Karl,
I don't suppose anyone specifically invented voicing with a single needle :-) When I said "as invented by Ron Coners," I was referring to his specific method (as it was passed to me by the Steinway guys in the early 2000s): insert the single needle directly down from the top of the crown as the norm, and with a fairly long needle (I'd say 8 mm or so).
Virgil Smith worked closely with Brendel, as related in some detail in Virgil's Autobiography. As Virgil described it, this consisted almost entirely of "voicing for evenness," meticulously going after each note to make it even with its neighbors - something I'd refer to a cosmetic voicing. (Virgil noted that "Only later did I learn that the results would be much better when I included hammer shaping and fitting hammers to the strings.") I'm sure Coners worked with Brendel in the same fashion - and came away with the impression that "evenness is God."
That was the approach that I was taught at Steinway: lacquer until everything is "bright enough," then needle for evenness. At the time I was there, no mention was made of such things as hammer mating, and the travel and square I noted in the pianos I worked on (four in four separate years) all were very deficient in those elements. There was also no mention of development of a tonal gradient in each hammer.
This approach is very much in contrast with that in Europe, which I got to experience up close when spending two weeks at the Sauter factory. Travel was impeccable. Hammers were hung very precisely, and then were very meticulously adjusted individually. Strings were leveled to the hammers (each hammer raised to its strings, strings bent to mate with extraordinary precision - I thought I was pretty good in that department, but the Klavierbaumeister was able to pick out every single niggling inaccuracy, just by fairly quickly playing scales). And every single hammer was deep shoulder needled. (All these things true of uprights as well as grands).
With all this in place, finish voicing, though it included "voicing down to even out," concentrated on making sure that every hammer produced a tone that rises (es muss steigen, they told me), often involving a deep needle into the core that would release compression and give the hammer more oomph.
Two diametrically different approaches to hammers. I'm sure lots of pianists are happy with one, the other, or both approaches. Personally, I (as a pianist) vastly prefer the European approach, and this preference is echoed by my customers' response to that approach.
Original Message:
Sent: 4/12/2026 1:15:00 PM
From: Karl Roeder
Subject: RE: Voicing Steinway Lacquered Hammers
Mr. Sturm,
While Ron Coners was indeed a master of single needle voicing as well as the best pure aural tuner I have ever known, he didn't invent single needle voicing. That distinction belongs to Alfred Brendel. He taught it to Ron who taught it to the rest of us in the C&A department and from there it spread to the factory.
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Karl Roeder
Pompano Beach FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-11-2026 21:19
From: Fred Sturm
Subject: Voicing Steinway Lacquered Hammers
While single needle voicing, as invented by Ron Coners, is the official norm for Steinways (as far as I know), my own experience has led me to believe that deep shoulder needling of the same sort as used on Abels and Renners works quite well on Steinway hammers- assuming they aren't over lacquered and the needles will penetrate.
I first discovered this when doing maintenance voicing on Ds in my recital hall. I tried it, I liked it, I have continued to do it as a matter of course for many years. The result is what you get from the denser hammers: larger tonal gradient. This assumes a pattern that retains a sort of sharp diamond or water drop shape of untouched felt from the point of the crown around the tip of the molding..
Regards,
Fred Sturm
"When I smell a flower, I don't think about how it was cultivated. I like to listen to music the same way." Mompou