The New Yamaha Sound

You may have heard that Yamaha pianos have a 'bright', 'sharp' or 'hard' tone. This is not an accurate or true description of the tone of a Yamaha piano. Considering Yamaha produce 16 uprights and 12 grands, all various sizes with different characteristics. The current models are certainly more resonant and have a richer tone with more depth, where the older models had a more percussive and less resonant tone.

The brilliance in tone is not a characteristic, but is determined by the compression of the hammer felt. The harder the hammer, the brighter the tone - the softer the hammer, the more mellow the tone. The skilled art of 'voicing' (intonation of the hammer felts) is to alter the hardness of the hammer felts by deep needling (not pricking) the shoulders of the hammers to soften, or compressing with a special iron to harden.

We offer a unique 'Bespoke Preparation' service in store FREE, where we can custom voice the hammers on your new piano to your liking i.e. mellow, neutral or bright. Even if you do not have a preference, final voicing is required to ensure a consistent and smooth tone, as a new piano often has uneven regions with dull or metallic patches. We also check and adjust the regulation of the action, keys and pedals.

"Played In" - Gradual Change of Tone with Use:

All pianos will brighten-up with use due to the compression of the hammers through the impact against strings. Usually, the player will comment that the piano has 'opened up' and has 'played in' nicely. This is because the gradual increase in brilliance exposes a fuller tone as the tone range is increased and the player is basically hearing more sound. However, the tone can become excessively bright over time and therefore voicing is required to neutralise the brilliance.

Eventually, the strings will make impressions on the tip of the hammers which become grooved and over many years the tip of the hammers become flat, not 'tear-drop' shaped, and the piano develops a percussive 'hard' tone. The 're-shaping' or 're-facing' process is to file the hammers back to a tear-drop shape restoring the melodic and clear tone. Once completed, voicing is required as fresh felt is exposed which may be hard.

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NOTE:
This is a guide only and is accurate to the best of our knowledge. Errors and omissions excepted.