Paul, I've heard your Baldwin D with the Wapin Bridge and I don't think you have a tired board. Don't be afraid to put hardeners on the strike point. Dave Porrit had a suggestion a while back to apply acetone/ keytop solution to the strike point with a brush for better control. I tried it and like the method. As for the shoulders: they need to have some resiliency. Just putting hardener on the shoulders isn't necessarily going to solve problems. A good read about some shoulder needling methods is the pamphlet by Rick Baldison that comes with the Renner hammers. The shoulders need to have a balance between stiffness and resiliency because they need to have a kind of flex off the string. It is possible to juice shoulders and then needle them to get the flex. Don't be afraid to put a hardener on the strike point as long as it isn't too strong. Don't ask why I know. I prefer a 6:1 laquer solution. Keytop/acetone is my preference. I agree with Niven about the soaking of new hammers. You have to know you are starting with soft hammers. Tim Coates On Nov 20, 2008, at 5:08 PM, Paul T Williams wrote: > > Thanks, Jim > > > I'm having trouble with my Ronsen Wurzens on my Baldwin D, but am > scared to start putting stuff on the crown. I've used 4:1 Laquer/ > Acetone a bunch on the shoulders (middle down to the bottom) with > no improvement on power. The false beats are gone and the sustain > is great after installing Wapin on it, but I fear a lot of the > problem may be a tired soundboard. If I were to add a 5:1 or 4 or > 3:1 on the crown, or nearly on the crown, am I endangering the > situation? Or, would you suggest putting any straight on the > crown? The mezzo-forte on down to very ppp or pppp...the piano is > lovely and the notes sing and carry to the back of the recital hall > (that seats 750), but there's just no power. > > What do you, or any of you suggest my next play??? > > Thanks > > Paul > > > > Jim Busby <jim_busby at byu.edu> > Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org > 11/20/2008 02:44 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 > > > > > > Paul, > > I’m using 5/1 with these hammers. Kent suggested 5/1, since they > already had 3/1. > > Jim > > From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf > Of Paul T Williams > Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 12:45 PM > To: caut at ptg.org > Subject: Re: [CAUT] tone building for impatient pianists > > > 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/20081120/3a9c862a/attachment-0001.html>
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