I agree that you should set the voicing so that it sounds best to you or that it pleases most artists. There is a way however that you can produce an "instant" soft piano with no effect on your work. This idea comes from a small mishap that occurred where the difference made was enough to really anger the artist. I figured out a way to make that experience work for me. First of all, your alignment must be very good and consistent with the hammers spaced slightly to the right and so that on a full shift, the hammer just misses the left string. This will give you a good half pedal sound that will be remarkably softer than in the normal position. You can even voice carefully so that you have a normal, half and full pedal sound for each note. When you have a performer who wants a "soft" piano, simply remove the left end block that the action rests against and place some shims in that will relocate the action slightly to the right. Some thick or extra thick front rail punchings or some veneer will work. This will make the entire piano have the softer, half pedal sound as normal. The artist will still be able to use the soft pedal and get a muted sound in the shift position. Simply remove the shims after the concert. Many grand piano actions slowly drift to the left because the material on the left end block compresses with time. Recently, I came upon a Young Chang grand that was this way. The spacing was very even but all too far to the left. The voicing also sounded intolerably too bright. I tightened all the flanges and placed some shims behind the left end block. This one easy technique corrected the alignment, amount of shift *and* the voicing in very little time. I did not have to file or voice the hammers in any way. They sounded just fine the way they were. The accident that occurred where I learned the effect placement of the action can have happened when a piece of bushing cloth that had some glue on it got stuck to the left side of the action without my knowing it. When the action went in, it balled up just enough to move the action into the half pedal position. I had been very ill with strep throat in the days previous to this big concerto concert I was tuning for. I noticed the difference but just thought it was my ears not hearing normally. The artist was really steamed after the concert. He thought I had voiced the whole piano down when he had made it a point for me not to do so. He said, with his slight foreign accent, "Eef I head thee gohn, I weel shoot you!" It did demonstrate that a small movement of the action can have a big effect on voicing. I've remembered that and have used it to my advantage ever since. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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