abel needling technique

[Richard Brekne]

jason kanter wrote:

>Thanks. I'd love to hear from others. Ari Isaac says:
>
>Pushing needles into the shoulders rips the fibres, hence the puffing out of
>a heavily needled hammer.  This means that when you push needles into the
>shoulder radially you lose control.  Since every set of hammers is
>different, one can never tell how much energy is lost when needles puncture
>the shoulders.  The more the shoulders are punctured - the more energy and
>the more control is lost.  This is neither an efficient nor a safe way of
>voicing.
>
>To what extent do any of you agree/disagree with this?
>I can certainly see the danger of damaging the hammershank pinning with
>sideways pressure, and I imagine that this technique calls for a specialized
>plier-type tool. Does this danger outweigh the benefits, as Corte suggests?
>
>Jason
>
>  
>

I'd have to say it's balderdash. That is to say if what is said above is 
meant as any kind of an absolutism about needling.

In a reasonably pressed hammer, the appropriate amount of shoulder 
needling releases some of the inner tension directionally towards the 
top (crown)  of the hammer adding to its resiliancy and power. This has 
been demonstrated  so many times so clearly that I have a hard time 
understanding how any can question that.  Of course you can over do 
things, and of course you can be dealing with a set of hammers that are 
inappropriate to handle this way... either because they are so damned 
hard pressed to begin with that we are beyond talking about inner 
tension, or because they are mush balls with no inner tension to begin 
with and will need laquer to bring them up to enough hardness to be useable.

As far as sideways, reverse direction and all other odd ball ways of 
approaching the needle goes... I am finding out that if you just follow 
the old standard directions for traditional needling, practice lots and 
lots, and refuse to let yourself be too timid...then you can solve any 
voicing situation wonderfully so long as you have a decent set of 
hammers in front of you.. Over hard or heavily laquered hammers require 
other treatments.

One other point... Andre makes a big thing out of voicing at the 
piano... he doesnt really allow for a lot of prevoicing.  The reason 
being is that he simply doesnt want the slightlest chance of over doing 
things... he wants to hear whats going on all the way.  With good 
hammers you can do this, and its a great advantage.  I'll defer to the 
master himself for further comment on that subject tho.

Cheers
RicB