Here's what I do, suspend a stiff angle iron above the level of the tops of the back checks, to support all the hammers. Then I work on a work bench, and stand, pressing the needles in using my weight. No issues of compression of felt, a nice, firm support.
I found that the one pictured above, 3/4" x 3/4" angle, needed to be doubled to be stiff enough. The 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 1/8" thick is stiff enough, but benefits from a vertical support between the tenor and bass sections: I drilled a hole in the angle, threaded it, and use a 5" carriage bolt with a nut as the vertical support.
This has been my norm for maybe ten years, when doing a full, deep needle shoulder job. For touch up work, I just use a three hammer wooden block, that descends between the check and the wippen rail, and work at the piano.
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Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm@unm.eduhttp://fredsturm.nethttp://www.artoftuning.com"We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same." - Carlos Casteneda
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-08-2018 15:29
From: David Bauguess
Subject: Alternative to Voicing Blocks
I'm interested in an alternative to voicing blocks after seeing a May 2004 article in the Journal on using a door threshold. I'm interested in an opinion of this and/or any other alternatives that you've tried or currently use and would recommend.
Thank you.
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David Bauguess
Grand Junction CO
970-257-1750
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