[CAUT] Unusual Steinway wippens

[Ed Sutton]

Dave-

Bill Shull may know something about this, and if not, he will want to know.
bdshull at aol.com

To learn about his project to collect information and discarded parts from 
early Steinway pianos,
see http://www.shullpiano.com/html/data_collection__early_steinwa.html

I hope everyone on list knows about this project, and will assist.

Ed Sutton


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Doremus" <algiers_piano at bellsouth.net>
To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 8:35 AM
Subject: [CAUT] Unusual Steinway wippens


>I just looked at an 1889 6'1" A which was unusual in a couple of respects. 
>It had no sostenuto, were they building them in Hamburg that early? The 
>action brackets were drilled for the rod but it had never been installed, 
>there was no trapwork or trace of any. The legs and music desk looked 
>original to my eye but had no carving or scroll work like you would expect 
>on a New York instrument. They might have been replacements but old and 
>very well done, were the Germans less enamored of decoration at the time? 
>The main thing was the wippens, they looked like the standard ones with 
>angled capstan and no jack adjustment screw but they had support springs on 
>the flange just like the current booster ones, except, if my memory is 
>correct, reversed, pointing up instead of down. I have never seen this 
>before, was it common practice back then or was this an idea that fell by 
>the wayside only to be rediscovered? Its always fun to run into something a 
>little different...
>
> --Dave
>  New Orleans
>