Voicing needles?

[David Love]

I guess I'm getting crotchety and opinionated.  Believe me, I've also used
many "outside the box" techniques over the years.  I've come to the
conclusion that most outside the box techniques (alcohol, steam, vice grips,
lacquer) come about because of flawed hammers.  No question that you can
impact the tone of a hammer by all of those including side needling.  My
point about "meant to be." is that the hammer, in my view, should perform a
certain mechanical function: imparting adequate energy to the string in an
efficient way with hammer/string contact time being a critical component.
The hammer, like the other essential elements in tone building (string and
soundboard) should also function like a spring.  The firmness of the spring
may need to vary depending on the string scale and soundboard, but it should
always perform like a spring-at least in order to optimize tonal control.
Further, it should really match the soundboard and string scale but that's a
separate issue.  The spring component is influenced mostly by the tension in
the felt, the flexibility in the shoulder and the flexibility over the
crown.  While the tension in the felt is a determined by how the hammer is
manufactured it can be influenced by needling.  Excessive heating of the
hammer, btw, destroys the inner tension of the felt, and is the reason that
many hammers will not respond that well to needling.  In those cases you are
simply needling a dead lump of felt rather than releasing tension.  Lacquer
also destroys the inner tension by binding everything together.  Needling
the shoulders will have no effect in a lacquered hammer because everything
is glued together.  But I digress.  With proper needling, you can, then,
reduce the tension and, in fact, you can increase the tension, at least
toward the crown to some degree when the need arises, though this technique
has some limitations.  The spring tension over the crown will be influenced
by the tension on the shoulders.  If you release tension from the shoulders,
you will release tension from the crown (though if you are not careful about
where you needle you can actually release tension toward the crown and make
the crown harder-yipes this is complicated).  My problem with needling under
the crown or into the crown without releasing tension or creating a bit of
give in the shoulders first is that it doesn't really help to create a more
efficient spring for your overall system.  It just creates a soft spot at
the strike point.  It will take the edge off, at least to some degree and at
some level of playing, but the hammer won't respond correctly at all levels
of playing.  It is faster in a pinch, but nothing is free.  

 

Anyway, that's the best I can do for the moment at 7:30 on a Saturday
morning.   Now I'm off to my real job-driving kids to soccer games!

 

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net
www.davidlovepianos.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of PAULREVENKOJONES
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 11:34 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Voicing needles?

 

David:

 

All of the methodology you describe is in the arsenal of voicers, including
me. I question the phrase "meant to be treated". I doubt that there is any
inherent built-in intended methodology other than those recommended by
specific hammer makers (Steinway comes to mind with the discussion several
years ago about the pre-lacquered hammers). I've attended numerous classes
at meetings over the years given by particular hammer manufacturers. To a
one, they speak either generally or specifically about the procedures you
outline below and nothing more, and all with the intent to sell their
hammers (can't fault them for trying). Chris Robinson, Steve Pearson, Bob
Davis, and Dale Erwin are the only class lecturers I've run into (I'm sure
there are more) who have actually demonstrated "outside the box" techniques
which work such as side-needling. You gave away the reason to do it: toning
down the attack on a hard hammer. It's certainly not the first thing I do,
and maybe not the last, but it is in the arsenal of techniques. I have run
into several concert technicians (CSO, Tanglewood, Boston Symphony years
ago) who literally swear by this with a great deal more fervor than I. It's
just another method. And just for the record, I was responding to the use of
single glovers needles in the original post. A single stitch all the way
through right above the molding will do an amazing job in reining in a
recalcitrant attack while not changing the other characteristics so
carefully created. I'd be interested in your trying it yourself to see the
effect (not on your concert D, please). 

 

Paul  

 

"If you want to know the truth, stop having opinions" (Chinese fortune
cookie)

 

 

In a message dated 08/31/07 21:17:53 Central Daylight Time,
davidlovepianos at comcast.net writes:

I don't care for that approach.  While it will tone down the attack on a
hard hammer, I don't think it's really how those hammer were meant to be
treated.  The problem with tensioned hammers is often that the shoulders
have no give, not that the hammers are too hard under the crown.  They
should be relatively hard there.  First you need to needle the hammer from
10 - 11:30 and 12:30 - 2:00 and create a softer area there.  That might take
several stitches on each side-maybe more than several depending on the
hammer.  After that there should be an inverted triangle that doesn't get
needled directly except for maybe 2-3 mm at the surface.  After you soften
the shoulders, you can insert a needle very close to the strike point and
pointed slightly away from the tip of the molding to release some tension
from the crown but only after you have created a cushion in the shoulders so
that the tension from the crown has somewhere to go.  That type of voicing
will be much more stable, will produce a similar tone at all levels of
playing and also will not sound crappy and distorted when you play a forte,
which a hard shoulder softer crown will.  Lacquered hammers are a different
story and some hammers just don't respond to anything.  They should be
thrown out.  

 

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net
www.davidlovepianos.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of PAULREVENKOJONES
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 1:14 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Voicing needles?

 

Ed:

 

I've found their greatest utility to be in stitching from the side of the
hammer at or just above the wood molding. A single needle all the way
through at various positions in a straight line up from the tip of the
molding can do wonders. But with care! A stitch at a time. 

 

Paul

 

 

 

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