Eric Schandall on Lacquer Voicing

[Ric Brekne]

Hi folks

Some of you know that Eric Schandall was one of the instructors at the 
Nordic PTA convention in Stockholm last weekend.  His first class was 
all about how to voice the New York Steinway and included quite abit 
about the differences in basic approaches between needled hammers and 
hammers that use lacquer.

First and foremost, I have to say I was very gratified to hear that 
Steinway NY does NOT use lacquer because it is supposed to be an easier 
approach. Upon asking him directly about the ease question, he answered 
that all in all its about the same level of difficulty, tho he was not 
referring to the physical work required in traditional first voicing 
with needles mind you.  The reason given for Steinways choice in using 
the lacquer approach is because they feel they do not get the sound they 
want with needled hammers.  I.e. Eric, and Steinway NY are of the 
opinion that lacquered hammers yield a different sound then needled 
hammers.  He cited more power as one alleged asset, voicing stability as 
another, and a larger dynamic range due to the very localized affect of 
needle placement when voicing for soft shift play.  Course he didnt 
really see any advantages to the Hamburg approach.. but then he was from 
NY :)  He DID state that it was his believe that prior to WWII all 
hammers all over the world needed lacquer.

FWIW

Cheers
RicB