voiceing

[bases-loaded@juno.com]

Richard -

Very interesting, indeed!  I am not familiar with the term "technical
spirits".  What are they?  Denatured alcohol?

Mark Potter
bases-loaded@juno.com

On Sat, 24 Apr 1999 14:14:09 +0200 Richard Brekne <richardb@c2i.net>
writes:
>
>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 
>??