voicing Steinway L

[John McKone]

Lance,

If the two hammers in question are just a little to soft, why not just do a
light filing to remove a small layer of the felt the you salt & peppered?
This should bring back some of the brightness, and is a lot less scary, I
should think, (from your customer's point of view) than adding hardener.

Just a thought.

John McKone



>I recently reshaped hammers, regulated and voiced a 10 year old L for a
>good customer.  This lady has a great ear.  After reshaping back to the
>Steinway shape, regulating, string voicing and voicing the hammers, she
>wanted it voiced down a bit more, especially in the lower treble.  I did.
>Not enough.  Not enough, etc.  Finally I have arrived, but she finds the C
>and B too soft now- not much sustain/volume-I agree. (I had been needling
>1/8 inch deep mostly around 2 and 11 o'clock with some SHALLOW salt and
>pepper needling on the strike point) I shine the surface with 220 grit and
>hit the strike point firmly with the back of my Yamaha voicing tool, but it
>is not enough.  I offered to iron them, but explained that it would mostly
>make the attack brighter, but not the whole voice of the hammer louder.  I
>told her I would need to apply a little acetone/keytop to the low shoulders
>for more volume.  She's too scared (heard horror stories about hardener)
>for me to do this and wants to play it as is and maybe we'll do something
>later.
>Question: Am I going in the right direction?  I only need to make two
>hammers louder to match others around them.  I may use responses to assure
>her.  Thanks!
>Lance Lafargue, RPT
>New Orleans Chapter
>Covington, LA.
>lafargue@iamerica.net

John McKone, RPT
St. louis Park, Minnesota
(612) 280-8375
mckonejw@skypoint.com