Steve Brady's book...

[Allen Wright]

David,

Speaking of fitting hammers to strings; for years now I've preferred  
the method where you lift the hammers out of the way, then lay a long  
strip of bushing cloth over the tops of the reps, drop the hammers  
back down and carefully slide the action back in; this causes the  
hammers to block (if letoff is reasonably close) and you can then  
comfortably, and with very subtle control, lift the hammers to the  
strings using the piano key - rather than bending over and using a  
string lifting hook, or pushing up from under the whippen. I find it  
so much easier to control than either of those two methods. And way  
easier on the body; doing it from such a relaxed position encourages  
me to be even more careful, and enjoy the process more.

Collodion is great as a touch-up or refining voicing solution. Often  
it's used diluted with ether, but that's dangerous stuff, and seems  
difficult to come buy (perhaps it's very carefully controlled? - not  
sure) so I recently mixed up some collodion with acetone, and it  
worked fine. Didn't explode or anything  : )   Having used keytop/ 
acetone for many years, my impression of using collodion is that it  
seems to create a slightly less edgy or brittle quality to the tone  
than keytop. This may just be subjective impression - I haven't done  
an A/B comparison; I should, and report back.

I agree with David Love that these hammers are "deep-toned" really  
vigorously at first (some may require as many as 150-200 deep  
strokes) to create resilience, but then just require the usual kinds  
of maintenance or control voicing, usually near or at the strike  
point (much like NY hammers, really). Another way of describing the  
effect this gives is to say that the tone goes from very vertical  
(perhaps what David describes as "swallowed up" and one-dimensional)  
to a more spread out and horizontal tone, with more timbral and  
dynamic variety.

All this needling may require several shaping sessions, and finishing  
using 1200 or even 2000 grit paper will give you super smooth and  
refined looking hammers, no doubt about it. Do that to Hamburg  
Renners that are intelligently shaped and needled and you'll create a  
warm and beautiful sound with nice focused clarity in the attack. It  
sounds extreme, but it can make a really nice difference.

Allen Wright, RPT
London, England




On Jul 2, 2008, at 12:08 AM, David Ilvedson wrote:

> List,
>
> FYI...
>
> In Steve's excellent book, he has interviews with technicians.    
> One fellow, Ulrich Gerhartz, London Steinway, wrote about how he  
> maintains the voicing on his 13 Hamburg Ds...to paraphrase:   he  
> starts with deep needling, low in the shoulders.  All of the  
> hammers...sometimes below the staple until he is satisfied the  
> shoulder felt has sufficient resiliency.  (I would like to know how  
> he determines that resiliency?...at Yamaha/Buena Park, they kept  
> saying I hadn't deep needled enough...;-]...the projection was  
> quite there I guess...) He then files to restore the shape and  
> attack.  Maybe a few drops of collodian. (wish I had access to  
> that...?)   He finishes up with polishing the hammers from 400 grit  
> to maybe 1200 grit sandpaper.  He fits hammers to strings with a  
> hook rather than under the wippen/jack ala Yamaha.   I am  
> interested in approaching our Hamburg D in this manner...I was  
> especially interested to read about the deep shoulder needling as a  
> regular part of the maintenance...apparently, with playing the  
> shoulders get compacted too...
>
> David Ilvedson, RPT
> Pacifica, CA 94044






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