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

[Jim Busby]

Fred,

Remember Wally's class where he said an electron microscope showed that the very tip of a needle is about 30 times the size of a wool fiber diameter? This means simply that felt is cut whether you stab or push. Mute point either way. Is that right?

Jim



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