Voicing depth

[allen@pengar.com]

Thanks for your comments, Keith.

> Another problem that can occur with accepting this method as a sure fire
> method is that it won't work with all types of hammers.  I can recall one
> instance many years ago when I tried to follow the book like Reblitz, but
> discovered that I was physically unable to penetrate a particular set of
> hammers.  That was a very frustrating experience.  Broke 40+ needles and
> some of my spirit for voicing before I ended up using pliers as a last
> ditch effort to voice the hammers down.  Now I'm not recommending pliers to
> you as a carte blanche method, but that's what I had to do in this given
> instance.

The hammers I've tried to voice are in old uprights and are very
hard.  My "deep" needeling was about 1/16" and my "shallow" needeling
was about 1/32".  I didn't think of using pliers, but those distances
were all I could get.  The other night at our PTG meeting, we saw a
film from a piano mfg. and the guy needeling new hammers went in very
deep.  After seeing the film, I began to wonder if I needed to go in
farther.  My needeling does improve the tone in the transition area
from trichord to bichord, but I don't know how long it will last....

Comments from other techs will be appreciated.

/Allen Leigh
South Jordan, Utah