Eric Schandall on Lacquer Voicing

Avery Todd avery1@houston.rr.com
Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:39:33 -0500


At 01:34 PM 10/19/05, you wrote:
>Hi Ric,
>
>Interesting.  I friend of mine, who shall remain anonymous, told me that the
>un-lacquered type hammers (over here) won't do for orchestral pianos.

Why is that?

>His
>university had a well known person hang a set of well known hammers and it
>was of everyone's opinion (who heard the pianos), that the piano without the
>NY Steinway hammers just didn't cut it with an orchestra.

This HAD to have been a STEINWAY technician! :-) Makes me wonder how 
the hammers
with the Wurzen felt might have sounded!

Avery

>Well, I wasn't
>there, but I can imagine that other factors could make a difference, too
>(besides hammers).
>
>Just reporting what I was told.  :-)
>
>Barbara Richmond, RPT
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Ric Brekne" <ricbrek@broadpark.no>
>To: "pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 12:33 PM
>Subject: Eric Schandall on Lacquer Voicing
>
>
>>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
>>_______________________________________________
>>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives




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