Voicing down hammers

[Alan G. Hoeckelman]

Greetings to all (for my 1st time);

	I'm the other Alan. Not Barnard, nor Crane,... Hoeckelman.

1st, I recall this effort of voicing is for a modern-day player. I
learned back in mid-90's as the Disklaviers / PianoDiscs were getting
popular: Some owners thought they could turn the volume wwaayyy down
(ala: Stereo system) to have piano-played background music during a
party they were hosting. Piano was tooo loud. Turn it below 1 on dial,
and piano starts missing notes now & then. They call dealer to complain.
Ultimately, a closed cell rubber foam was found that could be carved
oversized, but to the shape of openings between beams, bellyrail, & rim.
Same material, but thinner thickness could go on top of t-pins,
plate-struts like a felt string cover ( refer to PTJ classifieds, Judi
Edwards carries that type foam )to quiet the piano even further.
Completely closing the lid knocks off part of another dB. Check this out
before you get too far @ voicing those hammers. Speaking of which......
	2nd, Had a Hyundai grand, rocks for hammers, some 15 notes with
strings broken (4th, 5th, & 6th octaves). An hour +, & 12 broken needles
later, I resorted to vise grips. Tried the shoulders, no effect, closer
to the crown, nope. Did the crown lightly, ahah! Less glassiness!
Tightened the screw & eventually found a setting that calmed that beast
down. So, use on the crown may prove worthwhile, but not always. The
dealer that asked me to voice that grand was astounded at how totally
different it sounded the next day. Whew!!

Hope this helps. I just could not sit tight and stay shut up on this
thread. Good luck!

Alan Hoeckelman, RPT



 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Phil Bondi
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 4:42 PM
To: Newtonville
Subject: Voicing down hammers

Hi all.

I recently met up with a set of Imadegawas that 
needed to 'whisper'. The reason for the whisper 
is because there's a player system attached to 
it, and of course, it's too loud.

I was surprised at how much Acetone and 
Controlled Steam voicing these hammers were able 
to take...but.

They're still as hard as concrete and they're 
not whispering yet. They're still too hard for 
needles. I soaked the hammers 4x in Acetone and 
steamed them 4x and 5x in the bass.

That seems like alot for any hammer to take, and 
they're still rock hard.

Any suggestions..short of changing them out, 
which is not an option?

Thanks,

-Phil Bondi(Fl)


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