[pianotech] Voicing the new Mason & Hamlins

Barbara Richmond piano57 at comcast.net
Tue Sep 28 13:15:21 MDT 2010


Hi Nick, 

Last year in Grand Rapids, Rick Florence was <very> enthusiastic about the multi-needle voicing pliers available from Pianotek. They were featured in the TT&T column in the October 09 Journal. 

Barbara Richmond, RPT 
near Peoria, Illinois 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nicholas Gravagne" <ngravagne at gmail.com> 
To: pianotech at ptg.org 
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 11:14:45 AM 
Subject: [pianotech] Voicing the new Mason & Hamlins 

List, 

A store client now floors four new Mason & Hamlins of different models. They all seem to possess an inherent high quality tonal envelope and sustain (but tricky to fully assess as they are). Tone via hammers, however ------ all sections of the scale sound like artillery, and the melody section more like a gun shot in a tile bathroom. Bruce Clark at M&H informs that the factory prefers to ship these pianos out "on the bright side as most technicians are more comfortable taking the tone down rather than building it up". Obviously I want to retain appropriate power, but at the same time uncover the inherent musicality. 

I understand that M&H uses custom Renner hammers. Should I expect a ton of arm-straining needling ahead, or do these hammers respond relatively quickly and easily? 

Anyway, I would like to hear from those of you who have voiced these new pianos. Any tips or advice would be appreciated (short of "rip out the hammers and install something else" ---- a non-option). Just suck it up? 

Can anyone weigh in on the use of multi-needled voicing pliers? And where are these obtained? 

In any case, I'll let you know how it goes. 

Thanks 

-- 
Nick Gravagne, RPT 
AST Mechanical Engineering 
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