<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: voicing mixtures and procedures</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE>----- Original Message ----- From: zoran grujic <mailto:zorang@mgnet.= co.yu>   To: pianotech@ptg.org <mailto:pianotech@ptg.org>   Sent: Friday, September 03, 1999 7:12 PM Subject: voicing mixtures and procedures           =                Hi List,        my name is Zoran Grujic,I work= as piano teacher and technician in Yugoslavia.I will have much voicing work= on rock-hard hammers in old,bad grands in musical school here.I would like = to hear some of your experiences about hammer softeners (alcohol/water,or so= me other mixture).How much water goes into alcohol?How to apply it?I am also= interested in shelac hammer hardener,which was in use before lacquers.The s= ame questions as before.I checked archives,but didn't get all answers about = it.     Many thanks in advance.Regards,               =             &nbs= p;            &n= bsp;            =             &nbs= p;Zoran             =             &nbs= p;            &n= bsp;            =             &nbs= p;zorang@mgnet.co.yu </BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>As I am living somewhere in Europe, and, as I hav= e no experience at all with hammer softeners (since this seems to be an excl= usively American tradition, I would like to point out that, besides the use = of hammer softeners there is also the old fashioned softening of the hammers= with a voicing tool i.e. da needles....... Just to make sure that our dear American colleagues will not feel insulted,= critisized, or otherwise, I must emphasize the fact that I know nothing abo= ut the process of softening hammers with softener, and that I have never wor= ked with it, and thus have no opinion nor critiscism I do have, however, an opinion about hammers, since I have specialized over= the years in regulation, tuning and..voicing. It might be that not all of us technicians have more, a lot, or less= , experience in voicing. It therefor could be wise to point out for the inexperienced ones on this l= ist that in all major piano factories there is a first voicing, and a second= . (to experienced or very experienced colleagues here on this forum : push t= he delete button please, there may be much more interesting messages waiting= for you) The first voicing is the one that is most important, for during this proces= s of initial needling, the hammers will receive their energy-absorbing (or d= ampening) amount of needling in their specific places (note that there is a = big difference in first voicing between most piano factories). The first voicing, or, as they happen to call it in Japan "the making = of cushion", is crucial : too much cushion will result in a maybe sweet= , but weak and powerless tone (nothing to do about it really, except turbo-n= eedling from the bottom up, filing, or the last resort.. hammer dope. Too little cushion will have as result a hard and narrow tone, like a loud = but nasal voice. The tonal quality will actually always demand for more open= ness by applying more cushion, but, since some technicians do not really hav= e a tremendous experience and insight in this, the tone will probably remain= unbalanced and underdeveloped for ever. Voicing is so incredibly complex... First of all, as intoneurs, we must have a talent. This talent we must develop, amongst others by sharpening our musical ears,= by tuning thousands and thousands of instruments, and... by accumulating a = thorough knowledge of the regulation process. In one factory I learned the following and important rule : "A perfect tone is" : a perfect regulation - a perfect tuning - a perfect voicing. And indeed, if we keep aiming for the highest result in these three totally= different disciplines, than the result will be accordingly, but only as far= as the development and experience of the technician involved. Now, why did I write all this down? Because it is necessary to point out that once the piano leaves the factory= , it will have received its first and second voicing already (when it is a d= ecent factory of course). If a piano tone gets hard, irregular, and more pronounced, it is usually du= e to the fact that the upper part of the hammers, the crown, will have gotte= n harder because they come into contact with the strings all the time. It is= the crown that gets hardened first by playing, not the middle section, or, = the cushion. Technicians often make the mistake to needle only "halfway" out o= f fear for needling the crown. The result will then be : more cushion, a weaker tone (like a big old buick= slamming on the ground because of a weak and worn out suspension), but stil= l a shrill and tinny sound, because the crown is still rock hard. I would in this case reccomend needling on the sides of the crown, but cert= ainly not in other places. Only when a hammer is older, would it be wise to = apply some more cushion, because now the middle section may have hardened to= o. This process of needling the upper section takes me about 5-10 minutes, plu= s afterwards some more "evening out". Don't be afraid by just &quo= t;picking" at the hammers....it will have hardly any result, and for on= e concert only...... no, stick'm in with some force and not too fast (there = is a nice American song about "a slow hand with an easy touch" if = you know what I mean (;>)). Applying a softener might do wonderful work, but I just would not like to u= se any strange or new stuff on an otherwise perfect and healthy hammer (unle= ss it had been hardened before with hammer dope, but that is a different sto= ry). We have had this discussion before but then about the opposite : about hard= ening hammers, but we found out that hammers made in the US are different fr= om the ones made in Europe. Still, I like a hammer best, when it has the most beautiful felt (Wurzen fe= lt), when it has a lot of "natural" power through the pressing pro= cess and the natural strong resilience of the wool fibers, and, when it does= n't need any additive in whatever form. Friendly greetings, Antares </BODY> </HTML>