Viennese Action Pokorny

[Robert Gagnon]

Hello Diane,

You might be interested that a Pokorny is actually for sale in
Denver for the low $20K range.  And I have included a link to it.

http://www.onofriopiano.com/bosendorfer__7.htm

Pokorny was a student of Bosendorfer.  During this time there were
over 200 piano makers in Vienna alone!

I played a 1885 Bosendorfer viennese action that sounded just fabulous.
The possible speed of repeatition was not as good as Steinway style
action.  I have heard that earlier viennese action didn't have this
attribute due to lighter hammers.

I would be interested in anyone's experience re: tone qualities of viennese
action pianos from 1840 to 1900 and when the various Austrian makers
starting
going from struts to full plates and whether and how strut style changed
(for
example to the "interlocking Bosendorfer" style.  Also when Bosendorder
went from straight to over-strung.  And if the mid-1800 pianos could hold a
tune
well.  Etc.

Thanks and looking forward to hear any comments.

Robert Gagnon
San Francisco

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
> Of Diane Hofstetter
> Sent: Thursday, July 08, 1999 2:25 AM
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject:
>
>
> Dear List;
>
>    I am trying to help a customer decide what to do about the
> 19th. century
> Viennese grand piano her mother surprised the grand daughter with as a
> present to learn to play piano on.  The little girl loves the piano her
> grandmother gave her, and it fits in with the other antiques in the home
> beautifully.  Unfortunately it is over a minor third flat, the pins are
> loose and it has a Viennese action (which isn't in too bad shape).   The
> board and bridges are good, there is no plate, but plate struts.
>
>    When I was younger (and wiser), it would have been easy for me to tell
> them to forget going to the expense of rebuilding the piano, but
> last year I
> had the pleasure of sitting in the living room of a concert pianist from
> Australia and listening to an hour's concert on the Bosendorfer Viennese
> grand (he had learned to play on it) that we had just finished
> tuning in an
> equal beating well temperament.  It was an experience I will never forget.
>
>    I believe this piano may have already been rebuilt in the
> past, in fact I
> think the words are "foreshortened" as it was apparently cut down
> in size to
> fit into the smaller dwellings that were becoming the norm in
> Vienna at the
> turn of the century.  There are two handwritten messages on the
> underside of
> the soundboard where a person couldn't possibly write UNLESS the
> piano were
> disassembled.  The piano is an Anton Pokorny, serial #755.  The first
> message on the soundboard is virtually illegible except for the name
> Albert.... and the date 1871.  The second says "Abgeschnitten von Ulrich
> Prohaska, April 1903.
>
>    The questions I have are: (1.) will the little girl actually
> end up with
> a decent instrument to learn on (no repetition levers here!)
> (2.) Will it be able to be tuned at pitch after restringing? and
> (3.) does
> anyone have any idea of the value of the piano before and after
> restoration?
>
>    Many thanks for your advice!
>    Diane
>
>
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