A regular meeting of the Long Island Nassau Chapter, PTG was held on September 10, 2013, at Frank and Camille's East, 229B Glen Cove Road, Carle Place, N.Y. Six chapter members and two guests attended.

Vice-President Paul Eccardt called the meeting to order at 7:08 PM.

Minutes of the June meeting were not recorded, as that was our end-of-season dinner meeting.

Treasurer Paul Keogler reported on the status of the chapter’s finances. He also broached the matter of chapter newsletter advertising and that in recent history, the chapter hasn’t been billing the advertisers for their ads. Following a short discussion, the treasurer said that he would follow up on the matter.

The business meeting ended at 7:17 PM.

The guest speaker for the evening was Lee Dobrins, RPT. The subject for his presentation was hammer voicing. The lecture started with a definition of voicing and what it does to the sound of the piano. He then proceeded to talk about the different possible shapes for hammers that have been tried by manufacturers to achieve a pleasant sound from the piano. Mention was made of a set of piano hammers manufactured by Steinway and Sons, using rubber instead of felt.

With the aid of a carefully prepared illustrations and notes drawn on a flip-chart, the discussion included:

• Hammer filing techniques
• Different approaches to needling hammers
• Hammer-felt hardening solutions and where to apply them
• Steaming hammers
• How to recover from over-voicing a hammer

Also discussed were conditions in the piano that affect voicing, such as:

• New string versus old strings
• Friction
• Action regulation
• Tuning
• Whether or not hammer-hardening solution has been used
• New versus old hammers
• Whether or not the hammers are square to the strings
• String leveling

Throughout the presentation, Mr. Dobrins emphasized the importance of working conservatively when working on piano hammers.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Allan N. Schumacker, RPT