S&S Hammers

[Newton Hunt]

Jim Bryan's post was an excellent one.

I would add the following:

Find a piano that has the tone that you like to hear and _listen_ to
it and get an idea of that tone in your mind.

Realize that piano hammers are, or should be, a complex of energy,
dynamics, compression, stretch, resilience and elasticity.

Dynamic range is a product of the last two items.  Hammers are made
under tons of pressure per square inch so a dynamic is built into the
hammer.  To make this available to the pianist the hammer must be
allow to be elastic so it compresses against the string then it must
be resilient so it kicks itself off the string causing the string to
move even further.

Playing at the softest possible dynamic should produce a soft round
full tone and the higher the dynamic the more intense the higher
partials become.  The steel covered by a soft glove.

The one thing I had trouble learning was that if it takes a hundred
needle insertions to make the sound I want to hear it takes a
hundred.  If you have to remove the action a thousand time you have to
remove the action a thousand time.  There is absolutely no substitute
for doing it the way it has to be done.

There are many different approaches to voicing:

needling the strike point (normally considered a no-no)
using steam to decompress the felt (effective)
using hat water and alcohol or Woolite (often effective)
needling radically (traditional)
needling laterally (nice dynamic release)
single needle
two needles
3, 4, 8 needles (which ever works)
glovers needles (not recommended, tears and cuts felt)
pliers to massage (squeeze) felt (often effective but difficult and
distorts hammer)
Beating hammer in vise with hammer (does not soften hammers)
Hardening hammers with chemicals (substitute for poor soundboard)
Hardening hammers with filing or pounding (section or individually)

None of the above include spacing, leveling or other string
activities.

So working with a good voicer so you can HEAR the difference is a
great idea.  I did it and paid for the instruction and benefited from
the instruction to my financial advantage.

One other item, anytime you have access to hammers before, after or
during tuning voice a little.  Fit hammers to strings by filing,
lifting strings, voice a hard hammer, file a soft hammer, etc.  DO
_something_ to make an improvement.  You _will_ learn, one hammer at a
time.

		Newton