	We have a 2-year-old Yamaha C3 in a faculty studio that is 
> quite 
> bright.  I haven't taken the leap into steam voicing yet, and so, in 
> the 
> spirit of Jeannie Grassi's recent editorial comments on Mastery I'm 
> leaning 
> on the the experience of you all before I jump in.  In order to do a 
> 
> wholesale voicing of this piano do you 1) Get the coffee pot and 
> steam one 
> hammer at a time in the spout 2) Use the damp cloth and hammer iron 
> on the 
> shoulders or other parts of the hammer 3) Do any of you use needles 
> when 
> faced with this style of piano/hammer ( I do like using a single 
> needle 
> tool to even things out, but not necessarily for this wholesale 
> situation) 
> 4) Is the unofficial Yamaha technique of using pliers on the 
> shoulders 
> going to produce similar results to steaming or is the outcome 
> different - 
> tonally, stability-wise, etc.  Thanks for your ideas.
> Jeff Stickney, RPT
> University of Montana
> jpage@selway.umt.edu
> 

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