voicing new hammers

[David Love]

The purpose of my post was to point out that there is a baseline for
preparing hammers that transcends taste.  Perhaps that is sticking my neck
out in times where relativism seems to reign supreme, but I'm not afraid to
make a value judgment here.  Beyond that baseline preparation there is still
a lot of room for individual taste.  My overall opinion is that comes mostly
in the area of attack.

When I said I could see no reason for leaving a Renner/Abel hammer
unresilient I am making a conjecture, in this case, that the person who said
to leave them alone was probably not responding to the lack of resilience of
the hammer (if it was unresilient, I don't really know what condition that
set of hammers was in), but the improvement over what had been on there
before.  Since I prevoice those types of hammer before I put them on, it's
not an issue for me.  All hammers of that type get some voicing.  And all of
them benefit from creating more resilience.  If the person were to insist
that they liked them with no further attention, I would probably still
suggest that I at least even them out.  The problem often comes that the
individual doesn't play the piano at all levels when trying it out.  They
might sit down and mezzopiano it through some little ditty and it sounds
just fine.  But force it a bit, and the lack of attention creating the right
underlying texture rears its ugly head.  If that situation were to arise
(and it has) I always try and educate through demonstration.  So far, nobody
has asked me to leave those inconsistencies unattended.  And I would not be
inclined to do it even if they said they could live with it.  Unless they
were really insistent that they wanted it that way I would not feel that the
job was finished until I had addressed those finer points.  I don't think
that doing so would change the overall character of the tone but it
certainly would refine it.

If they hire me to do the job, they hire me, in part, for my expertise in
this area.  I explain beforehand what I will do, the voicing that is
required as part of the job, and the follow up after a certain amount of
playing to go over it again.

I am talking about replacing hammers above.  When I encounter a piano for
the first time and I see the need for voicing, I will ask them how they feel
about the tone.  I'm not pushy, but if I judge that it's a piano and player
interested in the potential of the instrument, I will give them an overall
assessment after tuning of the general condition.  I am constantly surprised
at the number of people who never knew regulation and voicing was an option
with a piano.  They just thought what they heard was what they got.  That
kind of assessment combined with inquiries about their goals for the type of
instrument they want have led to a number of rebuilding jobs.  I am
realistic and fair.  If somebody has a Lester spinet (and I do have a couple
of people who not only have them, but love them), I would not try and talk
them into a rebuilding job.  There are times when it's best to leave well
enough alone.

David Love


----- Original Message -----
From: <Kdivad@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: August 12, 2002 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: voicing new hammers


In a message dated Sun, 11 Aug 2002 9:39:45 PM Eastern Standard Time,
davidlovepianos@earthlink.net writes:

>
>
> I don't know David, you kind of lost me on your point, and I think you
> missed mine on the MacDonald's this  I never suggested the tech did
> something wrong by not voicing them.  As I mentioned in an earlier post,
> it's their piano and they have to play it so make them happy.  I have left
> hammers alone on many occasions when I thought attention was needed but
the
> customer said they liked it as it was.  But think of it this way.  You
take
> your car in because it's running like sh--.  The mechanic changes the
points
> and plugs and let's you start it up.  It runs a hell of a lot better than
it
> did before and you are thrilled.  He says, "well do you want me to set the
> timing".  You say, "hell no, it's running great now, why fu--, with it".
> Should he say okay and let you drive it out?  Or should he try and explain
> the importance of setting the timing?  Personally, I'd rather he just did
> what was considered a necessary part of the job.  That is, unless he
didn't
> know how to set the timing.  Then I guess I'd rather he left it alone but
> tell me about it so I could decide if I wanted to have someone else set
the
> timing.
>
> By the way, In 'n Out burgers are definitely better than MacDonalds, but
> then there's no accounting for taste.
>
> David Love
>


David, thanks for your reply, I am a little puzzled though because when
reading your original post I definitly got the impression that you thought
the technician did do something wrong.  I believe you said that "you
couldn't see any reason for leaving a Renner/Abel hammer unresilient or a
Steinway hammer to soft."  I believe one valid reason is that the customer
prefered the hammer just the way it sounded, unvoiced. Your example about
the mechanic also gave me the impression that you felt the tech did
something wrong by not voicing, even against the owners wishes. Let me use
your mechanic scenario, suppose an owner takes his car to you for a tune up.
You finish everything but setting the timing and he shows up.  While his car
is sitting there idling a little rough he responds, "man that is just what I
am looking for, it sounds like I have a high performance cam in it!!"  You
try to explain that the job is not done but he hears nothing.  Should you
let him drive away?  Of cours!
e you should (if the car is safe to drive).  The most you can do is monitor
the situation down the road.

OK, you got me with the burgers.

David Koelzer
Vintage Pianos
DFW