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Hi- what methods are used to brighten the tone of a relatively new piano other than lacquering of hammers or ironing them? are there string adjustments that also have this effect that can be reversed? anything else? thanks
Sophia

Why bother? Depending on what type of hammers and amount of use, it's going to get brighter anyway. There are no string adjustments. The hammers could be shoe-shined with a very fine grit (600 grit) paper then ironed. This will certainly do the trick.
But take into account, any toying with hammers(needling,lacquering)decreases their active life span.

right, which is why I was curious about whether there were alternative methods which did not have that drawback. I had heard that there were "string adjustments" that could do this but had not come across that information on this forum so was wondering if it were true. Thanks, Curry.


Sophia

Tonal problems can occur when the hammers are'nt properly mated to the strings. That is what you probably are thinking of. Levelling the strings, and mating hammers is one aspect of voicing work.

Curry,
How do you level the strings? Can you tell us what kind of tonal problems could result when hammers are not properly mated to the strings. Thanks.

Voicing is an art. Every voicer has his or her own set of tricks. It is difficult to describe what is done, because we don't really have the language to describe it. Some problems are more than can be completely solved by voicing methods. It doesn't do any good to tell a voicer what to do, unless you are willing to risk your own set of hammers for him or her to experiment on.

Victor, leveling strings is achieved by using a string hook to raise a string or strings in a two or three string unison so that they are all at the same level. Also, the hammer must be mated to the leveled strings so that the hammer contacts all of the strings at the same time. This is done by filing the hammer just a bit across whatever area of the strike point is too high. Hammers that are not properly mated to the strings can produce phase distortions(unclear or harsh tone), and a nasal sounding tone. String leveling and hammer mating all should occur before any needling of the hammers takes place.

Brightening a new piano? Don't do it. Wait a few months. Most modern pianos has hard hammers that tend to get TOO bright with age. Wait a couple of months before fooling with your hammers.

in case You don't know it all ready, may be could help:

http://www.rennerusa.com/PDF/Voicing_the_Renner_Hammer.pdf

Curry,
How do you actually check if the hammer is hitting all the strings at the same time? It seems not really possible by looking at the moment the hammer strikes the strings; also by the time the hammer strikes the strings, it bounces away.....

The traditional method is to use a hammer shank hook to lift the hammer to the strings. While the hammer is pressed to the strings, you pluck all 2 or 3 strings to determine if they are equally damped by the hammer. If one or two strings ring when plucked, then you know that there's a high spot at the strike point, or one or two of the strings are not level. The hammer will need to be slightly sanded at the high spot so that the other strings can be in contact with the hammer.
There are also gauges available that can be put on the strings of a unison to determine if the strings are level.

If it helps with the advice, I think Sophia has a new NY Steinway L. So if I understand correctly, what is done for voicing these hammers initially is quite different than for something that starts out hard like Renner Blues. I thought it was perfectly normal, even recommended, to juice these a bit.

The local college where I work recently purchased a new Steitway B and the factory tech came out a few times to set it up. I didn't get to meet him for his first two visits, but on his third we got to jaw a bit. He showed me a stack of notes that had been written by various teachers and staff members, all with requests about voicing. You guessed it, they were very contradictory! The Steinway tech was very relieved to see me, showed me the notes for a laugh, and asked me what he should do. I told him that he had probably already done too much and he immediately agreed, calling this type of job a "yellow shrink wrap" gig.

A new Steinway is a very naked and vulnerable creature, ready to have it's tone shaped dramatically....but by the player, not the needles and dope! The soundboard and bridge of a Steinway are very sensitive to the vibrations imparted to them and (their tonal responses) change quite a bit in the beginning of it's life. Keeping a new B in perfect tune for the first year or two while it is played-in by a sensitive musician will almost always shape it into a very, very beautiful sounding piano. It's true that a new Steinway is like an assembled kit and needs a lot of massaging at the start of its life, but it's better to confine that work to action and let the player get the sound going first, then respond to those changes with voicing.