-----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Ron Nossaman Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 7:36 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Voicing the new Mason & Hamlins And only a mere 20-30 years later. Progress zips past at a blinding rate, don't it? Is RF curing a possibility? Seems like a potentially shorter cycle time, and simpler plumbing, but I don't know enough about it to say. I have seen two hammer presses using RF heating. No, let me correct that; I have seen two hammer presses that were designed to use RF heating. When they were tested the folks in charge of voicing determined that they "were not bright enough." (These are the same folks who were lacquering Renner Blue hammers.) The RF equipment has been removed and is now no longer useable. (Yes, there is a story here but it will take a Scotch or two to get it out of me....) > There are so many ways to control the hammer making process that, with > just a bit of intelligent trial and error, it should be possible-/no, > dammit, it *is* possible!/- to make a hammer to suit any piano and any > desired piano voice with only minimal voicing required. The practical impediment, as always, is "intelligent" trial and error. Yes, it is, isn't it. > I regard all voicing techniques as destructive by their very nature. > Shouldn't we be looking for hammers that require as little destruction > as possible? Yes, making huge adjustments to the deficiencies of the hammer to accommodate the deficiencies of the belly seems a tad misdirected. Like stuffing a turkey through the neck. Ron N Bearing in mind, of course, that this is how the turkey did it. But back to the piano; even when the belly is working we seem to have a problem. What I was referring to was simply the inappropriate choice of hammers. Putting Ronsen/Bacon hammers on a Yamaha concert grand and complaining that Ronsen hammers need so damn much lacquer to "make them sound right." Or putting Renner Blue hammers on an older Steinway M and complaining about you have to "pre-voice" the things by driving a set of three needles into each shoulder 50 times before they are hung to "make them sound right." Accompanied, of course, by complaints about how heavy the touch has become and wondering why. After all, I didn't change the action. Right? ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 620 South Tower Avenue Centralia, Washington 98531 USA del at fandrichpiano.com ddfandrich at gmail.com Phone 360.736.7563
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC