Damned tuning

It cannot be said from a distance. Voicing, as I have argued several times, is a delicate intervention and is not a "softening" of the hammers. The intervention consists of working in very specific areas to restore energy to the hammers and obtain a sound that ranges from a delicate pianissimo to a "round" fortissimo, passing through other "middle tones." Naturally, the condition of the hammers and strings must be good, as well as their shape if they have undergone shaving. Voicing can, if performed incompetently, permanently damage the hammer rail. One must therefore proceed in stages, in order to avoid making the error and/or excessive intervention irreversible. This is all in broad outlines. The argument should be much more detailed. I do not know, in your case, what has been done. The lack of timbral range, as you well described, is not a good sign. It must be seen if it can be recovered with a new felting and a new voicing; otherwise, the only thing left is to replace the hammers and shanks (never throw away the original hammer rail mounted!!!!!!!!!!!) (Demand its return!!!!!!!! It is Important!!!!)

P.S: Naturally, the new one must be voiced and its voicing followed for at least three tunings (That is, monitor the voicing and, if necessary, revisit it in coincidence with the next three tunings.)

Thanks Paolo, the hammer felt had never been shaved; he did it very lightly this time after the tuning, only on the basses and with a very fine sandpaper (I believe 600) to try to bring out the sound a bit after my observation that it was too muffled (and anyway, it practically had no effect...); the technician observed that the hammers are very woody and not very elastic, perhaps excessively impregnated by the house...

anyway, before the voicing intervention, the piano had a lot of sound with powerful and deep basses as I have rarely found on other pianos, even of higher value; only the sounds in the mid-high register appeared excessively metallic..

1) in a previous intervention I read that one can try to recompact the hammers a bit with a wooden stick, I wanted to ask you if this is an intervention that can be done alone? perhaps you could give some indications on how to perform it?

2) regarding, instead, the replacement of the hammers, generally after the intervention, how do the sound, timbre range, and dynamics of the instrument turn out? (it seems a bit like an unpredictable leap..)

thank you very much,

Pier

You can try to hammer the hammers, but in my opinion, you won't solve it. The hammer felt must be replaced with one suitable for that instrument. Remember that you must have the old hammers returned still mounted. The intervention yields excellent results if the hammer felt is for that instrument and if it is well-prepared (impregnation and voicing). Also watch my video tutorials on voicing.

before making any decision I would play this pf for at least three months... then I would consult a technician

Pierpier wrote:

On 5/6/2018 at 23:32, Pierpier said:

Hello, for many years I hadn't had my piano "tuned", a Kawai grand piano; several notes, especially in the medium-high register,

"shot out" very much with a strongly metallic timbre; I decided to call a technician...

the fact is that, now, I am strongly dissatisfied with the outcome: the piano has lost so much sound it's as if it were being played

with the lid closed, a blanket over it, the mute (if possible on a grand), the piano pedal depressed, and I don't know what else...!!!

everything is muffled, the dynamic range is lost—I only sound from an mp to an mf at most, no p or ff even if you break your hand... :-);

the timbral range has also been zeroed out... I am quite desperate!!

what should I do?

To evaluate harsh or metallic notes, there are several checks to perform and several possible remedies before resorting to sinking the needles, moreover without criteria judging the result you described.

I agree with what Paolo says, the hammer rail must be replaced by now; you have surely ruined it. The "leveling-tuning" trick, even if done "slightly," ultimately results in a reduction of power, regardless of whether the timbre is recovered or not.