Dale writes: << Interesting now days I think on some models the hammers are more pliable & I've heard some good things about them. I'm in the shop so much I'm kinda outa that loop. Anbody else know? >> We bought over 20 Yamahas at Vanderbilt two years ago. They were bright to begin with and soon became intolerable to the teachers. I have been crunching through shoulders every since. I turn the actions around in the grands so the hammers face me and use a homemade voicing tool that weighs about a pound with a single #6 needle that is almost long enough to reach the core wood. I start at the 3:00 and 9:00 o'clock position and voice them much like the Renner Blues, working my way upwards while still aiming the point of the needle towards the lower section of the hammer. This rarely addresses the impact sound, but after softening the lower and mid-to-upper shoulders until I begin thinking of 1920 Mason and Hamlins, I find that I can then control all the tone the piano has in it with several needles just off the strike point. The hammers are so hard that if you begin at the upper shoulder, the tension in them will tear them apart after a while. I recently voiced a C6 for live broadcast at our PBS station here. Yesterday, they mentioned that it has become comically predictable to watch classical performers come into the studio. They see the Yamaha name and suppose it to be a crashy piano, and then, after the first chord, look up in amazement. They really like the control in there, and the jazzers don't mind, either. It is the mellowest Yamaha I have worked on. Regards, Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html <A HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_tonality.html"> MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A>
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