Scott,
You've touched on some of the factors here in the "Voicing kit" antecedent to any mechanical tool you possess or could obtain, i.e., popularity. It is great to be prepared for the opportunity, but as someone who expanded his tool chest gradually, as the opportunities presented themselves, I would dissuade Benjamin from spending too much money before you see that your skills are in demand. Getting people in the arts community to like you is the first priority. I've seen too many killer pianists that can't get into the circuit. You see people that play better than the whole faculty combined, blow everybody away, only to completely disappear into oblivion. This, again, is a philosophical problem as well, one Kant attempted to address when trying to be heard. You observe:
"As it turned out, the clinician who gave the master class was absolutely floored with the piano and raved about it completely unsolicited to the attendees of the class.
And the icing on the cake was that a piano faculty member from one of the local universities bought the piano that day!"
That kind of thing helps more than any particular tool. The arts community is very fickle. Wandering through it in schools for 20 years and interacting with pianists from the studio as a student, a much more intimate way of communicating with pianists, about impediments and openings to success, reveals a lot, as much as piano technicians within it, on the other hand, which more directly addressed voicing methods and tools, again, a much more intimate way of communicating with piano technicians about the same. Conclusion? Methods are secondary to getting people to like you. I've seen too many types of voicing techniques and too many types of hammers work. It's a popularity contest. Even tenure is not an impregnable fortress against being unpopular. I've seen relying on tenure end in complete humiliation.
Social media was not created for people serious about piano as a performance instrument. This is where some confusion lies. The same people are playing in Sydney, Hong Kong, Manaus, New York, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, London, Moscow, Seoul, Berlin, Athens, Paris, from Amsterdam to Cape Town, from Toronto to Patagonia, it is a circuit where people are talking about one another constantly in the Latin of the place. It is still a business of referral. The arts world is a small world. The arts community and the pianists in it are stubborn about this to some extent because of how cruel social media has been to it. Marketing yourself in social media as good at voicing can be as great a problem for your business as a solution, marketing yourself at all, even, because to a great extent the attitude in the arts is that you should not have to when performers are flying around the world talking to people face to face internationally and providing information about piano technicians and their voicing abilities that will subvert anything you could provide for the same people in social media. Of course there are exceptions to all rules. And they are not talking about the tools you are using.
Can you change the mind of the arts community about you if they have a good, bad, or no opinion about you? Not really. These people make up their minds for good. Most pianists are pianists for life, which creates some alienation between us, as that some people come to piano technology later in life. Usually, that takes somebody else, changing minds about the ability you have to voice or anything else with a piano, people, not a school, not improving your skills, not better tools, not continuing education through guilds and what not. It can go either way.
The PTG can change the opinion of people about you, from bad to good, or good to bad, unknown to known, known to unknown. Should it be that way? No. We should only be taking people from bad to good, and unknown to known, and we like to see the PTG through rose colored glasses and imagine this is the case. But the arts community, particularly, techs, are well aware that it can be the other way around, and so, don't join. Same with NY Steinway. That is why some stay away from NY Steinway and do better than all of us.
Best voicing tool I can recommend, is patience, keeping down expenses, not going into debt. Don't put the cart before the horse. Not that being a good voicer happens all by itself. You can't force people to give you the opportunity. Sorry if that sounds fatalistic.
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Benjamin Sloane
Cincinnati OH
513-257-8480
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-03-2017 01:01
From: Scott Rogers
Subject: Voicing Kit
Ok. I feel compelled to add (although very humbly) to David Stanwood's technique using compass needles and ball peen hammer.
I provide contact work for a local Steinway dealer. I had the opportunity to prep a new B for a master class/lecture for local piano teachers. The piano was somewhat strident in tone, not a huge dynamic range, but I felt it had great potential. I did normal prep as far as refining regulation and preliminary voicing- traveling, burning in shanks, leveling strings, fitting hammers to strings, blah, blah, blah.
I had purchased the voicing tool from Boaz Kirschenbaum, and viewed the short video, and applied the technique.
I was very impressed with the result. However, I really suck as a pianist.
As it turned out, the clinician who gave the master class was absolutely floored with the piano and raved about it completely unsolicited to the attendees of the class.
And the icing on the cake was that a piano faculty member from one of the local universities bought the piano that day!
Sometimes, everything clicks!
Rogers out.
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Scott Rogers
Bobs Piano Service
Sioux Falls SD
605-366-7630
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-29-2017 08:43
From: David Stanwood
Subject: Voicing Kit
This is a great discussion. I've been holding back… but now I'll throw my thoughts and experience into the circle:
A decade or so ago I had a special situation and I needed to "kill" the tone on a little upright in a very small room. These were 20 year old Abel hammers pressed with some heat. I took the action out and laid it on the floor. I placed a 2 x 4 under the tails and attacked the striking area of the top felt with a little spike shaped needle point which I took from a drafting compass. This aggressive treatment created visible holes in the hammer felt so I took a large pall peen hammer and hammered the hammer tops in order to flex the fibers and limber them up. The wholes disappeared and the hammer felt seemed to expand slightly and looked quite restored. I put the action back in and was quite astonished at the transformation. Instead of killing the tone, what I had done actually transformed the piano. Now a whole range of pianissimo dynamics made itself audible. Fortissimo tone was not diminished and the forte tone was more beautiful. The effect was to widen the dynamic range with the addition of a range of colors that was missing before. Furthermore ten years later the piano maintains this splendid tone so the method is very stable. It works wonders on older hammers with hard surface felt. A quick draw of 60 grit to remove groves then heavy needling with the spike following by peening takes 15 or 20 minutes.
Sometimes only peening is necessary. This method is especially effective on expanding pianissimo range with New York Steinway lacquer dipped hammers. I've been told of a story by a student at the Steinway Factory. The teacher, Joe Bisceglie, was having trouble with a particular hammer and he whipped out a large ball peen hammer from under the work bench and gave the hammer head a whack with effective result. Note that this method can break hammer tails so be careful!
Don't take my word for it:
David Graham in Chicago wrote on June 11, 2014:
"David, I wanted to let you know that I have enjoyed adding your voicing tools and techniques to my bag of tricks. Also, I used it last week on the Fazioli 228 which was out for the North Shore Chamber Music Festival (Anne Akiko Meyers was part of festival.) On the first day everyone raved about how the piano sounded, including Allessio Bax, a friend of Paolo Fazioli, who has played many Fazioli pianos. On the second day, I thought it needed some voicing in 4-6 octave range: some notes a bit tight sounding, other too piercing. I went over this area with your tools, maybe 15 minutes. Allessio came in and ran his fingers over the area lightly, his head nearly swiveled off, sat down and played chromatically at various volumes through the area. He then looked up, amazed, and said "It's like a different piano! I can play pianissimo! Whatever you did, it's magic!" They raved about the piano all day and through the next, which ended the festival. Thought you would want to hear how well it works. One final thing- I used it yesterday on an old Yamaha G7 with very worn hammers. As I used the needle tool, I could see the string grooves begin to disappear as the felt came back to life. After hammering the felt the grooves were almost completely gone, and the piano had a warm singing tone."
I've called it spike and peen or deep sugaring. Whatever you call it, the method works wonders. I never leave home without my compass needle, ball peen hammer and voicing block for backing up the tails in grands.
You can get the needles online at:
http://www.draftingsteals.com/20046.html
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David Stanwood
http://stanwoodpiano.com
West Tisbury MA
508-693-1583
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-28-2017 20:15
From: Jon Page
Subject: Voicing Kit
When replacing bass strings, save the lowest thick ones. Cut the loop off at the end off the twists. Cut through the wrap and core about 6" from the start of the wrapping. Dress the winding edge on a grinder and seal with thick CA, this is the handle. Now you have a number of probes for use as a depth gage or glue application. I use it most often to pierce the nozzle on the CA glue bottle.
To lift a hammer to mate to the string, take one of the probes and place a 90 degree bend at 10 mm from the end. This makes for quick insertion thru the strings to lift the shank. It also makes a good glue applicator for a broken upright jack support flange joint.
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Regards,
Jon Page
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-28-2017 19:47
From: Benjamin Sanchez
Subject: Voicing Kit
Ted,
I actually spoke with Jim Coleman Sr., and he suggested I make a shank lifter. My is pictured below. The concept is the same as what you described. As the music wire hook is let down between the strings, you can use it to lift the shank and cause the hammer to block the strings. Then you can pluck the strings with one hand to see if they're all level. It is super simple to make, and can save you a lot of time down the road.
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Benjamin Sanchez
Lompoc CA
805-315-8050
benpianopro@comcast.net
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-28-2017 17:43
From: Edward Sambell
Subject: Voicing Kit
Thanks Jon, that makes such good sense. Further , I cannot overemphasize the significance of fitting hammers to the strings; doing this will frequently eliminate much unevenness. In a grand there is a simple aid which is well known, but in case there are people to whom it is unfamiliar, it is to lay a 2' wide piece of bushing cloth on the repetition levers above the jacks. This eliminates the let-off, so the hammer blocks the strings when the key is depressed. One can make a 'third hand weight' to hold the key down while plucking to check for open strings. I made mine from a piece of brass 2' x 1" x 7/8" and attached a narrow strip of hard leather along each edge of the bottom side with Gorilla glue so that it would sit on a sharp without toppling. It's handy when hooking the hammer to the string with one hand while plucking with the other. I don't get along well with the trick of pressing the jack tender into the let-off button, but many people seem to.
Ted Sambell
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