<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue id="role_body" bottomMargin=7 leftmargin=7 topmargin=7 rightMargin=7> <div class=Section1> I would go the traditional needle route before you try alcohol and water.  Those hammers will usually respond to needles.  It isn’t the most fun job but the overall tonal result will be much better than just ballooning them with water.  Even a few drops on the strike area is not really the right approach for those hammers.  They need flexibility in the shoulder area and you can only get that with needles.    Start needling not below 10:00 and 2:00 and go all the way up toward the strike point rotating the angle of the needles outward as you approach the crown.  When you get to within about 2 mm of the crown, the needles should be pointed toward the 5:00 and 7:00 positions respectively.  Don’t try and angle the needles in toward the tip of the molding.  It’s too difficult to penetrate and it’s also unnecessary.  When you get toward the strike point you should be needling almost tangent to the layers of felt.  Be prepared to file the hammers a bit to regain the shape as the needling will tend to swell the felt.   The result will be much better than alcohol, snuggle or other such measures.  I would only use that in extreme situations with felt that has lost all tension from over heating or pressing and must simply be made less dense overall.  The Renner blue, while it is generally harder than I prefer, is not that type of hammer and will respond to traditional needling procedures.  I have voiced many new MHs and other manufacturers using RBs using this procedure that seemed like would not be able to be voiced down on first listening.  Trust me, the hammers will respond.    That being said, I do wish that the hammer manufacturers would figure out a way to dial in specifications on hammer density (or be more open buyer requests) so that they could really be custom ordered.  The trend with both Abel and Renner is still too hard for most of my needs.    <div> David Love davidlovepianos@comcast.net www.davidlovepianos.com </div> -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Erwinspiano@aol.com Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2007 7:27 PM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Re: Voicing down hammers   <div> <div>   Hi Guys </div> <div>   I am going to try Water & alcohol on a brand new set of Renner blues that are just to Blasted hard tomorrow.  I'll try straight alcohol first & then work my way up. </div> <div>     My friend, Starr Taylor, in Florida just reported that he used 50% alcohol & water on some "Rock hard felt" brand hammers in some school Yamaha P-22's with very good success. Mr. Taylor reports having to apply several applications to get the solution to penetrate down to the core.  The results were tonally satisfying & cheaper than new hammers. Heaven forbid. </div> <div>   Dale </div> <blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid blue 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt; margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'> Mr. Bondi,     Ditto to Jon's suggestion.     I treated a gray market G2 yesterday that was the loudest, clangiest Yamaha I've heard in a long time.     I squeezed the shoulders with a small 6" vice grip and even resorted to lateral needling at 11:00 and 1:00 o'clock to bring these bricks down. The thing doesn't sound great, but it is at least playable     Tom --Big Papi --Driscoll </blockquote> </div> <div>   </div> <div> <div class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'> <hr size=2 width="100%" align=center> </div> See what's new at <a href="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170" target="_blank" title="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170">AOL.com</a> and <a href="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169" target="_blank" title="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169">Make AOL Your Homepage</a>. </div> </div> </body> </html>