Playing cards aren't just made for poker

[piannaman at aol.com]

-----Original Message----From: ilvey at sbcglobal.net
To: greyco at kingston.net; pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 7:58 PM
Subject: RE: Playing cards aren't just made for poker


So here you are, cringing about shifting the action slightly for an instant tone change and yet 2 days later you were able to have the piano sound "just as it was" because you didn't voice the piano "properly".   Think about it...
I use my own business card, by the way.  Another simple, but fleeting trick is to brush the hammers with a vegetable brush.   Not a wire brush...
David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA 94044
 


 
David,
 
I prefer a medium to firm toothbrush for the final, ephemeral voicing touch.  Fits nicely in the toolkit.  
 
And I use your business card, too....:-)
 
Dave Stahl

Dave Stahl Piano Service
650-224-3560
dstahlpiano at sbcglobal.net
http://dstahlpiano.net/



Original message
From: "Owen Greyling" 
To: "Pianotech List" 
Received: 11/30/2006 5:45:48 PM
Subject: RE: Playing cards aren't just made for poker


Hi again Stephen,
 
I guess that we are going to have to agree to disagree. I don’t think pianists should be messing with piano hammers. (It messes with my life). Perhaps neither of us is any better or worse, just different, know what I mean? I’m a professional tech who likes to play the piano; you’re a pianist who likes to tinker….It’s funny that you should mention Fazioli, because I have used this trick with the card to slightly move the action over on a Fazioli concert grand in a recording studio a few years ago. The recording engineer was very impressed by my remaining for the session, but I really just wanted to remove my card when the session was over, and not have anybody else find it. As it turned out, I was the next technician, same piano two days later in a large venue, and the piano sounded wonderful, just as it was.
 
While the piano to you as an artist is a ‘beautiful ever changing instrument’ to most technicians, or at least to me, it’s just a moving target which has to be wrangled into shape to satisfy somebody else’s idea of what makes them happy at that time , on that day, on that piano…Oh well perspective is everything isn’t it? We see from where we sit!
 
Occasionally we see comments from people who obviously don’t believe in God… I saw a bumper sticker recently that said “God doesn’t believe in Atheists” Perspective IS everything.
 
Wait till you discover fitting hammers and leveling strings, you’ll be incorrigible.
 
Glad you don’t live within my radar! (Just kidding)
 
Owen
 



From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Papastephanou
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 7:58 PM
To: greyco at kingston.net, Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Playing cards aren't just made for poker
 
Hi Owen,

Your comments are welcome. One does however what one can, to get this mysterious beautiful ever changing instrument, the piano, sound the best way possible to HIS ears. What sounds good to one may not sound good to another person because of taste, or limitation in appreciation of certain frequencies, which is inevitable as one gets older. Voicing should be the task of the pianist and not the technician, or at the very least should be approved by the performing artist as he is responsible for the tone and quality of sound he is projecting to his audience.

The piano touch ‘seems’ to change after one plays for a short while, usually feeling lighter, and so does the sound, feeling less loud. After half an hour playing on the piano, one sometimes gets the feeling that he is playing on a different instrument. More so, when people, humidity, temp. etc. change the room or hall acoustics. It is very important that the circle is completed, grey matter, fingers (touch), keyboard, tone, (sound) projecting to the room or hall, bouncing back to the ears ending in the grey matter, which in turn regulates the touch, etc and the cycle goes on and on .

Minimal shifting (with usually 2 cards) gives a slightly mellower tone to the piano, (provided it has been played for a while, and has well defined grooves in the hammers – not a very new piano without used hammers, where it makes no difference) and can be cancelled in an instant, if the room or hall acoustics warrant it. It is not meant to be a permanent solution, or a substitute for good voicing, but a temporary effective one. This trick helps me a lot when I practice on a piano that has been played a lot and has not been voiced for a while.

On another note, I have been occasionally overwhelmed by the loudness of some pianos. To remedy that, I carry with me special ear plugs that reduce the overall volume of the sound by only a few decibels. This allows me to articulate better and attack the keys without the fear of playing too loud which may have an inhibitory effect. This can also be cancelled if the room absorbs the sound, and the loudness becomes acceptable to the pianist.

I have recently played in a small hall on a beautiful Fazioli piano. I used my ear plugs and felt very comfortable. Thank God I played well, because I was afraid that after the recital someone would comment that the ear plugs were used in the wrong ears !!!!!!
I hope to meet again Paolo Fazioli at the NAMM show in January in Los Angeles, and pick his brain, as his pianos are extraordinary.

As for the ketchup, this was a trick comment. No doubt this must be a sure way to kill the bass strings. 
You picked it up and therefore you pass the test with flying colors. I have rejuvenated the bass strings in my old piano, by detaching them from the bottom (NOT FROM THE TUNING PIN end) running a loop 5 inch in diameter up and down a few times, followed by cleaning (rubbing) with #3 steel wool. The results were spectacular.

I have another really valuable use for playing cards, but that’s another story.

All the best

Steve  

On 11/30/06 6:00 PM, "Owen Greyling" <greyco at kingston.net> wrote:
Hi Stephen,



I just spent a full morning on a set of hammers and flange centers, on a semi-concert grand that had been treated in this manner. While I appreciate your enthusiasm and interest, let me quote Ed McMorrow from his book “The Educated Piano”….



“The piano industry suffers from a glut of partly trained people who eagerly dismantle and then falteringly attempt to rebuild or tone regulate pianos”



While you may not be one who is out there representing yourself as a professional, you sure are encouraging well meaning “characters” to make work for real piano folk!



Sorry if this offends you, but really, ketchup on copper? I hope you don’t mean bass strings!



Owen J. Greyling



Hi Julia, from Reading PA

Here is another PROVEN idea for you, since you seem to be the only one to endorse my ideas, and for which I thank you.

‘A quick and dirty method to voice a grand piano, a.k.a. ‘Instant voicing’’

It is no secret that concert pianists are often faced with pianos that may have a sharp and unpleasant sound. Needless to say, it becomes obvious that the culprit piano needs voicing.
It is also no secret that most experienced concert pianists voice the piano as they play, by resting their foot on the left pedal, hoping to improve the sound. (The ones that wear heavy shoes are more successful. Women with small feet seem to suffer the most from this unfortunate not infrequent aberration of sound).

This needed voicing, is accomplished (while performing on stage) by shifting the keyboard ever so slightly, so as to prevent the strings from hitting the predetermined grooves on the hammer that have been hardened with playing, and produce a metallic sound. The left pedal of the piano ( as per Josef Hoffman and other great pianists) is not designed to make the piano softer, (although it does it to a certain extent when played ‘due cordi’) but is primarily designed to change the character of the sound, emanating from this mysterious and complicated musical instrument.

So imagine this scenario: You have tuned a piano beautifully, but the sound somehow is not satisfactory. If you can voice it with good results, well and good, but if you can’t, or if you are not further satisfied with the voicing, try this.

Press on the left pedal, and insert two to three playing cards on the left margin of the keyboard (after removing the lid, inside the piano), to prevent the keyboard  from returning all the way back to the left when you let go of the pedal.
In fact you would be imitating or initiating very gentle pressure on the pedal. (Remember the pianists with the heavy shoes)
The groove on the hammers will now be shifted very slightly to the right, and the strings will be hitting virgin territory slightly to the left of the grooves, usually producing a much softer and more pleasant sound. And for Dale who is very scientific and thorough, each card used will shift the keyboard by .010 of an inch. (Thickness of a playing card, as measured by my micrometer).
The strings, striking now so close to the original grooves on the hammer, will eventually change the density of the hammer-felt next to the old groove, and so when the cards are removed after a while, one may find to his surprise, that the character of the sound has improved altogether and that the cards are no longer needed.  (He can then start using them again for his poker game).
If two cards aren’t enough, one can use three. Using more than that, one may enter into ‘due cordi’ territory, which may be desirable under certain conditions if one is planning to ‘voice’ the left pedal after a change of hammers. After a change of hammers, in order for the left pedal to respond properly, (especially to partial pedaling) it has to be broken in by playing the piano for a while, keeping the pedal down.

Be it as it may, one can adjust the different grades of left pedaling (partial pedaling) on the piano, by increasing the number of cards as needed. If many cards have to be used, the left pedal may get loose, and may need slight adjustment under the piano (Usually takes a couple of minutes). 
         
I have no doubt that Dale has a better way of shifting the keyboard (with screws controlling or maintaining the shift of the keyboard) , but keep in mind that the beauty of using playing cards is that one can add or remove one as needed, instantly. (You may even hide the use of these cards from your client, and remove them secretly upon your next tuning visit, after asking him or her for a glass of water).

I am presenting this method with some trepidation, following a proven successful personal experience. (I am not a technician, but a classical pianist. After all, who has ever heard of a respectable RPT using playing cards inside a piano !!!!!!!) 

I have another good trick with cards to report, and some more quick and dirty ideas but I will save them for later, if I survive the attacks from my ‘unscientific empirical and amateur’ methods being tested successfully on my two beloved grand pianos. (They have no choice but to succumb to my surgery, fortunately with good results).

All the best

Steve

P.S. Is it true that ketchup cleans and restores copper?



On 11/30/06 8:35 AM, "KeyKat88 at aol.com" <KeyKat88 at aol.com> wrote:

Greetings,
 
        There is so much to learn!  Every time I think I have learned something, it turns out to have many more aspects to it.  (...great isn't it) 
 
Thanks
JUlia 
Reading PA
 
In a message dated 11/26/2006 5:21:09 PM Eastern Standard Time, Erwinspiano at aol.com writes:

HI Julia
  For a light filing, yes, you raise a practical issue.  There is of course a tolerance at which performance won't suffer  greatly.  It would be great if the fix were as simple as  a let--off adjustment but in order to maintain proper regulation/ i.e. blow distance .... hammer line needs to be raised as will the drop & let-off screw.  The magic line changes & the hammers now over center more as well. All the while the touch becoming lighter due to felt loss & geometry changes. It always Strikes me as such a sticky wicket. Don't you think? And then there's the scruffing scuffing hammer thing.
  Dale






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