In this video we take a look in the workshop while Khai is pre-voicing a Steinway & Sons grand piano, because it has new hammerheads. Khai explains the process of pre-voicing and tells a little bit about her background in music.
I did a Steinway factory tour yesterday and learned about voicing. I didn’t understand that it involved pricking the felt hammer many times. Thanks for the explanation!!!
Good information, but I would point out that an older instrument is very often the better one. Granted, two pedals rather than three. Good explanation. Artur Rubinstein or Vladimir Horowitz playing in the background would be nice. In case of Horowitz, you may mention Franz Mohr, who was his exclusive technician and tuner for 30 years. At times, he complained that Horowitz was too persistent on making the instrument brighter while retaining control. A good example is his performance of the Rachmaninov 3d piano concerto with NY philharmonic. Brittle sound. His performance at other times shows the instrument prepared amazingly well for his remarkable ability to extract an orchestral range of tone and dynamic range. Make a video on that if you like. I spoke with Franz at length and knew him personally. He used to invite me to demonstrate the Steinway instruments during his lectures. He always invited me on a very short notice.
Avery Fisher Hall would also contribute to the dry/brittle effect of the Horowitz Piano in the Rach 3. When Horowitz commented “will I fill the Hall” I always wondered whether he meant sound rather than seats.
Most new pianos coming from Asia have excessively bright tones, and the hammer felts seem to be like granite when you have to voice them (I'm excluding Yamaha and Kawai pianos which are actually made in Japan). Voicing hammers from many Asian pianos can be very demanding, due to the hardness of the hammer felts. HOWEVER: For those of us living in Europe, Abel is a German company which makes new hammers, and their Natural Felt hammers have become the 'go-to' hammers to use if putting on a new set of hammers on an older piano. Abel Natural Felt hammers are a delight to voice - unlike hammers from Asian pianos. The Abel Natural Felt hammers are now the industry standard for us piano tuner/technicians in the UK and in the rest of Europe. Sadly, Abel are not paying me any commission here - this is just my experience as a piano tuner/technician of 46 years standing, not a sales pitch..!
