Jim, What is your juice ratio you now use with these new S&S hammers? Paul Jim Busby <jim_busby at byu.edu> Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org 11/20/2008 12:05 PM Please respond to caut at ptg.org To "caut at ptg.org" <caut at ptg.org> cc Subject Re: [CAUT] tone building for impatient pianists Hi Dennis, The voicing procedure today at the factory is vastly different than say 2 years ago. I think you’d be surprised at how quickly the hammers can now be voiced/juiced. Last month I attended the Steinway Tone Building Seminar and came away with a few ideas I might share. 1. I like now like Steinway hammers and the way they voice. (Previously, not so much) 2. The hammers can be ready to play in three voicing sessions. The Steinway C&A guys do it all the time. 3. They are now pre-juiced more than before. My understanding is that the pre-voicing consists of literally soaking the hammer in a tray. 4. You voice for two things “Body”, by applying MUCH less than before to the shoulders ( a few drops at a time) , and “Attack”, by adding only 3 drops at a time (3/1) to the crown. 5. Single needle through the strings right in a “too bright” string mark 6. More juice where needed as above. Carefully listening, a drop here and there… 7. Sand/mate, etc. etc. as before They are using MUCH less juice in this stage than previously used because the hammers have far more in the factory -juicing phase. For instance, a small bottle (4 oz?) is now used which lasts through the whole procedure. We used to put 3 or 4 times that much, pouring it in!. Now it’s a matter of only a few drops at a time, judiciously applied. Of course, trying to condense down the whole week into one small post can’t quite hit the mark, but these two things I want to stress; 1. I like it (didn’t before) and 2. A much more surgical approach is taken. Hope that helps Dennis. Jim Busby BYU From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Dennis Johnson Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 2:31 PM To: College and University Technicians Subject: [CAUT] tone building for impatient pianists Hi- Some recent experiences lead me to inquire how others may deal with certain impatient expectations regarding tone building on new hammers, specifically S&S hammers that require extra juicing in the treble. This is all standard procedure, but generally my experience shows that the best results are achieved not quickly but through a combination of playing in, hardeners and needles over a bit of time. Unfortunately, the event calender rarely allows for optimal time. Do you send a memo to everyone explaining all this? I've had similar problems as related to instability on a newly restrung piano being required for certain events before it is ready. Thanks, but having a bad day- Dennis Johnson -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20081120/d51cf215/attachment-0001.html>
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