So pre-voicing is always necessary, but needling isn't always advisable from the start. When it comes to prevoicing you will always need to square up the hammers and on most hammers I have come accross it is advisable to peel the outer layer of felt and ensure they are the shape you want. This is usually done with a higher grit sandpaper as the goal is not to take felt away, but to take away outer fuzz on the hammers that you get when you take them out of the package and tail them. Now the next step depends on the hammers. There are 2 main styles of hammers which are voice up and voice down hammers. Voice down hammers are hammers that come out of the package a bit on the hard side and those often times need to be needled several times. For example I have found that with renner hammers you may voice them down to where you want them and come back the next day and they will have bounced back to being a bit sharp. Now this doesn't always happen so it is best to go to where you want and come back. Now on the flip side you have voice up hammers which are hammers that tend to come a bit on the soft side. Those usually require voicing up techniques which generally are about peeling the soft outer felt away and potentially juicing them with diluted hardening solution. Now some hammers like abel hammers will be almost exactly where you want it out of the box requiring only the basic squaring up and peeling along with evening out any hammers that stick out. This is my personal preference since I feel that I often don't have to do all that much to the hammer and given felts tendency to compact and harden over time I prefer to start soft and let the piano brighten with age. I tend to be of the opinion of you want to do as little voicing to hammers as possible as all voicing is damage done to the hammer, but actually getting any hard facts on this kind of thing is tough considering that a good set of hammers should last at least 20 year in a normal home. So I would call this more of a gut feeling sort of thing than anything factual or known. But every piano is different and some pianos may want a harder hammer while others may benefit from a softer hammer. If the piano warrants a harder hammer or the build is being done for someone who may be more of a jazz/ragtime musician then you may want to stick with voice down hammers while a classical pianist may prefer a softer voice up hammer. There is no short cut to learning voicing other than doing a lot of voicing. You can know the theory, but at the end of the day its a skill that takes practice and every technician will have their preference. One style is not better than the other, but they are different.
These were existing hammers that the customer wanted to keep. They had a somewhat harsh sound that when filed would brighten. The improved verticality and mating would add a clarity that I felt would benefit by gradient on the crown and more flex in the shoulders. I personally like Ronsen Wickert or Abel Naturals or Renner Blues, depending on the piano, but I have enjoyed working other versions from each of these makers. Since I have done preparation and regulation away from the piano, a conservative approach to what I know I will have to do at the piano bears the fruit of a favorable first impression for the customer when the action is put back in the piano. I still will have some work pitch adjusting, settling wire, and mating wire to hammers (because hammers are vertical at strike, mating and leveling happen in the same operation). When I have completed this work and have a finished tuning, much or most of my voicing has been done. Whatever further voicing may be necessary, the final fit needs its mating to be stable at pitch and in tune. The pre-voicing supports this approach well. Both the shoulder voicing and the compass needle voicing give you feedback as you go. I know the feel of what I am hoping for and what I may have to fight against. Doing the least to get to that hoped-for place is the art, more cost-effective and best for the hammers' longevity. When in doubt, wait to hear a sample of what you think in the piano. So, to answer your second question, I will do a version of this approach whenever I feel it will be beneficial and not detrimental. First of all, we must do no harm, but second of all, we must do something, and hopefully the something that is needed. That is what we're hired for. Sometimes that something is to leave what you have because it sounds great or it pleases the customer. At some point in every job, this is what we have to do. Call it done. But it takes a lot of energy to finish up. And shoulder needling takes a lot of energy, so having some of it done ahead of the final passes helps, both to be already part way there, but also to start from a better-sounding place. A mental fore-image of the dynamic range your work will yield and the power and the quality of voice guides you to the appropriate version of preparatory pre-voicing.
Thanks for the explanation. What hammers are you using? Do you do the same pre-voicing on all types of hammers?
So pre-voicing is always necessary, but needling isn't always advisable from the start. When it comes to prevoicing you will always need to square up the hammers and on most hammers I have come accross it is advisable to peel the outer layer of felt and ensure they are the shape you want. This is usually done with a higher grit sandpaper as the goal is not to take felt away, but to take away outer fuzz on the hammers that you get when you take them out of the package and tail them.
Now the next step depends on the hammers. There are 2 main styles of hammers which are voice up and voice down hammers. Voice down hammers are hammers that come out of the package a bit on the hard side and those often times need to be needled several times. For example I have found that with renner hammers you may voice them down to where you want them and come back the next day and they will have bounced back to being a bit sharp. Now this doesn't always happen so it is best to go to where you want and come back.
Now on the flip side you have voice up hammers which are hammers that tend to come a bit on the soft side. Those usually require voicing up techniques which generally are about peeling the soft outer felt away and potentially juicing them with diluted hardening solution. Now some hammers like abel hammers will be almost exactly where you want it out of the box requiring only the basic squaring up and peeling along with evening out any hammers that stick out. This is my personal preference since I feel that I often don't have to do all that much to the hammer and given felts tendency to compact and harden over time I prefer to start soft and let the piano brighten with age. I tend to be of the opinion of you want to do as little voicing to hammers as possible as all voicing is damage done to the hammer, but actually getting any hard facts on this kind of thing is tough considering that a good set of hammers should last at least 20 year in a normal home. So I would call this more of a gut feeling sort of thing than anything factual or known.
But every piano is different and some pianos may want a harder hammer while others may benefit from a softer hammer. If the piano warrants a harder hammer or the build is being done for someone who may be more of a jazz/ragtime musician then you may want to stick with voice down hammers while a classical pianist may prefer a softer voice up hammer. There is no short cut to learning voicing other than doing a lot of voicing. You can know the theory, but at the end of the day its a skill that takes practice and every technician will have their preference. One style is not better than the other, but they are different.
These were existing hammers that the customer wanted to keep. They had a somewhat harsh sound that when filed would brighten. The improved verticality and mating would add a clarity that I felt would benefit by gradient on the crown and more flex in the shoulders. I personally like Ronsen Wickert or Abel Naturals or Renner Blues, depending on the piano, but I have enjoyed working other versions from each of these makers. Since I have done preparation and regulation away from the piano, a conservative approach to what I know I will have to do at the piano bears the fruit of a favorable first impression for the customer when the action is put back in the piano. I still will have some work pitch adjusting, settling wire, and mating wire to hammers (because hammers are vertical at strike, mating and leveling happen in the same operation). When I have completed this work and have a finished tuning, much or most of my voicing has been done. Whatever further voicing may be necessary, the final fit needs its mating to be stable at pitch and in tune. The pre-voicing supports this approach well. Both the shoulder voicing and the compass needle voicing give you feedback as you go. I know the feel of what I am hoping for and what I may have to fight against. Doing the least to get to that hoped-for place is the art, more cost-effective and best for the hammers' longevity. When in doubt, wait to hear a sample of what you think in the piano. So, to answer your second question, I will do a version of this approach whenever I feel it will be beneficial and not detrimental. First of all, we must do no harm, but second of all, we must do something, and hopefully the something that is needed. That is what we're hired for. Sometimes that something is to leave what you have because it sounds great or it pleases the customer. At some point in every job, this is what we have to do. Call it done. But it takes a lot of energy to finish up. And shoulder needling takes a lot of energy, so having some of it done ahead of the final passes helps, both to be already part way there, but also to start from a better-sounding place. A mental fore-image of the dynamic range your work will yield and the power and the quality of voice guides you to the appropriate version of preparatory pre-voicing.
@@zackeryhardy9504 Thanks for your thoughtful response, Zachery.
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Thanks!