Voicing old Yamaha hammers

[John Musselwhite]

At 09:36 PM 3/23/05 -0500, Cy wrote:

>Had a new customer today with a 1974 Yamaha C3 that does a perfect banjo 
>imitation.  String cuts in the hammers aren't too bad.  I don't have much 
>experience in voicing, but it seems that this is a good place to start; in 
>the worst case, I hang new hammers and everyone's happy.
>
>I'll begin with reshaping the hammers and leveling the strings, and see 
>how far that takes me.  Would steam be a next step, or go right for the 
>needles?  Any specific suggestions for these hammers?

Do reshape the hammers, level the strings and mate them, but check the 
hammer flanges afterwards before you start heavy needling. On an 
ugly-sounding older C3 I worked on last week a 20.5 pin went through the 
flange fairly easily with my fingers but I couldn't push it through the 
bushing at all without putting a hole in my thumb. A few hours spent with 
Don Maninno's reamers and new pins and a similar "banjo effect" almost 
disappeared, particularly in the "killer octave" where it was most noticeable.

At THAT point you can try needling as has been suggested, but all the 
needling in the world won't cure the sounds caused by loose flange 
bushings, or in other cases, a tight bushing and a pin that's loose in the 
wood.

                 John Musselwhite, RPT