>>I have repaired 2 major cracks and refinished the >>soundboard, painted the plate, installed new strings and tuning pins, >>rebushed the keys and put on new keytops, various new felts, repinned >hammer >>flanges, new knuckles, filed and shaped the old hammers and regulated. I am >>now trying to decide whether to voice the hammers and keep them or put on >>new ones which I know really is the best route to go. As my voicing >>experience is limited I'm not sure if what I presently hear is fixable by >>voicing or can only be cured with new hammers or some other problem. The >>bass and tenor section is a bit nasal, the lower treble sound ok, mid >treble >>is a bit tinny,and the high treble has a strong knock. What thinks ye? >>John Pengelly >>The Tuning Fork >>Nelson B.C. Hi John, You haven't mentioned about the piano's crown and downbearing situation. These conditions are crucial in predicting the outcome of a major rebuild. For the past 4 years or so, all of our rebuilding projects (actually, anything involving restringing) have included complete restoration of soundboard and bridges along the line of Bill Spurlock's techniques as described in a series of PTJ articles (3/92, 5/92, 6/92). Prior to doing these repairs, our pianos typically turned out much as you describe; tinny and nasal in tonal quality. Hammer voicing will likely not improve this. In the presence of acceptable crown and downbearing (whatever that is), I believe that the crucial factor is solid string termination, both at the bridges and the agraffe and/or capo bar. We routinely repin all bridges, not only because we are interested in spending a great deal of time for questionable cosmetic improvement, but because it enables us to plane down the bridge to the bottom of the string grooves and re-cut notches on the center line of the pin holes. The pin holes are redrilled to a consistant depth for 1" pins and the pins are epoxied in place. Rock solid termination. Do this once and you'll never do a 'slap-on' stringing job again. Best regards, Stan Kroeker Registered Piano Technician
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