Fred...have you seen Andre Oorebeek's book 'voice of the piano'.....his techniques are what I learned back in the mid eighties in the UK...I sold Schimmel in my store and a visiting German technician used the same 20 to 35 blow method in the shoulders...at that time I hadn't seen a Steinway NY style hammer....and as a result I had to re-learn my approach when I started to work on NY pianos....mostly delicate crown work now...but I have found using Andre's techniques have enabled me to 'open up' the tone of a few pianos with 'hard pressed' hammers in Hamburg Steinways, Mason and Hamlin, Yamaha's, Schimmels, Estonia and a few others...but 95% of the instruments I see are NY S & S grands. Perhaps, if you get the chance to either read the book or see the DVD you could let me know what you think of that approach. Best Peter On Jun 3, 2010, at 5:38 PM, Fred Sturm wrote: > On Jun 3, 2010, at 4:39 PM, Mark Cramer wrote: > >> 1.) Overly aggressive needling (trying to make them sound like something they are not) that de-stabilizes the hammer and shortens it's life span. > > > This sentence caught my eye. In my experience, the "overly aggressive" tag and associated destabilization and shorter life span applies to the "stab" technique of needling as opposed to the "press" technique. By stab I mean rapid strokes where the needle tip is moving before it touches felt. Pressing is where the needle point is on the felt surface, and it is then fairly rapidly pressed into the felt. IMO, stabbing tears far more fibers, destroys the resilience of the hammer, and usually fails to open up the interior of the hammer. Pressing also tears fibers, but less of them, and has more of a spreading effect on the interior felt. Also, when pressing you can feel the hammer fibers far better, control where the needles go far more precisely, and get considerably more consistent depth of penetration. It may seem slower at first glance, but in the long run, it takes less time because you can do what you do far more consistently. Hence there is much less custom work later on individual hammers to even things out. > I hate to work on hammers that have been "stab voiced" because the outer layers are torn and the inner layers are too dense. The outer layers will not hold onto the tension released by deep needling. The hammers tend to sound dead, and lack bloom and progression of color. > Regards, > Fred Sturm > fssturm at unm.edu > http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/FredSturm >
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