Voicing

A440A@aol.com A440A@aol.com
Wed Jul 10 15:58 MDT 2002


 lance  writes:

>  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).  The hammers have been 
filed
>many times, running out of felt with some areas weak, lots of nasty
>twang/buzz.   These hammers have been worked on and stabbed by several 
techs, so
 
>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?  

Greetings, 
    As Newton says, CYA!  I agree with Dennis, too.  First, make sure those 
that will judge you understand that this is a compromise situtation you are 
being thrust into, perfection will not be an option. (in other words, make 
sure you are not getting set up to appear incompetant because the piano 
displeases performers.....) 
    If the hammers are able to be shaped to somewhat near a normal Steinway 
shape,  it is often surprising how close you can come to a decent sound with 
lacquer,  indeed, some of the new pianos from that factory have hammers that 
are near soaked to begin with!  
   You may find that the weak areas need a healthy dose of 4:1, then after a 
couple of days a bit of accupucture will allow you to find some tonal range.  
Resign yourself to ruining the hammers completely by the time this is over, 
ie, you may need to constantly "sugar coat" overly hard hammers to get them 
through.  Normally, if you can at least get the piano even,  too bright is 
better than too soft for most artists. 
Good luck, 
Ed Foote RPT   


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