Needling Technique

[antares]

Richard Breken said :

>Heck I hear folks
>talk of setting a set of hammers fresh out of the box on the bench and danking
>60 times into each shoulder...til the felt on the shoulders begins to puff up a
>bit as part of their preneedling technique.

Yes, but Richard,

An intoneur can never exactly tell beforehand what it is going to be...

You can feel a hammer and guess that it will probably be sort of ok, but you
don't know for sure! you can never >really< tell!
For that reason you have to sit behind the grand, and actually listen to
every individual tone, or group of tones, and then decide how many jabs each
hammer needs, and even then.......

In Japan I have learned to first listen carefully, set out a course and make
markings, like :
in the bass start with 20 and end with 25, in the break to steel strings
start with 45-50 and finally end with 10-15.
But then, this was Yamaha, a predictable instrument because it was made
well.
With most other instruments, this method will result in a sure disaster.

So now, even with Yamaha's, I do not put the action anymore on a bench or on
top of the grand for voicing. Instead, I treat every tone as an individual.
So I will remain seated behind the grand until I am sure that every tone has
gotten what it needs for 'first voicing'. That is a save way and a good
preparation for 'second voicing'.

It is for that reason unwise to mutilate the hammers beforehand.
Besides, a technique for voicing has been developed over quite a long period
of time, and based on the felt materials that were fabricated, and
available, in those times.
That same technique is very useful to the European hammers (I have no
experience with American hammer heads), and it seems wise to keep on using
the old techniques since they have proven themselves to be right.

btw...
I keep reading about people having big problems with GRANITE hard hammers.
I personally would refuse to work with those pso's, because life is no fun
anymore if you break 100 needles plus during one voicing. (not to mention
the agony for your back, shoulder, arm and hand muscles!
And not to mention the psychological stress, caused by those darned hammers!
Life is tough enough already!

Antares,

Amsterdam, Holland