Controlled depth and accuracy are the issues as I see it. In the past I did pre voicing with a full set of needles but with the hammers held in a hammer clamp on the bench where I could use my weight while standing to lean on the voicing tool a bit. That prevents arm and shoulder fatigue. I still do that on very hard sets that I know will require serious prevoicing. Otherwise I always do it in the piano with stab strokes but consciously try and penetrate to the full desired depth with each stab. I'm not unhappy with the results ot that method. With respect to the question of more or less tearing with a fast or slow stroke all I can say is when I get a flue shot every year I think there's a reason that they employ the stab rather than the press method and I'm not sorry that they do. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com -----Original Message----- From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu> Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2010 22:01:27 To: <caut at ptg.org> Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway extra-bore-length On Jun 3, 2010, at 9:46 PM, David Love wrote: > I don't think the felt knows if the needles > go in slow or fast. The problem occurs when it takes five shallow > stabs for > each deep one. I agree to a point, certainly about the shallow and deep stabs. Those shallow stabs cause a lot of damage, on the surface where it really makes a negative difference. But I also think that the felt reacts to a stab of the needle somewhat as it does to a harder blow against the string, becoming stiffer and more resistant. So it is a question of additional speed of thrust, sudden impact, and that the felt fibers are reacting to a more sudden blow by becoming more stiffly aligned with one another. Perhaps on a microscopic/molecular level it is something in the realm of electrical bonds. Also on the mere fact of speed, not allowing the fibers time to spread in reaction to the insertion. In my imagination, as I visualize it, it is somewhat like wet sand on the seashore, right next to the waves. When you walk slowly, your heels and soles sink in, it feels soft. When you run, the sand feels hard, and your feet don't make much of a print. I think felt acts in a similar way. Could be wrong, of course, but this is in line with why hammers make a different sound profile when they strike the strings faster - they become denser and harder. When I stab, I seem to hear more tearing, and feel it too - though it is harder to feel what is happening with a stab. I grant, though, that very much depends on the precise technique used, and a careful stab technique could well be little different from press in results. It would partly depend on exactly what speed of stab - as you increase velocity, you are bound to increase tearing versus spreading, or so I visualize it. I rarely see a truly controlled stab technique - to my eye, it looks far more chaotic and random than what I do. But I am sure there are people with more skill than what I have seen. Regards, Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu http://www.createculture.org/profile/FredSturm http://www.youtube.com/fredsturm http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/FredSturm
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC