voiceing

[Lawsonic Pianoforte Services]

Or maybe Methylated spirit (meths) if you are of English decent. And, even
Brandspiritus if you want it in Afrikaans.

Brian


> 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 
> >??