<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: </TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> Stephane, Be sure the hammers are as smooth as you can get them!  Use progressiv= ely finer grades of sandpaper until you get them very smooth!  Gang fil= ing with large sheets of sandpaper work best.  Virgil Smith made a fine= presentation on this in Kansas City a few years ago.  The tone will sp= arkle without being harsh.  Of course, overly hard hammers may require = some needling, but smoothness is absolutely essential to beautiful tone. <BLOCKQUOTE> </BLOCKQUOTE>-- Ray T. Bentley, RPT Alton, IL ray@bentley.net www.ray.bentley.net The difficult, I do right away.  The impossible takes a little longer.= From: Stéphane Collin <collin.s@skynet.be> <BLOCKQUOTE>Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 13:24:59 +0100 To: <pianotech@ptg.org> </BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE>Hello. When I do the voicing of a piano, I am often confronted with this problem := how can I reduce the agressivity of the attack, without loosing the beautif= ul overtones in the body of the sound ?  When dealing with a set of ham= mers that sound agressive in a particular piano and trying to cure the agres= siveness, I always end up with a mellow sound and substancial loss of power.=  While some times, I have pianos that are and clear, and powerful, yet= not agressive.  Any ideas ?  Thank you. Stéphane Collin (Brussels, Belgium) </BLOCKQUOTE> </BODY> </HTML>