<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2802" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: = Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=rol= e_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV>You may have to use a single needle to get started.  Sometimes the= hammer is just too hard to get those little pitchforks in there.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I always do a light sanding with 600 grit paper before going to needles.   I do a few shoe-shine strokes with a hammer-width strip= to soften the surface(some people use finer paper, some rougher).  This smooths the surface and usually evens out the tone to a degree.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've learned a lot about voicing from this list.  Mostly what I've= learned is how much I don't know about it and how much less I knew befo= re that.  Many shades of gray in this area...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dave Stahl</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 2/27/2006 2:56:19 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, ilvey@sbcglobal.net writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><= FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>John,<BR><BR>You said this was newer...1 year old or so? &nb= sp; Personally, I'd go through and check the density in the shoulders. &n= bsp; Can you get a needle in at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm...;-]???<BR>You probably n= eed to consider 30 some stitches on each shoulder...all around where it's hard.   You have to have some resiliency in the shoulders or you= will never get good tone for any length of time...<BR><BR>David Ilvedson, RPT<BR>Pacifica, California<BR><BR><BR><BR>----- Original message ----------------------------------------<BR>From: "John Dorr" <a440@bresnan.net><BR>To: pianotech@ptg.org<BR>Received: 2/27/2006 1:56:55 PM<BR>Subject: Bridge notch anomaly morphing into voicing<BR><BR><BR><BR>>List,<BR><BR>>I'd like to thank everyone for= their thoughtful posts.  I've printed them all <BR>>out and I've learned from all of your responses, even those that didn't read <BR>>th= e post that carefully! <G>  [As far as that goes, I probably shouldn't have <BR>>written the word "zingy"; a better descriptor might= have been "nasal".]<BR><BR>>I'll be revisiting that piano soon and tryi= ng my hand at some more voicing. <BR>> The client is a friend of mine, and= she called me over and said a different <BR>>note sounded "out of tune", wh= ich really wasn't.  The unisons were solid and <BR>>the note checked o= ut aurally every way I knew to test.  But the hammers are so <BR>>har= d that when I soften one or more slightly, another neighbor pokes its <BR>>"nose" in there, sounding harsh by the NEW comparison.  The p= iano has a nice <BR>>clear, somewhat bright tone in its nicest notes, but th= e ones that are <BR>>annoying remind me of the worst of the Young Changs,= if that makes any sense. <BR>> (Not all Young Changs are that way, of cour= se, but the ones that need help <BR>>sound "nasal" to me.)<BR><BR>>Maybe= you voicers out there could give me a few ideas on how to approach this <BR>>circumspectly.  Start with string leveling/hammer mating and string seating? <BR>> Steam? (how to?)  Right to the needles?&nbsp= ; Pick an octave, dial in a few notes, <BR>>learn from there and spread t= he treatment?<BR><BR>>I'm going to do this one for free because she's a fr= iend of mine and I don't <BR>>expect to "beat flat rate" (as we used to refe= r to it when I was an auto <BR>>mechanic!)  I just want to put my foot = in the waters gently and learn without <BR>>doing anything that's irrevers= ibly tragic!<BR><BR>>You guys are great.  Thanks again.<BR><BR>>John= Dorr, RPT2B (lol)<BR>>Helena, MT<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"= >Dave Stahl<BR><BR>Dave Stahl Piano Service<BR>650-224-3560<U><BR><A href="http://www.dstahlpiano.net/">http://dstahlpiano.net/</A></U></FONT><= /DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>