Voicing problems

[antares]

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Hello Mr. St=E9phane Hanriat,

This could be a very tricky situation, depending on the skills of your=20=

technician.

Deep needling in the higher section of the shoulders can be helped with=20=

'banging' the hammers against a cheek block or voicing block, which=20
then may hardens/stiffen the crown area.
You could compare this with playing rather loud for some time, which=20
always makes the the hammers louder, but in a natural way.
If these are mellow hammers to begin with, you may be in trouble.
Power can be restored (maybe) by making a very good concert regulation,=20=

followed by 'battery voicing'.
If the cushion section however has been made too weak, a hammer=20
replacement is inevitable, and  a very expensive option.
Of course the best hammers for this kind of instrument are a=20
replacement of the original Kawai hammers.
It is very well possible that the section you described (octave 5 to 6)=20=

is a problem area in your grand piano.
Voicing is considered the most difficult issue in the piano industry.
A technician, employed by a piano factory, usually has earned this=20
honorable position after having proved to be a trusted and experienced=20=

professional over a long time.
 =46rom my own experience as a concert technician, I know however that =
it=20
is at the same time very well possible for any very gifted/talented=20
technician to get into a hazardous situation where he/she has to fight=20=

with voicing problems, caused by the instrument.

Not one instrument in this world is 100 % perfect, and when a pianist=20
points out a specific irregularity we assume that a real pro will solve=20=

it.
This is not always the case as the 'irregularity' may be caused by=20
technical problems, the technician can not solve.
We as technicians, and especially voicing technicians, are,=20
unfortunately, often confronted with technical problems we can not=20
really solve.
If we, as voicing techs, can not solve a real structural problem=20
(caused for instance by the sound board or another basic piano=20
structure), we will try to mask it by taking away energy, so that the=20
problem will not bother the pianist.
Some problems are huge and others are not, and some pianists can live=20
with a 'certain irregularity' but others go crazy about it.
A truly gifted and experienced technician can usually solve both the=20
problem of the instrument and thereby the problem of the pianist.
There are however situations where the instrument, and especially a=20
brand new instrument, kind of disappoints the pianist after it has been=20=

brought into his/her house, or studio.
We are very familiar with this and try whatever we can to please the=20
pianist, and at the same time try to prevent a possible escalation of=20
this difficult situation.
Usually it does not come this far, but sometimes serious action is=20
inevitable.
A hammer change is a serious action and can solve the problem.
On the other hand, if your instrument has a serious problem in the=20
octave you described, the problem will come back, even with new=20
hammers.

I am a voicing technician and I am strongly opposed to adding hammer=20
dope/hardener in the hammer area you described.
It will certainly stiffen the wool fibers and harden the sound, but=20
this does not automatically mean that the hammers have then been=20
brought back to normal' because the character of the doped hammers is=20
definitely and irreversibly different.
Filing these hammers also is an unhealthy thing to do because taking=20
off felt again changes the nature and character of the hammers and=20
changes the weight, because taking off just 1 gram off the hammer=20
reduces the key weight by approximately 5 grams (!)
Wool fibers that have been filed away, will never come back.

In order to solve this problem you must first have absolute confidence=20=

in your technician, and ensure yourself of total dedication by the=20
firm/business where you bought your instrument.

friendly greetings
from
Andr=E9 Oorebeek

Amsterdam -
The Netherlands

0031-20-6237357
0645-492389
0031-75-6226878
www.concertpianoservice.nl
www.grandpiano.nl


On 19-feb-04, at 22:31, St=E9phane Hanriat wrote:

> Hello,
> =A0
> I own a brand new Shigeru Kawai SK3 that the Kawai technician in=20
> France has
> made, according to me, =A0too deep voicing on notes in the treeble =
range=20
> (octave 5 to 6).
> =A0
> Although he disagrees with that, the tone is slightly too mellow in=20
> this range,
> from pianissimo up to mezzo forte. At pianissimo or piano, the higher=20=

> partials are
> reduced compared to neighboring octaves (impacted notes are from 55 to=20=

> 69),
> and the attack looks a bit dull.
> Those higher partials are coming back with more strength on the key.=20=

> However,
> these notes always require slightly more strength to produce a=20
> balanced sound.
> =46rom Mezzo forte up to Forte, things are OK (overall loudness and =
tone=20
> quality
> is well balanced)
> =A0
> The technician made several filing with very limited improvement. I'm=20=

> not a
> specialist, just a pianist - but my engineering background and what I=20=

> learned
> reading your very interesting posts, tell me that there has been=20
> likely too much
> deep needling in the higher section of the shoulders.
> =A0
> The Shigeru hammers are cold-pressed and are considered as medim/soft=20=

> in
> europe. May be they are not=A0 very robust to extensive voicing.
> =A0
> I'm wondering what could be the best solution to recover some power to=20=

> these
> 15 hammers : dry ironing, juicing or changing those 15 hammer heads ?
> Kawai says the tone will not be even if I change only a sub set of=20
> hammers
> (they don't want to replace either full set of subset anyway...).
> =A0
> Have you experienced changing subset of hammers in this range ?
> Which hammer head brand would you recommend for those Kawai pianos=20
> (softer
> than Yamaha...) ?
> Do you think dry ironing would make it ? (actually the recovery level=20=

> I'm expecting
> is not that big and the felt thickness is small in this range, so this=20=

> could work).
> =A0
> Many thanks for your feedbacks,
> Sincerely yours,
> Stephane Hanriat
> stephane.hanriat@free.fr
> =A0
> PS : This being said, the SK3 is an outstanding instrument. Action is=20=

> close to
> perfection, overall tone is wonderful, rich, not too harsh like Yamaha=20=

> and the
> softer hammers give you great control and margin in the way you=20
> produce louder
> sound.
> =A0
> =A0
>




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