I recently purchased a YC185. It was all I could do to aford this much piano. It has a tendency to ring which I have lessened by braiding felt into the area which is aliquoit strung(sic). A local technician ok'd my work. Still the piano is no Bosendorfer. It is bright in the upper ranges particularly. Can voicing the hammers provide a more "dark" or European sounding piano? Would putting new hammers on the 185 help much? Since I am not in a ready position to trade up or spend over $2,000. Would either of these approaches be sensible?
Thank you for your opinions.

I'd say voicing alone is fine. I've done this procedure on alot of Young Changs because they arrive here with a fairly bright tone.

Mark Mandell www.pianosource.com

Sorry, could someone please attempt to describe what a "bright" tone is, and in genereal terms what it means to "voice" the hammers?

I have a YC E109, which I believe is their bottom-of-the-line piano (or PSO?)

I have the dealer's tech coming in two or three weeks and I am feeling like I don't know enough about what to ask for...

Thank you Marc! I will try the voicing first. I was only worried that I might end up ruining the hammers, but of course the alternative is to throw them away isn't it?
Fritz. I can't personally describe tone that well, but go listen to a Yamaha and then play an older american piano or a high priced european piano, probably not a Schimmel though since it can be a bit bright. If you do a side by side comparison, you can notice they do not sound alike. The Yamaha will sound "brighter." If you do not know what to ask for, wait and decide later or, go ask lots of questions at the dealer before the tech comes. Good luck.

The Asian market of pianos generally have a bright sound to them, voicing is done to even out and change tone to the customers taste (to a point). But you also don't want a woolly set of puff balls.

A friend of mine put a set of German hammers on a Yamaha, made a great difference to the sound, many people who heard it loved it. A visiting Yamaha tech said something like - this is not the yamaha sound.....

different strokes etc.

I believe it is Abel that makes aftermarket hammers for the Yamaha. Don't know if they fit other Asian pianos.

I believe that the techs are quite right - voicing should help immensely.

To just say "Voice the piano" is not quite the whole story. The reason you are having a "ringing" sound in the mid and upper treble is certainly because the hammers are hard,, BUT it also most likely is that the hammer is not hitting all three strings at the same time. I call this process" STRING TIMING' It has to be done before any softening of the hammers is attempted. It will most likely solve 60-70% of your un- evenness of tone. Feel free to e-mail me so I can give you my phone # so we can talk if you want.

Dear Tom, I am delighted with your reply. At last a very likely solution to my problems!!!! I am not the brightest at computers, my big forte is 19th century furniture.I don't presently know how to get your e-mail. Here is mine so you can send me your phone number.
Please let me know when it would be convenient to speak. felliott8@comcast.net