Voicing piano hammers

[silverwoodpianos]

Here is a page from my web site regarding voicing piano hammers;

https://silverwoodpianos.com/voicingpianosinv.html

In case some of the members here are on dial-up this is the text from that page….

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“It is the function of the piano hammer to provide the physical means to create tone-quality. The ideal tone-quality is a wave form, which includes, in the middle regions, all harmonics up to the twelfth, to be evoked more or less fully, according to the conditions of touch.
The voicer must treat the hammer in a particular way, so that what was first considered potential may be realized in fact. Many old hammer sets, if treated correctly, can be re-voiced with surprising results .This is a highly technical process, and would be better understood if observed visually during the voicing process.”
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To continue;

Simply put, think of the hammer set this way; this is a felted object thrown at a set of strings in a controlled manner. Upon contact the hammer compresses slightly, then rebounds away from the string set and is “caught” by the mechanism.

One can make the choice of having the hammer rebound immediately off that string set OR one can choose to lengthen the time the hammer remains in contact with that string.
Here are some photos of a concert voicing seminar held here in Vancouver BC in July 2008 with the internationally renowned André Oorbeek.

This is a Picasa web album. Please left click once on this link; that will take you to the photos. Then once at the photo album, please left click, once, on the first photo, top left, and this will open up the album so that one can read the text below each frame.

 Further to this seminar, the instrument had a brand new set of Renner AA Wurzen felt hammers.

After viewing these photos and reading the information there may be further questions; please do not hesitate to ask. Hammer voicing is something that is often misunderstood and overlooked.

https://picasaweb.google.com/silverwoodpianos/AndreOorebeekConcertVoicingAndPrep2008?authkey=Gv1sRgCL2d98S5iYua3AE#

[keys60]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing.

[gvans]

Last fall my tuner of many decades suggested I get my 1925 Steinway M voiced. He spent about three hours working on it. I wasn't there, but my wife was amazed by the amount of work and fussing he did, pulling the action and then reinserting it a number of times.

Mostly he filed down grooves in the felt of the hammers, but he also used his tines to control some overly bright notes. He didn't need to use lacquer to brighten things up.

Bottom line: the piano felt (and still feels) like a new instrument. Most especially, it is now much easier to play pianissimo and piano. It plays much more smoothly throughout all registers. Best money I've ever spent.

My only caveat: make sure you have a tuner who is a member of the guild and knows what he's doing. There are some subtle tricks involved, and a whole lot of skill.

[fleetfingers]

Thank you, silverwoodpianos! I appreciate you taking the time to explain what voicing means - I'm almost positive it's what my piano needs. Your website has lots of other information that I found helpful, too... thanks! 

[silverwoodpianos]

Sure thing fleetfingers,
 
Glad to give you an idea of what goes on there with voicing. I have more voicing procedures in video that are in storage somewhere.
I have collected lots of photo albums on repairs and repair techniques over the last 38 years here in storage. I just started a blog recently where I am making most of the files public on line eventually as I find them and the time to complete the task of doing so.

Hey keys60,
No problem, I have lots of info here if you need something.