[pianotech] Voicing the new Mason & Hamlins

[Delwin D Fandrich]

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 7:36 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Voicing the new Mason & Hamlins


	And only a mere 20-30 years later. Progress zips past at a blinding
rate, don't it? Is RF curing a possibility? Seems like a potentially shorter
cycle time, and simpler plumbing, but I 	don't know enough about it
to say.

I have seen two hammer presses using RF heating. No, let me correct that; I
have seen two hammer presses that were designed to use RF heating. When they
were tested the folks in charge of voicing determined that they "were not
bright enough." (These are the same folks who were lacquering Renner Blue
hammers.) The RF equipment has been removed and is now no longer useable.
(Yes, there is a story here but it will take a Scotch or two to get it out
of me....)




> There are so many ways to control the hammer making process that, with 
> just a bit of intelligent trial and error, it should be possible-/no, 
> dammit, it *is* possible!/- to make a hammer to suit any piano and any 
> desired piano voice with only minimal voicing required.

	The practical impediment, as always, is "intelligent" trial and
error.

Yes, it is, isn't it.




> I regard all voicing techniques as destructive by their very nature.
> Shouldn't we be looking for hammers that require as little destruction 
> as possible?

	Yes, making huge adjustments to the deficiencies of the hammer to
accommodate the deficiencies of the belly seems a tad misdirected. Like
stuffing a turkey through the neck.
	Ron N

Bearing in mind, of course, that this is how the turkey did it. 

But back to the piano; even when the belly is working we seem to have a
problem. What I was referring to was simply the inappropriate choice of
hammers. Putting Ronsen/Bacon hammers on a Yamaha concert grand and
complaining that Ronsen hammers need so damn much lacquer to "make them
sound right." Or putting Renner Blue hammers on an older Steinway M and
complaining about you have to "pre-voice" the things by driving a set of
three needles into each shoulder 50 times before they are hung to "make them
sound right." Accompanied, of course, by complaints about how heavy the
touch has become and wondering why. After all, I didn't change the action.
Right?  

ddf



Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Design & Fabrication
620 South Tower Avenue
Centralia, Washington 98531 USA
del at fandrichpiano.com
ddfandrich at gmail.com
Phone  360.736.7563