<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: [CAUT] Voicing a Yamaha C-7</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> On 3/21/05 2:10 PM, "Clarence Zeches" <cz= eches@alltel.net> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>I guess my question is= can I ever get that “German” sound out of Yamaha hammers? &nbsp= ;If so, what is my best approach with the needles? </BLOCKQUOTE>     I’ve managed on occasion to get a reasonable = facsimile of “German sound” out of, gulp, even Young Chang hamme= rs. Standard needling procedures: consistent deep shoulder from just below 3= o’clock/9 o’clock up to 1 o’clock/11o’clock. Then a= ngle the voicing tool to vertical, and rotate to angled away from the center= of the striking point as you approach 12 o’clock, needling right to t= he striking point. Plus a bit of cross stitching if “indicated.”= And squeeze the needles into the felt, don’t jab (less tearing of fel= t, more development of “resilience”).     Obviously you will be working with whatever has bee= n done before, so a sensitive hand is a must. But if the instrument is defin= itely perceived as harsh, and you are trying to change the whole character o= f the beast, a full-scale full hammer approach is probably indicated.     While some brands of hammer may be easier to work w= ith than others, the bottom line is that any hammer requires TLC to get good= results. I think the “German sound” is mostly the result of lot= s of work by a Klavierbauer. (Yes, all right, the portion of the German soun= d that is attributable to the hammer alone, not the whole instrument). Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico </BODY> </HTML>