[CAUT] Fwd: Steinway sound-Hammer weights

[David Love]

It doesn't take chops to voice a heavily lacquered hammer, just chopsticks
(and a bit of sandpaper).  Kidding of course, but not really.  

David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com


-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Horace
Greeley
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 10:56 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Fwd: Steinway sound-Hammer weights


Additionally, simply voicing down through the crown of a lacquered 
hammer is counterproductive.  It does not produce a hammer that is 
consistently able to response to a wide range of impact velocities, 
which limits the dynamic range...often moving far too quickly from 
something which mimics, but does not replicate, a pianissimo to a 
loudness that most closely resembles a loud thwack.  A properly setup 
NY hammer is just as capable of producing a very wide dynamic range 
as a hard-pressed hammer.  The problem lies, I think, in something 
that Fred noted earlier to the effect that many technicians simply do 
not have the chops to move back and forth between the various types 
of hammers with very much agility.  I've put many sets of Hamburg 
hammers on NY pianos; and they work just fine, albeit with a 
different character; and therein lies the rub...at the risk of 
reviving an old thread, at the end of the day, it's still not as much 
about what we may think is "right" or not.  So, rather than trying to 
convince them of the obvious rectitude of our own positions, we might 
want to think about considering who's writing the 
checks.  Ultimately, if pianists (and venues) like our work, they 
have us back and/or ask us to do more.  If not, then not.

Lots of cool tools at the convention, though...I'm like a kid in a 
candy store...problem is, most of the candy here is more than a 
nickel apiece....

Cheers!

Horace




At 11:49 AM 3/4/2011, you wrote:
>On Mar 3, 2011, at 7:40 PM, David Love wrote:
>
>>Understanding how to work with a voice down type of hammer is really
>>important.  If you aren't familiar with that style of hammer on a NY
>>D and
>>simply start crown needling like you do on a lacquered hammer you get
>>nowhere fast and it's not a very good nowhere.
>
>
>         I agree, except that I prefer not to think in terms of 
> voicing down.
>Instead, it is a matter of developing potential and range. Yes, you
>may lower the top end, but it is more a case of building up the
>ability of the hammer to produce a full spectrum. In my experience,
>any "hard-pressed" hammer needs a measured and consistent amount of
>deep shoulder needling, generally 7 - 9 mm needles, plus a profile of
>needling up to the 1 - 2 mm point in the middle of the crown. Then
>maybe you do some crown needling as well. Number of strokes determined
>by feel and sound. I have long since abandoned the idea of the hammer
>you put on and call good enough. There are hammers that sound
>acceptable "out of the box," but they can always be improved.
>Regards,
>Fred Sturm
>University of New Mexico
>fssturm at unm.edu
>
>
>
>