hammer voicing

Israel Stein custos1@ix.netcom.com
Wed, 03 Jul 1996 23:47:00 -0700


At 09:44 AM 7/3/96 -0500, you wrote:
> The tone in the
>>>top one and a half octaves turns to a terrible soft, thin sound.
>>>Remember, the strings and hammers are matching and the crowns have been
>>>voiced evenly. I have hung a lot of hammers but have never really had this
>>>particular problem and have now run out of my bag of tricks. This
>>>performer uses a lot of half pedal on the una corda. Any suggestions?
>>>
>>>Everett Story RPT
>>>
>>
>>Check for hammer overcentering (or underceentering?). Or
>>over(under)striking. Or whatever they call it in your neck-of-the woods when
>>the wrong part of the hammer strikes the string (usually slightly behind the
>>very tip). Your description of "terrible soft thin sound" in the treble with
>>UC shift sounds indicative of that. If that's the case, you'll have to raise
>>(or lower?) the stack with relation to the strings.
>>
>>Israel Stein RPT
>
>Israel,
>   One question. Everett mentions a glorious sound with the pedal in the
>normal position. If it was over (under) centering, wouldn't that also
>affect the tone in that position?
>   Just wondering.
>

I'm wondering too. Ran accross this on a newish Steinway B - the tone in the
treble was acceptable in the full position and thin-brittle in the shift
position. I don't understand why the shift exaggerates the problem...
Several technicians before me (including the dealer's) gave up. The hammers
were overcentering - nobody caught that... After fixing that it voiced just
fine. So I tossed it in the hopper as a possibility - in retrospect maybe I
should not have phrased my post quite as authoritatively...  (but it was
late at night, two days before my wedding so please pardon the sloppy
thinking). (Re-reading Everett's post again I'm not sure if his top treble
had a "glorious sound" in unshifted position or not...)

Israel Stein





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