Dead spot

[Ron Nossaman]

>Now I have a question.  I have changed hammers on an S&S B.  The
>originals, S&S, distorted at a MF level.  I put a set of Isaac's on and
>the distortion could not be found at any level.  So, how much can be
>inferred from the hammer and how much from the board and how can we tell
>the difference.  Did I have a truly awful hammer to cause such
>distortion?  

Since it's typically a customer complaint that starts all this, I do the
usual plucking, voicing, and some sample hammer swapping to try and
separate effects. Overly hard hammers can do something very similar, though
I don't know why exactly unless it's high contact time from lack of
resilience. Hard hammers can make front duplexes extra noisy and shorten
sustain too, which is why we try some voicing first. I've always thought
that starting voicing procedures on a new set of hammers by filling them
with lacquer was an odd approach, but what do I know? I service more than a
few pianos in which this distortion increases and decreases with seasonal
humidity swings, so my final voicing test is how it sounds in the driest
part of the winter. When you can't make it go away by doing something to
the hammer, it's the board.  


>I was impressed by the hammers and by the piano all over
>again.  Oh, forgot, the piano had been restrung but that should not have
>made that much of a difference.
>
>Thoughts?  Cackling?  Distortion?
>
>		Newton

Unless it had been restrung after testing the old hammers, and before
installing the new. <G>

Ron N