voicing on M&H

[Greg Torres]

James,

While I agree with many of your posts I have to disagree on this one regarding voicing. I
will first say here that while I don't have the expertise in this area that some on this
list obviously do I have had experiences similar to the incident described in the earlier
post regarding voicing a new piano. It is my opinion that any instrument from the factory
could be "tweaked" by proper voicing. If the artist/pianist feels the need for something
which is lacking regarding the tone if it can be improved to that persons satisfaction then
why not? I don't feel that a piano that has come from the factory always sounds the best.
Any piano's tone in most cases can benefit from the needles or hardener of one who really
knows what they are doing.

I had a customer with a Steinway B, circa '20s, all original and the hammers were worn
almost flat and lacquered as hard as rocks. But he insisted that he loved the tone. I
re-strung and put a new set of renner hammers and had to use a lot of hardener to achieve
the tone he was used to, and I personally hated doing it because the tone it had before the
hardener to me was the "Steinway" sound I liked.

Bottom line-just like HT's if the customer wants a particular sound and it can be had and
they are willing to pay for it then go ahead if you are able...My goal always is to make
the customer happy. If someone else screwed it up that's ok too because then you have the
chance to prove that there really are good tench's and you are one of them.

Regards,
Greg Torres

pianoman wrote:

>         My earlier post asked the question, "Why would anyone want to  re-voice a
> new Mason & Hamlin A".
>         I figure that on the fine;  no, probably almost all new pianos are never
> going to sound, play, look, or act better than when they leave the factory
> and are prepped and tuned in the showroom.  These people at the factory do
> the same job, (voicing, regulation,etc.) all day every day.  I could not
> think that I could ever compete with their expertise doing what I do only
> fairly regularly as compared to all day every day.
>                 When a client asks me about buying a piano I always recommend that they
> go to the showroom and play all of the models and pick the one they like
> best and tell the salesman that it is the one they want and proceed to
> write down the serial number to make sure.  Forget about wheeling and
> dealing, the one they want is the one they picked out, not one from the
> warehouse.
>          It is somewhat akin to picking a mate.  In my case, I knew I wanted a
> woman for my wife but certainly any woman is not the same as THE woman.  Do
> not be swayed by remarks like, "Oh, we can voice it to suit you after
> delivery."  POPPYCOCK.  Why would you want to revoice another piano to
> match the one you picked out in the first place.  Carefully choose one with
> all the perameters you are looking for and get the same one you chose.
>          Sorry to be so passionate.
> James Grebe
> R.P.T. of the P.T.G. from St. Louis, MO. USA, Earth
> pianoman@inlink.com
> "I'm on my way towards the mighty light of knowledge".