needle update

[Susan Kline]

At 06:44 PM 10/24/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>Susan, what size do you use? And please explain again how you use one 
>needle, and push it in gently. Doesn't that take forever then to voice a 
>hammer?
>
>Wim

Well, Wim, I never checked the number of the sizes. I use a fairly
stout one alone in a pin vise, for general work, and a skinny little
one, with just over 1/4" showing, in the chopstick tool, for use
through the strings.

I don't usually need to voice brand new hammers, since I'm usually
doing maintenance voicing on pianos already in use. I don't do a
lot of deep work down on the shoulders, but I work shallowly up
on the crown, either in the strike area or just outside it. I don't
like to risk breaking down the internal structure of the hammer by
deep needling down on the shoulders. If a little (LITTLE!!) alcohol
right on the strike point doesn't do the trick, and then a little
more still doesn't do the trick, and I feel the whole hammer is
a block, and if it sticks out like a sore thumb from its brother
hammers when played double forte, I'll sometimes squeeze the deep
shoulders with vise grips in a fairly gentle way.

I like the alcohol because (1) it's quick, (2) it doesn't tear the
felt, (3) I never need get stabbed doing it, (4) it doesn't tire
one's hands, and (5) it adds nothing to the hammer -- it just
evaporates. One does have to be careful not to let it soak too
deeply into the shoulders. It can turn the tone to mush if one
uses too much of it. Presumably, one could get some of the tone
back from ironing if one went too far, but I have never tested this.

So, what process do you use for voicing with needles?

Susan