Avery Todd wrote: > > Tom, > > Just out of curiosity, if you don't mind, what did you end up doing in > relation to voicing on the crown? > > Avery > Avery and list - Good question! I applied the Supertone starting on the lower shoulder and let it wick up towards the crown. I did not use so much Supertone that it ever reached the crown. My zealous needling had left a hard wedge of felt at the crown, so no further hardening was needed there. The Supertone restored the support that the crown needs, and so brought the tonal result of the hammer impact back into balance. I.e., there is now a good balance throughout the partial spectrum, produced by a hard wedge of felt (crown) backed by a resilient portion of the hammer (the shoulders). The good thing about Supertone is that it doesn't overharden the hammer felt. Anyway, the sound of the hammers after applying Supertone was almost perfect. For those hammers that were uneven in their response as compared to their neighbors, I lightly needled at the beginning and end of each string groove (or where it will be once the hammers are played in a bit). I used a single #7 sharp needle, extended 6 mm from the tool. I needled straight down, parallel to the molding. I didn't "cross-stitch," i.e., driving the needles down radially. I only needled one stitch at a time at each groove for each hammer that needed further attention. I selected (by listening to each hammer played twice at forte in a chromatic scale) which hammers to voice. Then pulled the action, needled as described above, and listened again to the result at piano, mf and forte. If any needed more attention after this, I took the recommendation of Bob Moffat, and "pearled" over the crown with the needles extended to 1 mm. I used 3 to 6 equally spaced strokes over the crown, depending upon the amount of change that I thought was needed for a given hammer. I didn't go in all the way, especially as I proceeded up into the 3rd and 4th section of the piano. The piano now sounds very good, and quite suitable for recording, although I will be going over it once more. The hammers need a light filing to remove the puffiness at the shoulders from the overneedling. Then, I anticipate another pass through the hammers to work the crown in soft pedal vs. normal pedal position, as well as to take care of any individual string problems. What a great experience this job has been. I fancied myself a good voicer (intoneur) prior to taking on this project. Thanks to the list, which provided magnificent information and, by implication, reinforced my sense of unswerving diligence. commitment to craftsmanship, and meeting my customer's needs fully, I am now more confident and satisfied with the results than ever before! Bring on the projects!!!!!! Sincerely, Tom Sheehan aquinas@nyct.net
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