feasable voicing tool modification??

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Alpha88x@aol.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 10:54 AM
Subject: feasable voicing tool modification??


> Greetings,
>
>              I got a really good idea!  I have done about 5 hammer carding
&
> needling jobs for customers who own old, old uprights and I take the
actions
> home to card and do basic deeep shoulder needling.
>
>               However, when I return the action  to the piano, I find I
need
> to custom or individually needle the hammers to tonally match/blend the
> octaves, or rather, make the side by side notes sound homogonous/alike
next to one
> another, blending the sections.
>
>                With the action in place, when I attemp this, my voicing
> tool's handle gets in the way and is too big to use in the small space
between the
> hammers and the strings. I don't like the idea of swinging the action back
and
> forth to needle, listen, needle, listen...etc.
>
>                The great idea is to dismantle the voicing tool, saw off
the
> 1" or so handle insert thereby having just the needle (cartridge?) head in
hand
> so that I can work quickly with the upright action in place. Is this a
good
> idea?
>
> Julia Gottchall,
> Reading, PA
>

    Yeah, the Yamaha tool is OK, but not great.  As Corte S. said, it's more
for touch-up voicing and surface "sugar coating" since Yamaha hammers are
usually too hard to be able to get a needle in very far, never mind three of
them.  I just have one needle in mine and use it to poke right into the
string grooves.  And my knuckles get scraped a lot.  But there's nothing
else out there designed for upright hammers that I know of, except the
voicing tool with the pivoting head -- but it doesn't pivot enough.
    Been trying side voicing lately -- see last month's Journal, I believe.
    What I end up doing a lot is taking the action out, laying it on the
carpet, putting a block of wood under the hammer tails, and stabbing with my
big (Yamaha) voicing tool.  Then put it back in and see how much effect it
had.  Repeat. Listen. Maybe repeat again, or go to the smaller tool for
touch-up, or use ViseGrips, but ya gotta be real careful with those-- it's
easy to go too far.  It's awkward, working down on the floor on your knees,
but I don't know a better way, unless you bring a long a portable folding
table or something ...
    --David Nereson, RPT