[CAUT] "phing....pck.....pluug"

[Fred Sturm]

On 7/21/06 8:43 PM, "william ballard" <wbps at vermontel.net> wrote:

> (Of  
> course the softer the hammer, the less hammer fitting is an issue.....)
    This sentence kind of rang a delayed bell for me. It's something I've
been pondering quite a while. There are a number of approaches to the top of
the hammer crown. Steinway's is to file with rough paper - no finer than
120, maybe just 100. Leaves a "forgiving" surface, "easier to mate." On the
other extreme is Kawai, using 1000 to 1500 paper to finish the crown. My
sense is that Kawai's final action on the crown (with extra fine paper) does
the equivalent of the Yamaha technique of pounding the hammer against the
strings (which are muted): it packs the felt as much as it remove fiber.
Very little fiber comes off using those 1500 paddles (some, but not much).
What is really happening is that the "trough" is made round again (the
trough at the tip is created by the "blooming" of the felt in response to
needling, something that doesn't happen with NY Steinway hammers).
    But what I wonder is whether the "forgiving" mating of the rougher
sanded hammer is really forgiving in the long run. Or have you just set
yourself up for problems in the future, when packing of felt caused by
playing reveals the less precise mating job, that was covered up by fuzz.
This might be one reason why people complain about their NY Steinway voicing
jobs not lasting.
    Just one more observation along these lines: if you are pressing the
hammer to the string, it is possible to vary the pressure through a pretty
wide range (assuming you have close letoff - I prefer the finger under the
jack technique rather than the cloth on the rep lever, pressing the keys, as
I think you can get a more sensitive reading). Varying the pressure and
using a piece of music wire to pluck, you can get a finer sense of the
precision of your mating work.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico