Voicing & voices

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Mark writes: 
inre Yamaha voicing policies:
<<  As I write this I hear a great, booming voice proclaiming 
"The Market Has Spoken"!   But hey! That's only ONE of the voices I 
periodically hear, some of them are frequently mistaken, and maybe this one 
is too.>> 
 
   One of Yamaha's greatest strengths is consistancy.  It also makes it 
easier to see what the designers think.  The following items I consistantly 
find:

        In Nashville recording studios,a new C7 Yamaha is generally not 
bright enough. A  bright18 year old C7 that had been played very little was 
perfect.  

      In the dozen or so C3 and C2 pianos we bought at school, there were two 
that were noticeably softer than the others, and it was those two that 
ultimately have sounded the best after the first year of play.  All the 
others are moving into "glass-like" brilliance.  It also appears that some of 
these hammer sets were only voiced on the distal side of the hammers,(Maybe 
the voicer just missed more from one side or the other).  I am going to be 
doing a lot of needling on these hammers, some day.   
    I am more often asked to voice a Yamaha down than up, by far. And 
sometimes, the pianos just turn around.  As when the hammer is making round 
soft timbre at ppp, and has a brassy, loud at FFF. Then Yamaha's sound really 
starts to work.  
    Is the maker just staying away from "ruining hammers" by not approaching 
the limits of the needle?  If this is a saftety margin, I would urge them to 
get closer to the limits,  I would urge them to soften up everything a lot 
more!! 
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT