Happy Holidays to all. Today's Lesson: You Have Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself. Well, not really fear..but certainly uncertainty. Yamaha GH-1 - gets played 7 nights a week - 4 hrs. a night professionally. You can imagine what the key bushings might feel like, but I'm going to deal with voicing today. I service the piano every other week, and you can imagine how those hammers might be sounding right about now, even with a watchful eye and sanding paddle..but here comes the rub: The Brubecks are doing a NYE show in that room..using that piano. Having met Darius last year for the same function, he knew that this wasn't a concert instrument, but was still grateful for a good sounding piano to work with. One year later, and the same hammers..you can imagine.. Well today, I combined 2 techniques with, I think, excellent results: Locking Vice Grips and a single needle tool. I'm of the single-needle persuasion, always have been. What I did was squeeze the hammer and lock it..then proceeded to insert the needle in between the grooves, and just outside of the grooves. I did the procedure for the tenor and treble hammers. For the bass, I was a bit more liberal with the single needle, but the area of concern was the same. The Result? I think Darius will be pleasantly surprised when he hears this little piano in 2 weeks - so will the piano player tonight! I'm wondering though - with all this play this piano gets, would you "wurzenize" the Front Rail Punchings on the fly? I'm thinking about it - shouldn't take no more than 1 hr. and the feel at the bottom of the stroke will be greatly improved. -Phil Bondi(Fl)
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