Downbearing and Tone

[Isaac OLEG]

I agree you can have (with experience) a good idea about the live ness
of the string/board function, but it sometime does not show all.

I noticed pianos that seem to have a short sustain when plucked (short
sustain to me mean short full first part of tone ), and after good
regulation that deliver the utmost power to the strings, the tone
became way fuller and longer.

That is because some instruments need more power to tone well.

Voicing for more sustain usually mean allowing more of the hammer mass
to be active under the stroke, giving more power by a little low
needling, then using that stronger impulse and cutting the extraneous
attack noise while adding resilience to the shoulders with higher
needling.

I've seen Abel hammers need to be needled a lot near the strike, but
then the tone is sometime too thin because the felt is often too much
pressed and don't move all along. Then the transmission is not full,
you have to needle more (lower), and compact back the hammer as David
say. An easy method is to play firmly the hammer(s) against the
voicing block, this have the advantage that you can hear the strike of
the hammer on the wood, and know if it is ok yet with that "tone".
Think of it as playing a percussive instrument and find a good
sounding voicing block for that.

I'd be cautious about pounding on the hammer with something hard as a
hammer the resilience is more conserved if we hit it with something
lighter, or if we knock the hammer against something hard. It is also
necessary to pound on the shoulders after the first needling, to allow
the felt to even all around. I do it as I go , with the back of the
voicing block, backed with a little sandpaper.

To have an idea of the harness remaining in the low hammer, one can
play it with the sustain pedal engaged, it helps, may be because the
ear is not disturbed by the attack sound.

The biggest problem when we learn to voice new hammers is to
understand how to needle with force even when needling near the crown,
we have to develop a feel for it, unfortunately, needling precaution
new hammers doe's not work, because we need to displace the tension or
transform compression into tension. It is often necessary to needle
more than once at the same place till something moves.

Nowadays, first we may recognize an optimum strike and an optimum
regulation, then we will avoid to voice in "compensation mode", using
too much energy of the hammer to correct problems that lie elsewhere
(particularly with grand pianos).



Hope that helps

Best Regards


Isaac OLEG

Entretien et réparation de pianos.

PianoTech
17 rue de Choisy
94400 VITRY sur SEINE
FRANCE
tel : 033 01 47 18 06 98
fax : 033 01 47 18 06 90
cell: 06 60 42 58 77

> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : pianotech-bounces@ptg.org
> [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]De la
> part de Z! Reinhardt
> Envoyé : samedi 15 mars 2003 19:14
> À : Pianotech
> Objet : Re: Downbearing and Tone
>
>
> Is it the
> : piano, or is this chracteristic of the hammers?
> :      Thunk
> :
> Hold down one key (or lift the damper head) and pluck the
> string.  Does the
> sound fill the room or does it just fall over dead?  That
> will tell you
> whether the hammers are to blame or not.
>
> Z! Reinhardt  RPT
> Ann Arbor  MI
> diskladame@provide.net
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "gordon stelter" <lclgcnp@yahoo.com>
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2003 8:11 AM
> Subject: Re: Downbearing and Tone
>
>
> :   Abel Encores,
> : > have done some shoulder needling but don't want to
> : > over do it.
> :
> : I have also just put some Abel encores on a piano
> : which is having problems with very short sustain. I
> : followed Wally's needling directions, which improverd
> : the sustain some, but not dramatically. Is it the
> : piano, or is this chracteristic of the hammers?
> :      Thunk
> :
>
>
>
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