hammer steam voicing

[Roger Jolly]

Hi Mark, 
              I'm Happy that steam is working for you, It sure helps to
build customer appreciation to the artistic side of our craft.
  Bass /tenor break is troublesome on most pianos, the two most common
problems in this area, is phasing and string seating, followed by travel
and centre pinning.
  This may help on the Acro', take the back of your finger to the catcher
and move the hammer to the string, depress the damper peddle and pluck each
string of the bi-cord, I'll bet one string is open. Either burn in or file
the hammer to fit. I'll give 70% odds on this one. (also check travel)
Seat the strings, so they are clean of false beats. 
If this has not cleaned it up, remove a butt assembly and check for four
swings, at this age I'll bet on 10. Recentre pin. You may end up doing an
octave either side of the break to smooth things out.
If you participated in my class, remember the triad progression across this
section, listen it will give you many clues.

What you are describing as raspiness? Would I be calling it, a lack of
tonal focus? If so you may have gone a bit TOO far (oops, the grammar cops
are on patrol) Lightly reshape the hammer with 220 grit, and iron down the
nap with a medium heat iron.
This vintage of Baldwin has cold pressed hammers and responds well to
hammer filing to voice down, cutting out the compressed felt.

As a last resort the string windings may be starting to buzz.

Hope this helps.
Roger

At 07:21 PM 23/09/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Roger -
>
>Today I sailed my maiden voyage on the steamship Roger, and I am
>delighted to say that the results were astonishing!  This poor old 50's
>Acrosonic at a piano teacher's house had hammers as hard as they get, but
>30 minutes after I got there the piano had undergone a transformation I
>wouldn't have thought possible in that length of time.  And I was going
>SLOW!   I was amazed at how easy it was to even out the tone using steam
>alone, requiring only a tad bit of needling at the end.  The teacher
>could not believe her ears, saying it sounded just like it did 40 years
>ago.  Well, I don't know about THAT, but it truly was remarkable.  I DO
>wish I could get the 40 watt version, as the 80 watt available here in
>the states is a bit too hot when dry ironing, as you had indicated.  It
>truly is a great tool to have available in our bag of tricks, though. 
>Thanks for making us aware....
>
>The one question I had, and it was barely noticeable by me, and not at
>all by the teacher(yet), was a bit of "raspiness" in a few of the lower
>tenor hammers that was not present when I began, and I tried numerous
>approaches to eliminate it, including sanding, needling, a bit more
>steaming, dry iron, all unsuccessful.  Any ideas?
>
>Mark Potter
>bases-loaded@juno.com
> 
Roger Jolly
BaldwinYamaha Piano Centre
Saskatoon and Regina
Saskatchewan, Canada.
306-665-0213
Fax 652-0505