At 10:45 AM -0700 7/15/02, Susan Kline wrote:
>P.S. A blow-by-blow of your return visit to voice that set of
>hammers would be very welcome! I've used >shellac for voicing, but
>never for building up a new set of hammers from scratch before.
In the second session, I simply walked in, listened and sugar-coated
the crown with my calligraphy tool at various levels of volume,
beginning with the racket-ball, and ending up with the soft voicing.
The hammer felt seemed amazing alive. It token far less stitching
than I'm used to with keytop (in fact, ProTek's plastic which looks
suspiciously like plexiglass). It was more like tweaking than
"tenderizing" (in the USDA definition of that word). Also, if I ever
over-shot (which would be by small amounts), a quick swipe with the
sand paddle would bring the focus back into the sound. No more "died
on the operating table" voicing jobs.
Still more interesting, was the fact that a change in the loud
voicing of a note did not automatically suppress the lower level. In
the mezzo voicing, I stumbled across several "roosters", and wondered
they can't be this loud in mezzo without being the same in fff. How
could I miss them there? Sure enough, in the loud range they were
just as nicely voiced as when I left them. This told me that the
color/density gradient would not be a function of how stabbing in
the loud range would be reflected in lower levels, that in fact I was
getting to set the gradient, manually. The good part was that it was
in my hands.
Overall, my feeling was that these hammers could have gone a little
brighter and still shone instead of glared or glinted. I certainly
had no trouble warming them up with a little sugar. As the two
pianists (without whom I worked since '92) and I sort out how this
piano should sound, at least I know I'm working with a set of hammers
(and sound) which will move when I poke it.
How this might be different with nitro or its precursor, guncotton
(the resin in collodion), I don't know. I'm only grateful that it's
happening here.
The two pianists give me the opportunity to get these hammers
work-hardened. I'm looking forward to the emergence of this piano.
Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.
"May you work on interesting pianos."
...........Ancient Chinese Proverb
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