hammer voicing

[Bill Ballard]

Everett Story RPT writes:
<<After the usual string leveling, shoulder voicing, etc.it had glorious=20
sound--until I tried the soft pedal. The tone in the top one and a half=20
octaves turns to a terrible soft, thin sound. Remember, the strings and=20
hammers are matching and the crowns have been voiced evenly. I have hung=20
a lot of hammers but have never really had this particular problem and=20
have now run out of my bag of tricks.>>

I=D5m going to have punch through this bag of styrofoam peanuts that is a=
=20
unix email shell account and hop on this subject I=D5ve run into this=20
phenomenon, as has John Van Rohr (RPT, BostonMA Chapt.) who is also on =20
this list. We=D5ve both moved strike lines in situation where the UC=20
definitely needed it and the standard position didn=D5t notice it. I=D5ve=
=20
been in at least one Steinway voicing class (NEECRSeminar =D493) where=20
Scott Jones and Karl Reoder have done it on the spot without a second=20
thought. Danny Dover of the  recently had a VT chapter meeting at his=20
place where a "committee voicing" on a B decided that the hammer line=20
needed to be swung back towards the capo at #64-71.

I even brought a photo of the altered strike line of an L to ABQ last=20
summer. In the bottom of the top action section, the strike was brought=20
in slightly to locate the new hammer strikes at ink marks on the strings=20
where every fifth note down of the original hammer line was hitting. But=20
the line in the next section down got really warped when I got to the UC=20
voicing. I showed the pix to Ron Conors at the end of his Sunday AM class=
=20
and he shrugged his shoulders, "We don=D5t get into that much". (Scott does=
=20
a significant amount of this strike line bending, but apparently only=20
after Ron has left for lunch.) Rich Davenport's response was that this=20
was a piano where a good 2-string UC was dicey and should be left as=20
3-string UCs. (He also spacing the hammer so that the LH edge bevel we=20
put on the hammer crown is right under the LH string at full shift so=20
that with a soft touch the LH string is barely contacted but as the blows=
=20
gain force the contact produces more sound.

My experience with this has mainly been with NY Stwy hammers (that's my=20
usual hammer choice). But on one B (a '76 B having its teflon parts=20
changed) I was so baffled by split personality of the hammer/string=20
interaction that I stuck on a few hammers and shanks. Standard 5-1/8"=20
shank length and not a hint of a problem. Yes, we're talking level hammer=
=20
crowns and strings. Also, when I hang my guides I set a 1" square of=20
plexiglass with a centerpin mounted perpendicularly therein, on the=20
strings with the pin facing downwards and slid alongside of hammer=20
molding centerlines to established a 90degree contact between hammer and=20
string. No doubt about it the only way to get a good 2-string UC was to=20
swung the line in. And as usual, the standard position tone didn't notice=
=20
either way.

Do we need a 2-strung UC? Charles Ball's point ("Just a slight shift is=20
usually all that is necessary to provide a contrast in tone color").is=20
well taken: all you really need is two separate zones at the strike point=
=20
to develope two levels of brightness. However, if I can get a 2-strung UC=
=20
without too much hassle, I prefer it for two reasons. First, though you=20
may not hear much of a volume change between the 2 and 3-string UC at the=
=20
mezzo level the contrast between UC and standard is greater the lower=20
down the loudness scale you go. At the pp level, the 2-string uC is a=20
much more intimate sound. Second, as the pianos  (and thus boards) get=20
bigger, the unstruck sympathetic LH string sound gets much stronger. On a=
=20
9' board and strings it has a positively reedy sound in the middle of the=
=20
piano. Yes, this is an acquired taste, but you won't acquire it without=20
going to a 2-string UC.

Two notes on open string work. First, insuring that hammer fits string in=
=20
both standard and full shift (and in between) is neatly squared away with=
=20
a procedure described in PTJ 8/90 (p.15). Is the open string pattern=20
stays when you shift, the hammer is level and the strings are unlevel, of=
=20
the pattern moves when you shift, you've got level strings but unlevel=20
hammer crown. If the pattern simply changes both are unlevel. (I must=20
retell a conversation with Anton Keurti-bless his heart-as he watched me=20
level strings. "I'd never pull up on strings, I'd always file to fit the=20
hammer s to the strings", said he. Said I, "how does that work out in the=
=20
UC." "Oh I never use the UC, it always sounds so awful."

Second point on open string work. Starting at about an octave down from=20
the top, the decay from fingernail plucking is so fast and the string is=20
so willing to use the blocking hammer as a speaking length termination,=20
that I have to finish the top end of the piano plucking with the string=20
hook instead my fingernail. The pluck are microscopic wisps compared to=20
what works further down in the scale, but it's the only way I can here=20
open strings up there.

Good Luck on this one. Six years ago I got bumped off an important piano=20
because of this anomaly. (Jeeze, can you tell....I've made a study of it=20
ever since!)

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapt. PTG

"I wish you kinda, like, good health"=20
NPR talk show host Terri Gross, responding to "OutDoors" magazine=20
correspondent John Krakauer's tales of lost sleep and queasiness=20
regarding his line of work, after surviving a freak blizzard on Mt..=20
Everest, which stranded and killed several in his climbing party.