visegrip "voicing"

[Duplexdan@AOL.COM]

Dan,

Thanks for the suggestion about steam. I've never resorted to that technique 
so far, but it may come to that some day. In my case with the Sojin hammers I 
did use the vise grip technique succesfully using a small pliers for the 
middle and upper register and a large one for the bass. A few firm squeezes 
on each hammer around the shoulders seems to have supplied the necessary 
breaking up of the internal structure so that when I applied the needles they 
were effective.

I did find something strange. And that is that with a single stong needle I 
was able to go about one sixteenth into the hammer at various angles. there 
seemed to be a thick skin around each hammer that permitted the needle to 
enter the surface up to a hard core. I proceded to penetrate slightly into 
the core on each stitch. 

I followed this with a three needle approach, which seemed to work. The 
result was rather startling both to me and the customer. What started out to 
be a box turned out to be a beautiful piano.

Thanks for the input, and I'll keep the steam in abeyance.

Dan Franklin, Singing Tone