Needling Technique

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

    Carol, you're right.

    But perhaps if you were familiar with a particular hammer producer's
product, and these hammers felt as hard as the ones in the past, It MIGHT
not hurt things to do some judicious deep needling on the shoulders, not
near the crown, to try to give the hammers some bounce , and therefore some
sustain.
    And then, having done this enough times, and finding that the same thing
could be accomplished by using fewer but larger holes in the hammer,
wouldn't that be acceptable?

    What we do requires experience; the fact that I do exactly what you do,
by listening first, does not mean that there is no one out there that
doesn't have a way to do things better. I'd have to see the end result to
judge.


Kevin E. Ramsey
ramsey@extremezone.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carol R. Beigel" <crbrpt@bellatlantic.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 7:21 PM
Subject: Re: Needling Technique


> Usually hammer makers go to great lengths to ensure their product produces
> an acceptable tone - what a way to disrespect a lot of research and
effort!
> To deep needle 9 big holes into the hammers before they are hung, without
> even listening to them first, is like using using a crescent wrench to
turn
> all the tuning pins a little bit before you sit down to tune it!
>
> The idea of voicing is to produce tone and power, both on light and heavy
> blows. You don't just sit down to "voice" a piano, you tone regulate it,
and
> for that one needs to use their EARS!  Whatever it takes technique-wise to
> produce the best sound possible from the piano should not be the issue;
only
> the result!
>
> And this from the person still experimenting with shaping hammers using an
> electric shaver!
>
> Carol Beigel
> Greenbelt, Maryland
> about 4 weeks away from Grandmotherhood!
>