Boston Hammer Voicing

[Kazuo Yoshizaki]

I'm still a novice in this field, but I have been using a steam iron for
steaming the hammer felt. I have actually tried it on relatively new Yamaha
C-3 hammers (at NBSS) and had a good result. I have also tried on 20 year
old C-3 hammers, but that one was not very good. I oversoftened it and I had
to juice it later. It seemed these hammers were totally different. The new
hammer was much stiffer than the 20 year old one. It almost seemed to me
that the old one was not pressed and rather like an American hammer. When I
steamed the new one, the shape of the hammer expanded and I had to file the
hammer head so that it got flat against the strings, but when I did the old
one, the shape didn't change at all. BTW, I steamed the new one because
needling didn't last long (especially for a piano used for tuning practice)
and steaming seems to be more lasting. For the old one, I expected steaming
would restore the resiliency, but obviously was a bad idea.

Yoshi

----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Jolly <baldyam@sk.sympatico.ca>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2000 1:01 PM
Subject: Re: Boston Hammer Voicing


> Hi Terry,
>               They are Kawai hammers, and respond well to both steam and
> traditional techniques.
> In Arlington, the class was given on a new Yamaha C3.  The partial set of
> hammers that I was working with was 25yr old Yamaha hammers.  I recieved a
> number of comments of how close the new and the old hammers matched.  When
> you consider the old hammers had been reshaped so many times, even I was a
> little suprised.
> Talking with Bill Brandom and Mark Wisner, They have looked after more
than
> a few warranty claims after a tech has steamed hammers to death, and
> therefore they are cautious about recommending the process.
> Note the title of the class  CONTROLLABLE steam voicing.
> The process was developed, because I felt the steam kettle approach lacked
> control, and was completely unpredictable.
> Now you have some experience, use your own good judgement.
> Regards Roger
>
>
>
> At 07:33 AM 07/08/00 -0400, you wrote:
> >Does anyone know what type of hammers would be on a 7 year old Boston
GP-178
> >(5' 10" grand)? Asian/Yamaha type? I wish to soften a set a bit for a
more
> >mellow/less bright sound. I like and often use the Roger J. steaming
method,
> >but so many recent posts warn against steaming Yamaha hammers. I wonder
if
> >this concern would apply to Boston hammers. Any thoughts?
> >
> >Terry Farrell
> >Piano Tuning & Service
> >Tampa, Florida
> >mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
> >
> Roger Jolly
> Saskatoon, Canada.
> 306-665-0213
> Fax 652-0505
>