Pianotech

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.

The final phase of needling these hammers is needling very near the crown but aiming the needles away from the molding. . So if you're on the 12-1 side of the hammer insert near the crown but aim towards 4:00 and if you're on the 11-12 side aim at 8:00 with the insertion as close to the strike point as necessary-but be cautious. Things change very fast here. . That will open up the top of the hammer. You can also cross over if necessary if you're still not getting the effect you want  

The issue with these hammers (or Abel for that matter) isn't heat. Hammers can be pressed very hard without any heat. Even Ronsen hammers are pressed with a slight amount of heat. It's just not as firm a pressing. 

Renner let some sets of blue points slip through not long ago that was under pressed by accident according to their usual protocols. Some of you may have purchased some of those softer sets. Some complained and some liked them. Some thought they were still too hard. What it told me was that how hard these hammers are pressed is easily controllable and I wouldn't mind seeing a few different pressings being made available. 

Comment: "if at present, you cannot insert a three-needle tool to at least an 8 mm depth (10 is better) with some force but relative ease in the upper shoulders, then I am raising an eyebrow."

My comment:  The felt is extremely hard and the hardest at the crown and upper shoulders 10 to 12 and 12 to 3.  The felt is so hard that I can most of the time use 3 needles, but with great effort all the time.  The felt is still hard down to about 9 and 3.  No machine gun needling here - only carefully targeted insertions with deep needling.  I have made 4 voicing visits in the past month spaced about a week apart, and have spent hours carefully needling on each visit.  The shoulders do open up and flatten and my needle marks disappear - on the next visit I am not seeing or feeling my prior needling.  With my deep needling I am finding hard felt from the crown to the core.  Having worked hard at voicing for 40 years, I have a developed sense of feeling what is going on with a set of hammers, it is an ongoing dialog.  I am still finding hard felt with my needles.  I filed the hammers for shape yesterday.

I am working with 2 fine musicians and the piano is being played a lot.  All good for the settling in process, and I am listening to their very perceptive comments and we agree on what is good and what is not there yet.  The piano is improved after each visit, and they are aware that getting these hammers to their best place is going to take more time to get there.  They don't miss much and it is an enjoyable collaboration.  They hear enough to believe the piano is going to be really good.

My sense is that these hammers have had too much heat.  I have not done any needling on the crown yet and have made all my gains doing shoulder work.  Working on the crown carries some risk of going too far, and you can't come all the way back if you make a mistake.