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<DIV>Dale, </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I know what you mean. When I got the call to come work for a
university, I went from working for a Kawai dealer to a building full of =
over-lacquered Steinway hammers--and no rebuilding
budget! :-0 After discovering my Kawai =
techniques
were for Kawai pianos (big grin), the only thing I could do was shape =
hammers
and try some needling. It helped *somewhat*. Still, the =
pianos were
no where near my ideals and then a friend told me about (politically =
incorrect)
hammer softeners. I learned to work with them--I had no choice,
really. And even though I'm no longer at that university, I'm =
*still*
following the techs who let the lacquer flow freely, so I've hardly ever =
worked
on Steinway hammers that HAVEN'T been over-lacquered. Ah,
there's always something to learn! </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wally Brooks got me going on the fundamentals of voicing in
the early to mid eighties. Can't remember which seminar it =
was--but
it was the starting point of my success. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My encouraging you??!!!! Well, it *is* nice to find =
partners in
crime........ ;-)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Barbara</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Erwinspiano@aol.com
href="mailto:Erwinspiano@aol.com">Erwinspiano@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, March 04, 2005 =
7:42
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Modern Tone </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 =
size=2>
<DIV>
<DIV> <FONT size=3>Barbara</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> Well isn't it good to know the tonal =
pendulum is
swinging & that quite a few of us are feeling it's breeze &on =
the same
page here.: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> The tone issue is what pushed =
me out of
being a full time tuner & farther and farther into =
rebuilding/
building & finding my own tonal brand of piano restoration. =
I had to
get away from all the clangers & bangers coming from the pacific =
rim to
preserve my hearing/sanity.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> It started with the revelation =
that I
really didn't enjoy the sound of most pianos I heard. This meant I had =
to
learn to voice. Norman Neblett gave me my very first hands on voicing =
lesson
in 1979 on a Yamaha CF. After that I was then armed & =
dangerous.
Promptly went out & applied Yamaha voivcing techniques to a set of =
old
Steinway hammers. Well that didnt' work. So after I replaced that set =
... for
free, I decided I had to learn a few more things. Oh well . =
It's
been an awesome trip & I'm liking a lot of what I hear these
days.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> Thanks for the encouragement!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>
Dale</FONT></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BODY></HTML>