Unfortunately, I think that pliers are often the only choice with hammers like that. Yamaha, btw, does not recommend the use of pliers, at least not officially. I don't disagree with the procedure itself, it's hammers that require such treatment that I disagree with. David Love davidlovepianos@earthlink.net > [Original Message] > From: Dave Nereson <davner@kaosol.net> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org> > Date: 7/26/2004 11:47:17 AM > Subject: Vise Grips voicing is not a vice > > I gotta side with David Love here, and others that take this position. > Hammers that require draconian treatments such as pliers-mashing to get > them soft enough to at all useable are not high quality piano hammers to > begin with. Ok ok... lots of cheapos use such hammers... and a mans > gotta do what a mans gotta do and all that I am sure... but decent > voicing on decent instruments does not involve this kind of thing. > > Cheers > RicB > > I strongly disagree. Yamahas, Kawais, Young Changs, and a few other > Asians makes are considered decent instruments, yet after a few years of > heavy playing (or even when brand new!), and in dry climates, can exhibit > extremely hard hammers that break strings. Rather than break up and cut the > fibers with sharp needles, which, especially on Yamahas, makes them pull > apart at the crown, I opt for, as someone else put it, "deep tissue > massage". [Webster's Collegiate: Draconian -- . . . ; barbarously severe, > harsh]. Some of these hammers require severe treatment. I wouldn't > consider it barbarous or harsh, if that's what it takes to be able to get > them to accept voicing needles. As I said in another post, the Vise Grips > are for gross, initial hammer softening, not for fine concert voicing. > Steaming can also work if the hammers aren't excessively hard, but it > affects mostly the surface and doesn't loosen up the felt deep in the > shoulders. I don't believe in stabbing and stabbing and pricking and poking > until the fibers are all torn up, there are hundreds of prick holes in the > hammer, and you've got carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow. --David > Nereson, RPT > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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