Ed, Modern copies of pianos of the Graf forte piano are also available. These would have Viennese action, and a few extra pedals! They are pricey! http://www.harpsichord.com/List/list_frmset.html is a good source for used and reconditioned forte pianos. Some are antiques and others are copies. The Poletti currently listed looks very nice. I've tuned one that was trucked across country from Wyoming w/no action problems. It's been here 2 times and taken on a small tour via a mini-van on a couple of occassions in Iowa with the Cedar Cedar Chamber Ensemble. You can sort of get an idea of the Poletti sound from the clips http://www.redcedar.org/soundstudio.html#hummel.html I think the workmanship on the Poletti looked mighty fine. I had no problems with the action. The strings were getting old and one treble string did break prior to a concert. I had no problems for the recording sessions in a cold church that fall. Rumor had it that the owner of the Poletti on this recording might want to sell it, but I cannot confirm that. I could give you email privately if you want to inquire, but Harpsichord clearing house has one. You might want to steer clear of the historical pianos, even if restored, but that's up to you. I just don't know how stable those pianos would be. A pianist, Kenneth from U of Illinois used to tour with his Broadwood. He put out some LP of Beethoven Sonatas. He had to keep his pianos under plastic cover w/humidifier for stability during his tours. Later on, he toured with a modern copy of a fortepiano. Poletti Fortepianos are not cheap, though, even used! Richard Adkins Coe College -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100827/94219943/attachment.htm>
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