[CAUT] Hamburg Steinway Hammer Voicing (Up) - filing

Israel Stein custos3 at comcast.net
Tue Jul 27 13:48:28 MDT 2010


Ted, 

Thanks for the information. I filed these hammers very aggressively before we got started voicing - just as you describe below. They are very "Eggy" right now. But I'll try taking some more material off the bass shoulders and see what happens... 

The problem here is that this is a concert hall piano and really has to project. So far all I am getting is much improved tone - but not much added "oomph". 

Israel 

>Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:18:35 -0700 "Kidwell, Ted W" <kidwellt at saclink.csus.edu> wrote: 


>Hi Israel, 

>Your predicament reminds me of the Hamburg B I just worked up this month. I hung new Hamburg hammers. I gently filed and polished them as I always do with new hammers. I found, just as you did, that starting around C3 and down the tone was just weak and unfocused. Kind of like NY hammers that need lacquering. It got dramatically worse at the break. 

>These hammers were kind of round and bulbous. So I did a more agressive hammer shaping to establish a more eggy shape to the hammers. I repolished and liked the results in the tenor but was still not satisfied in the bass. So I did a much more aggressive shaping, taking material mostly off the high shoulders of the bass hammers. The sound absolutely came alive and I then started in with my 
needling. 

>My client is a very sophisticated pianist and singer. He is absolutely thrilled with the sound. The only liquid assistance I supplied was on the top three notes. 

>So you might try this before you get out the fluids. I hope it works as well for you as it did for me. 

>Ted 


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