Modern Tone II, the Return of the Question

[Jerry Cohen]

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-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Alan
Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 1:08 AM
To: 'Pianotech'
Subject: RE: Modern Tone II, the Return of the Question

 

 

P.S.  Part of my pursuit of this at this time is a desire to rescue an area
Methodist church from the shrill, busy, ultra-bright, piercing, stident,
trident (gummed up) sound of the little Samick SG-172 grand they bought. I'm
pretty sure it's going to start with some serious string seating, bridge pin
stabilization, and regulation--followed by a session in the back room with
those hammers ... under a bright light ... with a rubber hose and brass
knuckles, to soften them up. I don't THINK I could make it worse, even with
what I know, now.  And, no, there are no other guild techs within two hours
of here and no local yokels I'd want to invite to help. I am alllllll
aloooooooone here in the elephant ivory graveyard.

 

 

Alan,

 

I think the Samick is an excellent piano to start learning with. I did some
voicing on one a few weeks ago. It was also shrill and painful to tune. The
hammers are actually decent quality, and with needling, you can create nice
elasticity in the shoulders, and create whatever you want as you approach
the top.

 

Since you are just starting, my advice is to make some improvement in some
section. If you try to do everything, you will get frustrated and lose
perspective. For example, even though the whole piano sounds shrill, try to
find one octave that is a little worse (or a lot worse) than the rest. Work
only on that section, and try to make it blend perfectly with the rest of
the piano. By doing this you will be developing your skills at not only tone
building, but also creating an even line. After you have finished that
section, pat yourself on the back, and leave the piano for maybe a week or
two. Then you can start working on other sections.  If you work on the whole
piano at once, you can easily lose your reference. 

 

We met briefly during Don Mannino's voicing class in Sacramento. While he
spent more time on pre-voicing, he really did demonstrate most of the
principles of voicing. I suggest starting with the shoulders, trying to feel
the elasticity being created. Work on one note at a time. Make a few stabs,
front and rear, and listen to the result. The difference should be heard in
the mF and F levels. Listen very carefully. When you hear a difference, move
to the next note, even if you haven't finished the first one. Remember, the
needling tool works a lot better than the unneedling tool! Eventually you
can start working up to the crown, but stay away from the strike point for
now. Use this area to create a nice mp and p sound. The final result should
be nice tone which has variety from pp to F. At FF it should start to crash.
Then you have created the full dynamic range of the piano.

 

It was good to meet you last month, however briefly, and I hope this helps.

 

Jerry Cohen

NJ Chapter

 

 


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