[CAUT] How much voicing on new NY hammers/ Re-visited

[Paul T Williams]

I am extremely pleased with the shanks and flanges that came with these 
hammers.  I think I only had to travel 4 or 5 of them! I'll get them again 
on the next project.

Paul




From:
Kent Swafford <kswafford at gmail.com>
To:
caut at ptg.org
Date:
01/14/2011 11:52 AM
Subject:
Re: [CAUT] How much voicing on new NY hammers/ Re-visited



It's funny. Before I came into check email, I was hanging sample genuine 
Steinway hammers on a D I have in the shop, and was very happy with the 
sound of those samples.

In the last few years, you know, there has been a transition in the 
Steinway factory to the current pre-lacquered hammers, and that transition 
may account for some of the variation we have seen, as they have adjusted 
things to suit their needs.

The last 2 sets seem to have been both similar to each other and pleasing 
to me. If they are gonna be like the last 2 sets for a while, then I'll be 
happy with Steinway hammers.

BTW, the last two or three sets of Steinway shanks & flanges I have gotten 
have been the best I've ever seen, from _any_ manufacturer.

Ask again in a few months.

Kent




On Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 11:14 AM, Paul T Williams <
pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu> wrote:
Hi Kent and all, 

I quite discouraged with the set of factory hammers for one of our D's we 
discussed a couple months ago.  I've had to juice them several times all 
over.  I still don't like the tenor and killer octaves all the way up to 
C-7.  They're hung nice and straight, but for fun, I moved the action in 
and out a small amount (like2-4mm) to see if the killer area was going to 
need altering in the strike point.  Not much happened, so they stay where 
they are. 

Of course, they haven't had a lot of playing in yet.  I get so-so fff and 
the ppp is pretty good.  I don't like much of anything inbetween except 
the middle 2 octaves and bass.  It's just weak sounding. String mating is 
good and regulation is great, so it's either that these aren't a great set 
of hammers, or the soundboard has some issues (this piano is from the 80's 
or early 90's)  It was a C&A piano, so it's got a different serial number, 
but that's what Richard West says, and since he was here, that's what it 
is... 

I might consider trying some Hamburg hammers sometime, but I'll really 
have to think long and hard about getting another NY set. 

What about y'all? 

Paul 



From: 
Kent Swafford <kswafford at gmail.com> 
To: 
caut at ptg.org 
Date: 
10/13/2010 05:27 PM 
Subject: 
Re: [CAUT] How much voicing on new NY hammers




I have found no consistent answer to your question. The last set of D 
hammers I put on needed to be juiced up a bit in the top two sections and 
was then ready to go; the set before that has been juiced twice throughout 
and is not yet bright enough; the one before that was OK in the tenor but 
needed to be juiced everywhere else. 

Hanging these is like spinning the wheel of fortune. I'd be interested in 
knowing where yours land. 

Kent 


On Oct 13, 2010, at 4:17 PM, Paul T Williams wrote: 

Hi all 

Quick question;  how much voicing is typically needed on the new NY 
hammers for our D?  I have a very small window to put a set on our D in 
the main hall.  They're pre-hung and I have them here in the shop.  The 
project starts tomorrow. 

Thanks 
Paul 




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