voicing the " woody" Baldwin studios

[jolly roger]

Hi Mark,
               I recently tapered the treble hammers on one of these
models, along with increasing the down weight for better touch control.
After deep needle voicing, the effect was dramatic.
The hammers had been factory hardened.  ( keytop I think)
I inserted the needles about 1/2", 3 times on the high shoulders to gain
some elasticity in the shoulders. Insertions were about 1/8" apart.
To get the needles in that deep, the action was laid on the bench on its
back, with the tails supported in one of Joe Goss's voicing trays.  Triple
needles were used in the tool.
The bridge pins were lightly tapped, and it cleaned up the false beat problem.
Hope this helps roger



At 08:04 PM 3/20/01 -0500, you wrote:
>List -
>
>You know the sound.  More than any other single make, I have found nearly
>all of the newer (last 15 years) Baldwin Hamiltons to have a terribly
>"woody" tone, esp. from the killer octave on up.  Whereas the older
>Hamiltons got played to death in schools and churches and got very bright
>and brittle, at least they respond (usually) to steam and/or needle
>voicing to soothe the tone.  So far I have not found steam or needling,
>nor hardening,  to have much positive effect of these newer ones, and
>find that the tone continues to deteriorate fairly quickly with regular
>use, getting duller.
>
>Anyone with a cure, or at least a suggestion for improving, this woody
>sound?  They're like beating a dead horse....
>
>Mark Potter
>bases-loaded@juno.com
>