Bass Hammer Voicing

[Greg & Mary Ellen Newell]

On Sun, 23 Jun 1996 18:52:45 -0400, PIANOBIZ@aol.com wrote:

>In a message dated 96-06-22 13:06:37 EDT, you write:
>
>>     Was surprised that nobody mentioned the possibility that the hammers at
>>the break might have been voiced to death at some point. I have noticed that
>>the last few treble hammers are occasionally over-voiced in an effort to
>>smooth the transition to the bass. I would have shifted a hammer from 5 or 6
>>notes up down to the break... just to see if that were the problem.
>
>Jeff mentions that the hammers may have been over voiced, which brings to
>mind for me a question I've had with voicing bass hammers in general.  Have
>any technicians actually had success in voicing out unpleasant noises in bass
>strings?  If so would you be willing to share your method? I've always
>wondered if  in the end you're just lowering their volume by softening the
>hammers, the unpleasant sounds still present?
>
>David Sanderson
>Pianobiz@aol.com
>
>
I know this may sond a bit obvious but in case it was overlooked, ...
I usually have good success in getting rid of unwanted bass string
sounds by holding a pair of needle nose pliers on the core wire and
hitting the pliers with a hammer in the direction of the rest of the
winding, in effect compressing the winding. I first tried this with a
universal string (I only use in situations where the customer \cannot
affors the correct repair) but found it works with "real" strings as
well. Hope this helps.
						Greg
Greg & Mary Ellen Newell
gnewell@en.com
dt945@cleveland.freenet.edu
gnewell@juno.com