I have had the pleasure of owning an old Mehlin "cabinet grand" (old upright), and when I acquired it (from a dealer in exchange for a few floor tunings) it was a major third flat and sounded like a lot of other pianos in similar condition. It had a tiger oak finish and was a beautiful looking piece. I did some work to it (roll & twist bass strings and some action regulating & keytops) and when I tuned it it just came alive! Great sounding instrument! Also had the pleasure of working on a couple of other Mehlin instruments-two grands that came in to our shop, both needing rebuilding but even in that condition they just were great instruments. One in particular had a neat soundboard and bridge arrangement-the soundboard was angled upwards from the keybed end to the tail and the bass bridge was sort of like a violin bridge (about three or four inches tall, an inch or so wide and had three or four holes about 1 1/2 inches in diameter spaced apart) and this instrument was really outstanding. Other techs in the area were pretty impressed, and they hadn't ever seen any other pianos like it. Maybe the 9 footer is one you might have to gamble on (ye-gads) but all the ones I have worked on were truly outstanding pianos and were all sold at a nice profit. Greg Torres, Technician Niceville, Fla
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