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<DIV>
<DIV> Ric</DIV>
<DIV> Eric is a personal friend & fine Human being . I have made
similar assertions on many occasion to this effect on list. Eric=
& I have hashed over voicing techniques for many years =
on
many occasions & on all these salient points we agree. It's nice to have=
ones own opinions re-enforced by your associates.</DIV>
<DIV> That being said I've heard finely voiced Hamburgs as well
& enjoyed then too. The only problem is usually the needling has no=
t
gone far enough & the under lying core remains too stiff &nbs=
p;
& the edgy sound rears its' ugly head. When this is tamed the sound=
can
be truly lush.</DIV>
<DIV> Dale</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>The
reason given for Steinways choice in using <BR>the lacquer approach is
<STRONG>because they feel they do not get the sound they <BR>want with nee=
dled
hammers. I.e. Eric, and Steinway NY are of the <BR>opinion that
lacquered hammers yield a different sound then needled <BR>hammers. =
He
cited more power as one alleged asset, voicing stability as <BR>another, a=
nd a
larger dynamic range due to the very localized affect of <BR>needle placem=
ent
when voicing for soft shift play.</STRONG> Course he didnt <BR>reall=
y
see any advantages to the Hamburg approach.. but then he was from <BR>NY
:) He DID state that it was his believe that prior to WWII all
<BR>hammers all over the world needed
lacquer.<BR><BR>FWIW<BR><BR>Cheers<BR>RicB</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
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