On Apr 5, 2010, at 2:57 PM, jimialeggio wrote: > Hi Will, > > The excavating (my word) I'm referring to is different than, and in addition to normal full length side tapering you mention. I was referring to removing felt from the circumference of the the shoulders. > Cutting felt from the circumference I think would normally strike fear and horror into the hearts of most of us, however, there are folks who do this often and report good results. > > Don't know...gotta try it first and see... > > Jim I Hi Jim, Cutting felt from healthy and expensive hammers is a waste because it reduces your further voicing. The more felt you have, the better. However, in the case of the older steinway there is of course a problem. I have dealt with this problem many times and I have made all the mistakes one can make. I hope I have come to a point where I make less mistakes.... sigh.. Anyway, In the case of older Steinways I send away the original keys and key frame to a keyboard factory in germany and I have them replace the balance rail a bit to the back. That gives me the right leverage I need for a brand new action. I install new back checks and capstans, make sure the keys have very little friction, put all the parts in the right place (with stw's a heck of a job), regulate the action and then do a completely new leading followed by tuning/voicing. The result is : an older Steinway with the old board (if it is still ok), the old personality, with new strings, dampers, and a brand new action that makes it play like a modern Steinway and gives the instrument a different range of dynamics as well. What real pianists really like is the way there instrument plays and... sounds. A reduced hammer will very soon give an unpleasant shrill sound. If one really wants to go on with the very same action (with the whippen assist springs), one should buy a light weight stw hammer from either Renner or Abel and reduce even that hammer! because it will still be too heavy. Look closely at the original hammers.. they are like tiny sculptures. They must have had real artisan technicians in the past who had the talent, the time and the craft to make hammers that small. I myself do not like whippen assist springs and I like to modernize old instruments because it gives me the result I and my customers like. btw, Steinway did change the leverage in their keys at some time so that they could use a heavier hammer. All manufacturers did so because there was/is no other way (except using whippen assists). Even Bösendorfer still had whippen assists in the 80's and Blüthner uses them in the bass section (!) Steinway never told us, so we had to muddle on and make many mistakes, and many technicians still make those very same mistakes. friendly greetings from André Oorebeek Antoni van Leeuwenhoekweg 15 1401 VW, Bussum the Netherlands tel : +31 35 6975840 gsm : +31 652 388008 www.concertpianoservice.nl "Accordaturi te salutant" -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100405/84d2753f/attachment-0001.htm> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: chair in action 4.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 6058 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100405/84d2753f/attachment-0001.jpg>
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