Linen

[Richard Brekne]

Barbara Richmond wrote:
> 
>>
>>You definantly want quality as opposed to Irish... :)
> 
> 
> Now, Ric...........

Grin... sorry... couldnt help m'self
> 
> 
>>May I ask just what kind of piano
>  
> It's my Steinway grand.

Ahh... A girl with guts !!
> 
> 
>>and hammers you are working on ? Curious !
> 
> 
> Groan.....you would ask.  Umm......I'm not sure!  (Boy, am I going to hear
> about this!)  I guess I could call the guy who hung them and ask if he
> remembers--it was 15 years ago!  Do I get the space cadet award?  


Actually.. I was more thinking along the lines of what condition the 
hammers were in... Old and worn ?? Hard and packed ?? Lots of lacquer ?? 
that kind of thing.

Steaming doesnt work so well on lacquered hammers... at least not in my 
experience. Works great on old crusties that have been really packed 
down. I feel I have mixed results with hammers like you find on the 
Samick clone family of instruments.

Anyways... since you mention you have lacquered hammers... you might 
find that the steam has less then the desired affect. Still, you can try 
by zapping each shoulder for a second or two with a damp (defiantly not 
wet) cloth at about 10 and 2 oclock. Use your old finger pinch to keep 
track of the shoulder tension, and push in and out to sound the note 
frequently til you get the feel of just how much steam you need. But if 
after 3 or 4 zaps you still dont get any results at all.. then perhaps a 
needle is better suited for the job.  JMO

I'm finding that on really good pianos with decent hammers... 10 to 15 
jabs at about 4-5 mm deep just off the edge of the string marks (10:30 - 
11 oclock) works great... I like to give needled hammers just a bit of a 
relax time (10 minutes or so seems to help) after needling before I 
decide to give'em more jabs.

Roger himself may have some better advice for you there since this 
(steam voicing) is his puppy.

> The truth
> is, I had my piano rebuilt at a point in my life when I had more money than
> time.  (Besides, it was a major rebuilding job and I don't like to do that
> stuff.)  Anyway, I'd like to try softening the shoulders to try for a bit
> more sustain on a few notes that are pretty hard with lacquer.
> 
> Barbara Richmond, RPT
> 
Hope this is of some assistance. I'm always interested in hearing of 
folks experience with steam voicing tho.. so when you get done fill us 
in on the adventure !

Cheers
RicB