Brian writes: >Some thoughts to date >are scattered; hammers are too hard, (voicing seems to help a little, >but it's still there), hammers striking the string in the wrong place, >(haven't been able to play with this one yet), too much bearing, Greetings, ok, I will shoot from the hip; It could be anything, but it sounds like hammers. This is the sound I hear when the foundation work on the voicing has been omitted. You will need to make sure that the strings are mated well with the hammer, and then take a long needle and loosen up the shoulders of the hammers. I greatly prefer single needle voicing. ( If they are chemically hardened, this is probably not going to work). It may take 6 or 8 full penetrations to the underfelt from the 9:00-9:30 and 2:30-3:00 o'clock positions. Short stabs won't do the job, you want the entire mass of felt to relax just a little bit. Following the needles, a few light taps with a little bitty hammer helps the felt to adjust more quickly, Renner hammers exhibit this trait, and Rick Baldassin's booklet addresses the "break-up" character of the sound as the first chore to tackle. I disagreed two years ago, but I have come to see that it is important. This groundwork may need to be followed by equally deep needling, farther up, approx. to the 11:00 and 1:00 o'clock locations, but you will want to listen as you go when cutting felt that close to the strike point. The above procedure is entirely inappropriate on Steinway factory hammers. Good luck, Ed Foote ( I keep some band-aids in the voicing kit, too!)
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC