[CAUT] Press vs Stab voicing (was Re: The Importance of "Subject:")

[Fred Sturm]

On Jun 8, 2010, at 5:45 AM, David Stanwood wrote:

> Please consider the importance of relating the subject of a post to  
> the content.
>
> I and many others would have loved to taken part in or followed the  
> recent CAUT discussion on voicing, which was under the Subject of  
> "Steinway extra-bore-length".  Many of us who don't have the time to  
> open each CAUT message receive messages in digest form so we scan  
> subject lines for e-mails that interest us.  So if the content  
> doesn't match the subject then we are excluded.


Hi David,
	You are right. My apologies for not making that change. Perhaps this  
will serve to alert those who missed it, and might be interested, to  
the thread and its inaccurate subject line.
	I will also offer a few more thoughts on the subject. I think there  
is a continuum between "press" and "stab" techniques, which creates a  
progression in "spreading fibers" versus "tearing or cutting fibers."  
At one extreme, the needles start at the surface of the hammer, and  
are pressed in fairly slowly - shall we say one to two seconds to  
arrive at full depth. At the other extreme, the needles are  
accelerated from a distance - shall we say three to four inches away,  
with a very rapid and powerful stabbing action. To my way of thinking,  
it is clear that the former will minimize cutting and tearing, and  
maximize spreading. And the latter will do the opposite: maximize  
tearing and cutting, and achieve the least spreading. (Depth of  
penetration being equal).
	But there are many intermediate methods. A "stab" technique that  
starts very close to the surface would be little different from a  
"press" method that starts at the surface but accelerates very  
rapidly, for instance.
	The most destructive technique, I believe, is a pretty common one.  
The hammer is pretty hard, so a lot of stabbing is done, in which the  
needles only penetrate 3 - 4 mm into the felt. This makes it possible  
for later stabs to penetrate more deeply, but the damage has been  
done. Lots of stabs to the surface destroys the integrity of the outer  
layer, which is essential to the resilience of the hammer. When the  
outer layer is intact (relatively speaking), it is possible to do deep  
needling with a long single needle (penetrating 7 or more mm - farther  
than the initial deep needling), and make the hammer brighter and more  
powerful. This is similar to what Andre Oorebek calls "battery  
voicing" but it isn't confined to the lower shoulders. It can be done  
in mid to upper shoulders, and I believe it is more effective there.  
But the caveat is that it is only successful if the outer layers  
haven't been damaged by too much shallow stab needling.
	So, a few more thoughts along those lines, should anyone care to  
discuss them.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu