[CAUT] Steinway extra-bore-length

[Ed Sutton]

It may also be a matter of different strokes for different kinds of hammers.

I prefer the smooth push approach, and I mostly have used Abel and Abel 
Natural hammers. With the Abel Natural hammers, I feel a kind of flowing 
feeling as I needle up the shoulder and the felt opens. Similar with Abel 
regular hammers, but it takes more effort. Even more effort with Renner 
Blues, and less sense of the flowing open of the felt. I don't recall 
getting that feeling on the most hard pressed hammers. Perhaps stabbing is 
necessary on the harder hammers.

By the way, I do most of my needling in a hammer clamp on the bench top, 
before boring, tapering and hanging the hammers. Much easier on the wrist! 
The bench takes the pressure and there's no worry about protecting action 
centers.

I wish someone would invent a stablizing clamp for needling hammers which 
are already hung on the stack.

Ed Sutton


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Sturm" <fssturm at unm.edu>
To: <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway extra-bore-length


> On Jun 5, 2010, at 10:09 AM, rwest1 at unl.edu wrote:
>
>> In summary, it's helpful to entertain a variety of needle insertion 
>> choices that can be employed and make judgments based on the feel of  the 
>> needles going in.
>
>
> Well put Richard, your whole post. Lots of different techniques work,  but 
> there are principles that apply to all,
> I'm going to go back to the original post I was responding to, in  which 
> Marc Cramer talked about "overly aggressive needling" shortening  hammer 
> life. That sentence was combined with talking about replacing  hammers on 
> a three year regular cycle. Both things raised my eyebrows.
> I live in a different world, probably somewhat lower use pianos and 
> certainly lower expectations. But I replace hammers in a concert 
> instrument on more like a 15-20 year cycle. So there is a pretty big 
> level of magnitude difference. It makes me wonder why a set of hammers 
> would need to be replaced so often.
> What is overly aggressive? In my experience, sharp stab voicing is.  And 
> why should voicing shorten hammer life? I don't believe my voicing 
> shortens the life of my hammers appreciably. Once the shoulders have  been 
> opened up, the most destructive work is done. If the shoulders  are done 
> again (and they usually are, because the felt tends to pack  again after 
> playing a while), it is less work, and the fibers are  looser so there is 
> less tearing. The remainder of the work is mostly  single needle, or 
> focused 3 needle in the area up to the crown, or  very narrow needles 
> (#10, #12) in the crown. Very little destruction,  no aggression.
> BTW, the small needles allow for dealing with the packing of the  hammer 
> grooves in a less destructive and very rapid manner. Insertion  directly 
> in the groove, usually three per groove (centered and to each  side), and 
> insertion between the grooves for una corda (usually #12  for the grooves, 
> #10 for the u c). About 2.5 to 3 mm. This allows for  less hammer filing, 
> and the smaller needles definitely are far less  destructive, and are 
> quite effective in getting the effect I want (it  is mostly for p and pp 
> playing, losing the "ping" but retaining the  focus). Also, it is very 
> fast. 5-15 minutes for the whole piano, and  the difference is quite 
> apparent and pretty darned even.
> I am also going to mention again the possibility of two needle as  opposed 
> to three or one for prevoicing. For hammers where the effort  to press 
> three needles in is too much (and that is true of many if not  most), 
> using two needles can be a very good solution. The pattern is  to make two 
> rows of two needle insertions, ie a row up each half of  the width of each 
> hammer, so you end up with four evenly spaced needle  insertions across 
> the whole width of the hammer, done multiple times.  Generally speaking, 
> ten pokes per row (shoulder up towards crown), so  20 pokes per side of 
> each hammer (40 total individual needle  insertions per side). This takes 
> me usually 1.5 - 2 hrs, and opens up  the shoulders enough to allow for 
> three needle voicing. And it is a  lot faster than single needle for the 
> same effect. I have been  preferring this to other techniques like voice 
> grips or steam - more  controllable and predictable - even for nasty-ish 
> hammers in  noncritical situations. I can usually afford two hours, and 
> the  results are much better than what I have got with other techniques.
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> fssturm at unm.edu
> http://www.youtube.com/fredsturm
>