Wretched S&S & Yamahas

[Farrell]

Would you agree Ron that 30 (perhaps even 20) to 50 year old S&S verticals
are almost always in wretched shape - or at least in an advanced state of
wear/deterioration? In my three years now of servicing pianos I have crossed
paths with perhaps a dozen or two of these overpriced beasts and have found
ALL to be yucky.

Now I want to talk about Yamahas. I consistently see Yamahas from the 60s
and 70s that are SOOOOOO nice (grands and verticals). Heavily used ones may
show some wear, but they are still nice pianos that can be returned to close
to new condition with less that a full rebuild (the S&Ss often need a full
rebuild and then some). I regularly tune a 1965 Yamaha spinet that is one of
the nicer pianos I tune! A lady hired me to look at a 1976 Yamaha G1 for
purchase two days ago. The piano was perfect. Like new. The poor seller was
going through a divorce and the piano had to go NOW! She picked it up for
$2000 (boy, was I tempted to be "a bit less than professional"!). I tuned a
1979 Yamaha C3 this morning in a Baptist church. The piano was obviously
played HARD. DEEP grooves in hammers, Lots of play in sustain pedal. BUT,
sustain pedal was still attached and functioning (pretty good for some
churches), damper regulation was flawless, all keys still perfectly level,
hammers perfectly aligned, action in good regulation (I have no reason to
believe it had been regulated in a long time), bridges perfect, no false
beats, yada, yada, yada.

I would never buy a Yamaha for myself because I prefer the richer, warmer,
more mellow sound more common to American and European pianos. BUT they sure
are made well (and consistently so), and if you like the tone, they can
sound great also.

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2000 8:47 AM
Subject: Weird II - non technical


> I tuned a couple of pianos yesterday that these folks had inherited from a
> piano teacher relative. The 40" S&S vertical had been bought new, on
> payments, and years later, the used S&S "S" was purchased. The serial
> numbers of these pianos are 10 apart!
>
> Both are near 50 years old and in wretched shape.
>
> Ron N
>