Playing cards aren't just made for poker

[RicB]

Hey there Owen.

Looks like its my turn to back you up 100 %.  I agree totally.   The 
idea that voicing should be left in the hands of pianists is simply a 
catastrophic idea. Voicing and indeed all piano technical work should be 
left up to qualified piano technicians.  Now dont get me wrong... I know 
a fair few good to excellent pianists that have taken the trade to heart 
and become fine technicians in their own right.  But none of these would 
dream of taping nails to shanks with masking tape, regulating dampers as 
suggested earlier, or suggest that voicing should be done by pianists 
alone because of some intricate response relationship between the 
pianist and the instrument. In fact... I have to waggle my head a bit to 
try and make sense of how that last claim can possibly fit together with 
the first two myself... :)  I mean... with nails masked onto the shanks, 
and dampers timed at the get go with all that entails... seems to me the 
last thing any pianist has to worry about at that point is who voices 
the piano... if yer gets my meanings.

I appreciated your quote from Ed McMorrow.  Couldnt be more right on.

What gets me in all this.... especially when it comes from a pianist who 
has spent years mastering the art of piano playing... is the turnaround 
that is made.  It takes every bit as long to create a very fine concert 
piano tech as it ever did take to create a fine concert pianist.  As in 
all things, all trades, all disciplines.... one simply does not open a 
book, start dinking around on ones own and become more then a fledgling 
plebe without at some time or another seriously approach learning the 
subject matter. Piano technical work is no exception. 

Cheers
RicB


    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