Voicing

[Baldwin Yamaha Piano Centre]

Hi Lance,
                  Moving the strings on the capo bar and lifting them will 
often help increase power and reduce the 'zings'.  Give all the bridge pins 
a tap, this will help seat the strings on the bridge, get rid of some 
'falsies' and help sustain.  Re evaluate the piano after this is done, you 
may be pleasantly surprised.
It will take a couple of tunings to get the piano stable again.
Regards Roger


At 01:58 PM 7/10/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi list,
>I have a situation coming up that I thought was common, but not talked about
>in detail much.  I will be prepping and maintaining a Steinway D next week
>for a week-long competition with recitals,etc.  Very good players,
>often-times Van Cliburn contestants/winners (12).  This piano has been
>approved to get new Hammers, Shanks, flanges, damper felt, and maybe back
>checks, but not in time for the competition.  The hammers have been filed
>many times, running out of felt with some areas weak, lots of nasty
>twang/buzz.  I have leveled strings, seated them and fit hammers to strings,
>but I suspect most of the problem is in the hammers.  The piano is from mid
>80's. These hammers have been worked on and stabbed by several techs, so I
>don't know the whole history.
>The Question:  What are some of the common (if any) remedies needed on older
>hammers in this situation.  Do you sometimes have to harden again after much
>needling, (weak areas) do specific needling, (noise) after this much use?
>Are there common procedures followed to extend the usefulness and increase
>the quality of tone in these older hammers?  I would appreciate input from
>the experience out there. Thanks,
>
>Lance Lafargue, RPT
>Mandeville, LA
>New Orleans Chapter, PTG
>lancelafargue@bellsouth.net
>985.72P.IANO

Roger