Reqest: an answer to a poor European gringo

[Joel Rappaport]

Susan Kline wrote:

> I wouldn't presume to offer anything to this discussion except questions. 
> 

Susan, go ahead and presume.  Some really good ideas have come out of
someone trying to make sense out of an offered technique.

> The other methods, whether using jigs and power tools, or ordering shanks
> already thinned by the manufacturer, all end up with shanks of uniform
> thickness. Why is this considered desirable? In light of what André is
> describing about tapping the end of the shank and listening, and the effect
> on voicing mentioned by others, why wouldn't we want to thin shanks for an
> optimum sound and response, instead of making an abrupt transition from no
> thinning to uniformly thin? 

Theoretically, infinite downward increments would be ideal, but not
really practical time-wise for the parts manufacturer or us as
technicians.  I know it is possible to use some of the mentioned
techniques for tuning each shank, but I personally would rather spend
the time picking out a really good set of hammers.  I guess you could
liken it to grand dampers.  In the treble, the strings are dampened up
to a point.  Then all of a sudden the next string has no damper.  We
could also spend time working with the last 15 dampers, gradually
getting them to bleed the sound through to transition to no dampers. 
But is it worth it?  Instead, there is the technique of snipping  off
the treble side of the last damper felt blocks (forward and back felt
blocks) so that just the one string rings and that serves as a nice
enough transition.  In another post, I suggested using the thin shanks
in the top section and also the top two notes of the next to the top
section as a transition.

Also, just to clarify:  if André is indeed describing what I was
referring to, the hammers are raised and each hammer in turn is hit with
the wooden file edge right on the striking point to listen to the
sound.  It is not the shank that is struck, but it is the shank that is
the variable.

----Joel