voiceing

[Roger Jolly]

Hi Richard,
           The only draw back with the alcohol/water treatment, is a slight
deformation of the shoulder of the hammer. Using a damp piece of linen and
a hot voicing iron to inject steam into the shoulders will achieve the same
result, with out the deformation, and with more control, particularly if
the hammers have been needled.
If you over do the steam, the hammer can be brightened back up by using the
iron hot and dry. 
Once you master the technique, very little needling is required
Most Yamaha hammer sets have had some pre-voicing done at the factory, and
all pre hung sets are pre-voiced. Exception being CF hammers.
Regards Roger



At 02:15 PM 4/24/99 +0200, you wrote:
>
>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 ??
>
Roger Jolly
Balwin Yamaha Piano Centres.
Saskatoon/Regina.
Canada.