<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1264" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>G'day Friends.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Whilst voicing a new Kawai K-3 model the other day I got thinking about this age old question of needling the front of the hammer. We were always taught that it was a no no, right?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Well there are times when you just have to, and this job I was doing required it. By going by the book, I would have achieved nothing, where as, a very tiny touch to the string indentation did the job I required, after I had carried out the 'correct' procedure, that is.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Am I getting frowns from all and sundry about this, or is it acceptable by some of you to go out of the square? My belief is that as long as you don't go crazy and damage the fibres of the hammer, you are doing no harm, just improving the tone.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Over to you.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>David Lawson.  Wangaratta.  Australia.</FONT></DIV> <DIV>  </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>