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Thanks for the video! I saw the initial video of someone doing this in workshop combined with Hair spray and wondered how it can work... Here we see. I also don't hear much difference. Yes, the joke at the end is hilarious!

The needle did the trick i could hear it

For brightness of tone, manipulation of the strike point is the only one that will make a difference. Isn’t that common sense??? If the strike point is hard, you get bright sound. If the strike point is soft, you get mellow sound. Why? Contact time with string. Short contact time emphasizes the higher overtones. Long contact time mutes the high overtones.

When laquering hammers the solution is put on to saturate the felts down to the wood core. So, saturating the felts down to the wood core with fabric softener would be consistent.

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Hilarious 😂! Well, you didn't see (hear) a difference because your piano was already very mellow from the start. Just as I didn't perceive an improvement in your playing because you already played very good from the beginning. I once replaced hammers on my Yamaha U2 with Abel ones and it sounded so bright. After one application of alcohol and fabric softener solution to the shoulders it was a different piano altogether.

I love your scientific method. I honestly thought you were a pro technician. One method that I like is to use a steamer. It works very quickly, and very noticeably. It is a good back pocket method if you accidentally over voice by making the hammers too bright. The steam breaks up the lacquer, or any other hardener, very quickly so that you can restart fast. I use a blow dryer without heat to dry off the excess moisture in the hammers while working on them.

Are these for sale?

Good video ! I think if you’d have raised hammer off the rest rail at least 1/8 “ it would have made let off And drop closer.

Very interesting. I have too much after touch and am disturbing exactly that symptom. I was wondering how to solve it. Thank you for sharing. Oh, btw.I did notice that your balance pin (the one shown in the video) could do with a good polishing. If it is as it seems, and you polish it using Peak, you will notice a remarkable difference in playing the key. Kind Regards, g

lovely piece is?

These hammers look rather old. Old hammers don’t respond much to voicing of any kind. I would guess a new set is in order. Just promise us you won’t douse the new hammers with sandalwood.

I actually discern a pretty big difference once you use the dropper. The first untreated one is mushy and muffled whereas the post-dropper recording is noticeably brighter and clearer.

Thank you for taking the time to document the regulation process, that makes a lot more sense now. I also took from your videos the amount of preparation you put into this (jigs, tools, measurements etc) and I think that's an understated aspect of your success. Gidday from across the ditch :-)

My take, the approach should have been to VERY shallow needling of the strike point if removal of that metallic ring was the objective. This was confirmed to me because I though there was a noticeable difference after the strike points were sprayed. Lightly steaming the strike points using a slightly damp cloth laid along the hammer line and a house hold iron set to 'wool' temperature is another more proven approach.

Ouch. This experiment was EXPENSIVE. I wonder if there are ways to undo this or the solution lives forever in the hammer felt.

Beer bottles and Molotov cocktails in 2024. It’s time to clean.

This video is awesome

Excellent video. There are a couple of notes in my new Yamaha S3X which sound louder than all the others (different register?). Your video seems to indicate that this is due to the hammer rising higher than the rest. Instead of the requested piano technician, they sent a piano tuner who of course couldn’t do the work. Seems I have to live with it.

I got a new piano from best choices products with headphones and microphone.

If you play also f and ff it would be better to hear the difference, generally ypur piano does not seem to need voicing.

First you were using the softener incorrectly. Second, you have to identify a voicing problem and use the right method to solve that problem. Softener wasn't even called for. Just spraying softener on an already soft hammer does nothing. It sounded to me like some hammer shaping would have been a better method to clean up the tone a little. See this video th-cam.com/video/69VakMtdR-Q/w-d-xo.html

Natural non AlGore swindle event

All of these details are covered in "Piano Servicing, Tuning, and Rebuilding" by Arthur Reblitz. It is the "go to" manual for all registered piano techs.

This is refering to the first part up to 4 min. I'm not sure how the recording was made but I'd use two studio condenser microphones that would stay in the same position for all recordings. Also a good soundcard (like Focusrite, Mbox etc.), same gain, practically all conditions identical. Even an open door that was closed in the other recording would change the sound a bit. Drapes, objects in the room, everything should be the same. My opinion is that "before" is darker sound, less upper harmonics, "after" the tone opens up, and I think it's better. The reason for the change is more resilience of the hammer after spraying which leads to shorter contact time with the string.

Aftertouch with what I'm working on is driving me crazy. So small, but too much for me. Will sand some more.

Thank you for this. I'm sanding right now.

I think it sounded slightly better before the fabric softener.

I found your conclusion amusing as I also made the mistake of not using unscented fabric softener. The problem I had was a couple of notes in the treble were dead, they would decay rapidly compared the the adjacent notes. Just one application on the lower shoulders solved this. Personally I could hear a difference in the before and after recordings but recordings are not a very good judge compared to being there. Piano voicing can also be very subjective.

Very impressive! Very well done! Great video. Thanks

Very helpful and clear video. Thank you.

Is it easier to regulate a grand than an upright?

Will putting hammers closer to strings make subjective feeling that keys are sligthly easier? I am wondering if there is a shorter way to string, could pianist play fast passages with less power to produce sound? Sorry on bad english

Thanks for making this. Happy New Year 2022!

Your hammers need heated and straightened. They should be perfectly flat across the action

How did you level the keys without weights placed on the back checks?

Really appreciate this. The most useful video I've found so far

Thanks for the video. What I did not see is the repetition lever adjustment. Was that not needed in your case?

"the felt was replaced" - - > was placed back

th-cam.com/video/Cl0MRN4Or-I/w-d-xo.html Key speed test.. Best ever digital piano action. I play Liszt's, which demand note repeating fast, this Casio solve the issue.

What a fantastic video and amazing discussion board. I don't think I have seen anything like this on the net. I am going to add my story to the list and see what you guys have to suggest. Three years back I bought a nearly 100 yr old baby grand for my little girl(who was 4 yrs old at that time-- ambitious dad with big dreams). Now this old, and lovely instrument serves a dual purpose. For my daughter it is an instrument to learn music, for me an instrument to learn piano repair and restoration techniques. Needless to say some weeks the piano is out of commission for her to practice! Besides regular tuning and general cleaning I am not thinking of venturing into more ambitious project and there in I was hoping for some guidance. Last year I noticed that on several high notes, the felt on the hammers were completely worn off and that I could actually see the wood. I bought a set of old hammers from ebay and replaced the 8th octave completely. I kept the shank and flange from the old piano and just replaced the hammers. While the hammers are newer than the original and has plenty of felt left on it, they sound very muffled! Do i need to do voicing or have i got this completely wrong? I also need some help with regulation. Why does my piano require the keys to be depressed fairly down before the hammer strikes the strings? I have seen piano respond to a delicate touch, in my case I actually have to press the key hard and more than half way through before I get the sound. Is this what you are showing with let off and drop?

Need to work out the down weight and up weight of the keys to reflect the action has been regulated to say 52g (Ao key) 48g (C8 key) for example. Nowadays, friction weight can also be estimated.

pretty cool, man!

How it works? What is it's mechanism plzz tell bro😁

This is a great video which shows more relevant information than many others I've seen put up by people who do this for a living. I bought a smaller, used Japan built Yamaha grand piano for my daughter which she loves. it is immaculate. The only issue with it is that someone in the past did some hammer voicing badly and although the tech I have come to tune it says he can work on the hammers, like yourself I have a technical background and I have looked closely at the hammers and I am convinced that I would just keep paying for hammer work and not get the end result i'm after. I took matters into my own hands and bought a set of hammers from Yamaha. They came glued and set on the shanks which included new knuckles and flanges. So basically unscrew one hammer fit the other and re fit the screw. I know that's simplistic as the new knuckles will alter a number of parameters as it did when you cleaned up and re-shaped the ones on your piano. The hammer set I received are ready to hang as if being put on a new action during the process of manufacturing. Aside from the felt on each hammer being a later equivalent the dimensions and weight of the new hammers are identical to the original hammers. I called the tech and suggested I fit the new hammers to the action to save him time and my money. Perfectly happy to pay him for a whole day setting the action up after the hammers are hung. I am more than capable of hanging the new hammers and checking alignment with the strings and checking that the hammer positions are also correct when the soft pedal is deployed. I would replace alternate hammers first and measure and check to set the hammers in the correct position relative to the strings. Apparently I would need fairy dust and a deep knowledge of Voodoo because the new hammers could be affected by the conditions in my home and therefore the strike point might not be right because the frame dimensions vary from one instrument to another and so on. So I'm thinking after watching your video a good few times that I'll make some regulating tools as it's hard to get them where I live, install the hammers and regulate the action as you have here, plus polish the key pins and so on. I have the greatest respect for anyone who has learned a trade but I'm not one for being blinded by a few technical terms and various other fluff. I'm still waiting for a reply as to whether I should hang the hammers as apparently some research is required as having a new hammer set including shanks, knuckles and flanges is not the done thing. My daughter is 13 and wants to make a career in classical music, she works hard and I need her piano to sound great as I know it will with new hammers as I already swapped a few to see how they sounded then swapped them back. To be fair there was very little difference in let off and drop and they back checked at the same point as the original hammers as the new set are very near identical in all respects to the originals. I know I've waffled here lol. I just want to ask if there any other pit falls I could encounter beyond regulation as you have described in your video? Thank you very much. Best Regards.

Good for you to explore this. Drop equals 1/16" below let off, 1/8" below the string. Aftertouch should result in hammer rising after drop to a point not higher than let off. So, on a well regulated grand, hammer rises as key is depressed. Hammer rises to let off at 1/16" from string, drops to 1/8" from string, and then rises, as key is depressed to key bottom, to 1/16" from string. Did I see drop > 1/16" and no aftertouch on the sample you showed us?

Hi, I love the mechanism you created. How many did you end up making for the production and are stil lmaking them or are the originals available for resale?

It's going to create a Tsunami, get up high. Hahaha

Hi John, I'm happy someone has appreciated the clip. Sally was a good friend and a wonderful human being. We regularly spent many a late night listening to her singing at a Canberra restaurant, called Bogarts, with Tom Hardy on the white grand piano. Great times :-)

Thanks for uploading this clip. Sallie was my cousin and a former member of the Vernon's Girls in the UK, and the only other footage we have of her is her appearance in the Cliff Richard Event at Wembley Stadium in 1989. She was reunited with other members, to perform songs from the Oh Boy era of the late 1950s in that show in front of probably 80,000 people.