Scruffing -was - Over-Strike vs Under-Strike

[RicB]

Hi Marcel

It strikes me that the whole scope of impact noises is probably one of 
the most overlooked and underestimated bits of what the overall sound of 
the instrument ends up being.  We have this tendency to focus on the 
sound the strings make and get all hung up in that. To the point that 
many find it down right difficult if not impossible to understand how 
one or another of the many impact noises actually can influence piano 
tone.  But they do... big time.  Going to a more rigid shank will of 
course have a price.  I'm not saying you cant make it work... I'm just 
saying you probably cant just count on it being a good thing without 
further ado.

Cheers

RicB


    I think there has to be some kink of balance. I remember old uprights
    with cedar shanks in the treble section. When I replaced some of these
    broken shanks with maple ones, the tone would get ugly. Mind you these
    hammers were tapered a lot and were very light, but there must be a
    reason why the cedar shanks produced such a good tone compared with
    maple ones.

    There is so much that happens when the hammer hit the strings that we
    don't know. It's a very complex system and we only can try different
    things, but going to just a more rigid shank might not solve all our
    problems.

    Marcel Carey, RPT
    Sherbrooke, QC