The Bösendorfer voicing class at Las Vegas had some interesting elements pertaining to this thread. Ferdinand Braeu (I believe the Klavierbaumeister of the factory) uses a stab technique for the pre- voicing, with needles about 11 mm long, burying them to the hilt in the low to mid shoulders, less penetration moving up. For finer voicing, he uses a press method (for precision of placement). Another interesting tidbit: He does una corda voicing, using a fixture very similar to the one I have described, but with #9 needles held in fixture made from a hammershank flange (narrowed and tapered). 5 needles, spaced about 1.5 mm apart. Inserted at the point midway between the string "grooves" (as the point where the shift stop is set) about 3 mm deep. He had the hammers shifting until you couldn't see any felt to the bass side of the left string. I would have thought you would want to see just a wee bit myself, but I am reporting what he said, what he repeated when I asked very specifically, and what I saw in the piano. VERY particular about mating hammer to strings. I also did the all day with Baldassin, Spreeman, and Jack Brand (owner of Wurzen Felt, maker of Weickert), on the Renner Blue Points. Baldassin and Spreeman are adamant needle pressers, not jabbers. Just thought I'd share this. Regards, Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain
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