Randy With regards to the "sweet spot" it's a matter of experimenting with several guide hammers with only a dry fit to the shank. Play around with the action by sliding it in and out ever so slightly. It's rather obvious when you've arrived at the sweet point as the tone will spike once the true spot is found. I find that about 90% of the pianos you are safe with a straight hammer strike line from 1-88. That's how most factory jobs are completed. However I find that the older Steinways can benefit from a varied line from #70 and up. You just need to experiment and find the general parameters and off you go. The other area that's worth paying special attention is your hammer angle of 90%., or 92% some Asian pianos, or in the high 80's for uprights. I see a lot of pianos moved with very poor hammers installations. At first glance, the installation looks clean as a whistle, but the piano sounds horrible.. After close inspection it's quite common to find the tail position wavering so much that there wasn't any consistency from note to note. More importantly the energy transfer is lost. And that's the real key to a good installation: energy transfer. Hammers not only have to travel straight from point A to point B, but they have to be positioned so when they make contact with the string, a strong collision occurs. Then and only then, can a platform for which the voicing process can work from. Tom Servinsky ----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Chastain" <Randy_Chastain at sbcglobal.net> To: <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 12:58 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Yamaha Hammer Suggestion Tom, I like your two cents and from having almost completed today a hammer job for a Steinway L with Steinway hammers (request of owner) , thank you for bringing up part of the detailed process and skill it takes to do a good and proper job. The attention to detail can be overlooked for sure by some and end up with a bigger problem. The hard work starts at the beginning no matter who you get your parts from. Its the detailed work that pays off. I still hear of techs who buy, for example pre hung Steinway hammers :( . I did that once early on and, oh my gosh!!!Never, never again. I would be very interested in how you or anybody else find the proper hammer line/sweet spot. I can ALWAYS learn something. I have one of those diseases that I have to keep learning. There's just so much out there that I can't help myself. I live in the San Francisco bay area and I wish there was a better way for me to continue to learn after 15 years of this. I have it. Randy Chastain On Feb 5, 2010, at 2:26 AM, Tom Servinsky wrote: > Steven > I'll throw my 2 cents in on this one. > Truth be told, there are many types of hammers that could work for this > piano. With good voicing techniques and a good understanding how many > different types of hammers respond, one can get the sound of the piano to > be clear and full bodied. That being said, it's all a matter of how much > time and effort you want to make. > Although I have my go-to hammers I prefer, I finding more and more it's > more of doing an exquisite hanging job that makes for a nice sounding C7. > Taking the time to make sure that the traveling is dead-on, and your > hammer strike line reflects that of the sweet spots of the piano will lay > the grounds for a nice voicing experience. It's when the strike line is > not in check with the piano that we end treating the symptoms and not the > disease. I've seen countless techs spending too much time trying to > overcome the problems of a bad strike line or poor traveling. > Tom Servinsky > ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Ilvedson" <ilvey at sbcglobal.net> > To: <pianotech at ptg.org> > Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 12:12 AM > Subject: Re: [pianotech] Yamaha Hammer Suggestion > > >> No offense to anyone in particular...OK?...but this idea that any piano >> hammer can be hung and sounds great right off the bat...well, I've got a >> problem with that. I think we need a little more education in >> voicing... >> >> David Ilvedson, RPT >> Pacifica, CA 94044 >> >> ----- Original message ---------------------------------------- >> From: "John Dever" <jazzman3743 at live.com> >> To: pianotech at ptg.org >> Received: 2/4/2010 4:13:11 PM >> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Yamaha Hammer Suggestion >> >> >> >>> Ari Isaac Cadenza "S" Hammers. >> >>> I just had a set installed on my Petrof >> >>> Nice right out of the box. >> >>> JD >>> >> >> >>> From: hoppsmusic at hotmail.com >>> To: pianotech at ptg.org >>> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 02:49:37 +0000 >>> Subject: [pianotech] Yamaha Hammer Suggestion >> >> >> >>> Hello List, >>> >>> I am looking for a suggestion of new hammers for a Yamaha C7. It will >>> be used in a >>> small hall (seating less than 300). The preference would be for as full >>> and rich a >>> sound as possible with a crisp high treble. I would hope for hammers >>> that would not >>> need extensive voicing immediately. >>> >>> Has anyone replaced hammers and have any experience or suggestions? >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> Steven Hopp >>> Midland, TX >> >> >> >>> Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now. >>> >>> _________________________________________________________________ >>> Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. >>> http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469227/direct/01/ >
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