voiceing

[Richard Brekne]

Just thought I'd ask for some input about a voicing technique I ran into
at the
Oslo convention of the Scandanavian associations.

This applies to really hard hammers (un-needled) only. One mixes up 9
parts 96%
technical spirits with 1 part water. This is applied to the shoulders so
that
it soaks in about three quarters of the way to the underfelt /core and
so that
it almost comes to-gether over the crown. The hammers rest a day, then
are
reshaped. Any evening out needed afterwards is done by light needling
close to
the striking point.

The idea is that trying to needle over hard hammers causes so much
damage to
the felt in order to have any effect that the hammer just goes dead, if
not at
once then in a very short time. This approach loosens the inner tension
dependent on how much water you mix in, and how much you apply while not
tearing a single fiber. Thus the resiliency of the hammer is maintained
of not
right out enhanced.

I have tried this a couple times and was outright shocked by the
results. So I
decided to try it on a Yammaha C3 that had not been needled much through
its 15
year life and had gotten really packed and glassy sounding. (The hammers
were
pretty worn and needed shaping anyways, and I figured the worst that
could
happen was that I'd have to pay for a new set of hammers and install
them
myself, so what the heck)

After reshaping and regulation I couldnt believe I was listening to a
Yamaha.
The dynamic range was way over any Yamaha I have ever heard. Soft
playing was
solid and round and full, but soft. As you started to stike heavier
blows it
got increasingly brighter while maintaining the same feeling of power /
solidness.

The customer droped his jaw and immediatly said "Its like the piano has
become
more mellow, yet more powerfull at the same time. "Exactly" I thought to
myself. Its been two months now and It has maintained this charachter.
The
other two such jobs I did have also held up really well.

Any one with comments, experience with this, negatives and positives ??