Voicing the CFlll

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

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Well, Phil, I'd be glad to tell you my reason for telling you to stay =
away from the steam. The CFSIII is a concert instrument. Steam is a fine =
little tool to have in your bag of tricks for the occasional harsh =
little home piano, and will help you get it in a bearable condition in =
the least amount of time.  However, my impression of the steam method, =
having used it in the past, is that it will free up the outer layers of =
felt, giving you a lot less impact noise, but underneath that cushion is =
still a very hard core of felt, which isn't going to be very resilient.=20
    On a CFS, you want a great dynamic range, which means that you want =
everything to be at optimum levels, a resilient hammer, good shape, =
level head, mated strings, concert regulation and all that. It may be =
more work, but transforming a concert instrument into what it is capable =
is worth all the effort that you put into it.
    For what it's worth, I like to deep needle down low on the shoulder, =
to bring out the sustain, around 1:30 to 3:00.  You have to be careful =
with this when you get into Octave five, otherwise you can end up =
voicing it too far. From Octave 5 on up, use a single needle sparingly. =
Once I have the shoulders opened up, if the hammer still has too much =
attack, then it's hard on the crown, and I use a single needle up at =
11:00 and 1:00, or at the end of the string marks. That rounds out the =
attack tone quite well. =20

    Some times it just pays to do it the old fashioned way.

Kevin.





   ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Phil Bondi=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 9:21 AM
  Subject: Re: Voicing the CFlll


  Thanks as always for the tips and suggestions.

  There's been a few of you who say stay away from the steam..and my=20
  question is...why?

  Isn't the Yamaha hammer the same hammer that, in my experiences, has=20
  shown a dramatic affect on tone and voice using this technique? I'm =
not=20
  talking about making the hammers mush..I'm talking about 1second at =
the=20
  shoulders to start to loosen things up.

  I don't mean to stir the pot here, but when someone tells me no, I =
would=20
  like to know the reason why your opinion is no, or why your =
experiences=20
  say no..I really prefer the experienced voice over the opinion, but I=20
  will listen to both, obviously.

  ..and yes, FFF on this instrument sounds distorted to me..my test for=20
  tuning stability involves hard-playing block triads played =
chromatically=20
  for 5 measures..it's not sounding good to my ears right now..MF all =
the=20
  way down to PPP sounds solid and consistent, outside of the voice =
itself.

  Phil Bondi(Fl)



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