Vise Grips voicing is not a vice

[Richard Brekne]

Well David... then we are bound to see things differently here. When 
good hammers get this banged up they are usually also so worn that they 
are not worth much anyways, and so David Loves <<last resort>> 
definition fits fine. I rather tell customers that its time to change 
hammers.  As for brand new Yamahas... or even 2-3 year old ones.... I 
have not seen even one case of these needing anything like this kind of 
treatment, and we live in a dry climate, and I deal with several C6's 
and C7's that are under heavy use. Knowing a bit about the Yamaha 
factory voicing proceedure tells me that a good working knowledge of 
traditional needling techniques is all that is needed and is not 
physically difficult at all. I cant speak for Kawai or Young Chang as we 
dont get many of them. But I do stand by my position that good quality 
hammers simply do not need up-mushing techniques to get them usable. 
Course everyones got their own experience to be sure. :)

Cheers
RicB

Dave Nereson wrote:

>I gotta side with David Love here, and others that take this position.
>Hammers that require draconian treatments such as pliers-mashing to get
>them soft enough to at all useable are not high quality piano hammers to
>begin with. Ok ok... lots of cheapos use such hammers... and a mans
>gotta do what a mans gotta do and all that I am sure... but decent
>voicing on decent instruments does not involve this kind of thing.
>
>Cheers
>RicB
>
>    I strongly disagree.  Yamahas, Kawais, Young Changs, and a few other
>Asians makes are considered decent instruments, yet after a few years of
>heavy playing (or even when brand new!), and in dry climates, can exhibit
>extremely hard hammers that break strings.  Rather than break up and cut the
>fibers with sharp needles, which, especially on Yamahas, makes them pull
>apart at the crown, I opt for, as someone else put it, "deep tissue
>massage".  [Webster's Collegiate:  Draconian --  . . . ; barbarously severe,
>harsh].  Some of these hammers require severe treatment.  I wouldn't
>consider it barbarous or harsh, if that's what it takes to be able to get
>them to accept voicing needles.  As I said in another post, the Vise Grips
>are for gross, initial hammer softening, not for fine concert voicing.
>Steaming can also work if the hammers aren't excessively hard, but it
>affects mostly the surface and doesn't loosen up the felt deep in the
>shoulders.  I don't believe in stabbing and stabbing and pricking and poking
>until the fibers are all torn up, there are hundreds of prick holes in the
>hammer, and you've got carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow.  --David
>Nereson, RPT
>
>
>
>
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