Felt quality

[Richard Brekne]

Hi David I.

I think here again is one of those things you'll get alot of opinions 
on.  Some of the classic European approaches demand that the lower 
shoulders be fully needled so as to release entirely all pent up ... 
I'll use the word <<energy>> there is there into the crown area.  Andre 
preaches something he calls <<Battery voicing>> which I find to be a 
good concept.  In that perspective you use only what lower shoulder 
energy you need to find a balance for power throughout all registers.  
The rest is left so as to be useable later on.  Then too... if you are a 
voicer who leans towards very mellow sound you are more likely to have 
needled enough both on the lower and midshoulder areas to be able to 
avoid having to go back later on to the same degree as you might if you 
leaned more towards power voicing to begin with.

If your Hamburg D is breaking up on fff play ... especially in that 
range C5-C7, then I'd start by making sure you have excellent mating 
between hammer and string, excellent front termination definition, and 
strings seated (and you know what I mean about string seating so I dont 
need to get into that).  If its still brash...then you have to tame it 
down.  From Hamburg factory voicing jobs I most often find there is not 
much to be gained by needling lower shoulder areas.  I find rather that 
mid-upper shoulder/subcrown is the key.  I'm looking for that area where 
a slowly inserted 2 needles one or two  times is going to do the job I'm 
after.

You can get the feeling you are voicing down a good deal more then you 
really are as you go... but in the end still have all kinds of power.  I 
like to check my voicing by playing rather hard chromatics...as legato 
like as I can on hard play, with the sustain pedal engaged. If i hear 
glass like attack sound with the pedal down, and none with my foot off 
it... then I am just about exactly where I want to be.

Cheers
RicB


    A question I am wondering about....with harder presssed hammers we
    open up the shoulders.   Do techs find they need to go back after
    some time and work the lower shoulders again?...they get compressed
    again with playing....obviously we need to work int he upper
    shoulders on a regular basis

    ...I have a Hamburg D I work on that I am not happy with the
    sound.   I think it distorts on forte playing...the mid shoulders
    seem pretty firm to me....I assume these are Renner Steinway hammers
    that have had a lot of needling in the lower/mid shoulder at the
    factory...this is from 1998, all original...I'm hesitant to make big
    changes, but I am headed that way...

    Any suggestions...

    David Ilvedson, RPT
    Pacifica, CA  94044

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