feasable voicing tool modification??

[Richard Brekne]

Well Ryan... let me put it too you this way. 

Being born and brought up in America, and being taught by american 
technicians their many and varied approaches to voicing I can say I have 
tried most everything through the years. I listened closely to Franz 
Mohrs discussion in his classes, I listened to lacquer enthusiasts, 
steamers, water/alcoholers, mushers, and abstract needlers.... and I 
always got a result I found difficult to like for some reason or 
another. And nothing lasted very long or was very easy to maintain.  And 
I never heard that <<sound>> either from my own efforts or from the 
experts of these various alternate techniques I ran into through the 
years. Not until I started to persue traditional voicing...which by the 
way was in the first place stimulated by recognizing the fact that the 
most popular voicers over here amoung pianists were always traditional 
voicers. Pursuing that tradition has taken me into a realm I find easy 
to control, easy to maintain, and yeilds better lasting dynamic range 
then anything else I have run into. The only real boundry I must accept 
is that the hammers that are to be voiced be of good enough quality that 
they can respond to appropriate needling... which is neither draconian 
or bizarre or at all difficult phsyically. And experience has taught me 
that hammers that are not of good enough quality either need changing 
because of wear, or are poorly made to begin with.

Ok... so all that said... one recognizes the realities in this world and 
fully understand that often enough one is delt a bad hand one simply has 
to play... and one does the best one can.... enter the expression "last 
resort".  But a last resort is a last resort......  a shovel is a 
shovel... and so on and so on.

Interesting you quote  Darrel Fandrich. His brother Delwin has gone on 
record several times exhorting very soft hammers that need a bit of 
working up in one fashion or another... true enough coupled with his 
<<efficient>> soundboards... but just so.

Finally... all this said, everyone has their own experiences... and 
thats why we share them here and elstwhere.  If you get good results 
your way then nothing can be better.  My own lead me other directions... 
and thats cool too.  If any of us can help someone else find their 
<<way>> in all this... then the best of all courses is served....  
whatever direction that learning takes the person.

Yes ??

Cheers
RicB
RicB


ryan sowers wrote:

>I don't understand why you feel this technique to be
>more "damaging" than needling. I'm not talking cheapo
>hammers here, I'm talking about Abels and Renners. 
>
>What I learned from Wally and Darrell is that this
>technique is part of their standard prevoicing that
>they do prior to fine-voicing. 
>
>I started experimenting with it a few years ago and
>feel it is an important voicing technique. Its not a
>substitute for needles, but likewise it accomplishes
>things that needles don't
>
>It is possible to damage hammers with any voicing
>technique. 
>
>--- Richard Brekne <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>
>wrote:
>  
>