Birdcages

[Tony Caught]

Hi John,

Ever had one of those days when .;]=-@#$%^&*() . sometimes I bite too hard
without thinking.

I once had a copy of the Army, Navy Catalogue which was an English of all
the goods you could buy from this store in 1907.
In this book they mentioned pianos in several price ranges. Pound 45.00,
Pound 75.00 and 115 Guineas. In those days if they charged the price in
guineas it was top quality stuff. A Guinea was One Pound and one Shilling.
In Australia, before decimal currency came in Piano Tuners were charging 3
Guineas which was a professionals price for work. To go to $7.50 to tune a
piano was a loss of prestige, made us the same as plumbers and electricians
and we KNOW that we are professionals not trades persons.

Back to the point.

A 45.00 Pound piano was the equivalent to about one years wages and were
sold by the thousands, to about every second household. These pianos were
just pianos and could be allikened to the Baldwin Monarch pianos of the
50's. Worked for a while then  - - - - - - .
The next price of pianos came from solid piano shops and were a quality
piano that worked as they were supposed to and lasted to this time in
reasonable condition (subject to play and care) these are the pianos I often
refer to as they are more common in this country. The upper bracket of
pianos are as rare as Bosendorfer, Bluthner, Steinway, etc are in the
average household.

At that time the cost of a piano (apart from the reseller's profit) was
divided 50.50 between labour and materials so you could see the better
workmanship in the cabinet as well as the action and the piano.

The cheaper version generally used quarter cut Birch for the tuning plank
which were prone to splitting and other problems, 1/2 and 3/4 iron frames
and assembled with hot glue and no screws or screws that are too short to
hold properly.

So, never buy this birdcage makes sense to me, but the other two ???

I always say to a customer before you buy a piano, new or used, get me to
check it out properly then I can advise according to the individual
instrument without bias.  But then again I am one of those people that
prefers the tone of the older piano the newer hard hammered, stiff
soundboarded, mass produced kiln dried trees that are on the showroom floor
6 months after the tree in cut down. so maybe I am biased already.

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Ross" <jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 7:17 PM
Subject: Re: Birdcages


> Hi Tony,
> I realize, that for a price, anything can be made, to work better.
> At the conventions I have attended, there has only been one class
> on 'birdcage' pianos that I can remember. It was filled to overflowing,
> and everyone was saying, at last, the birdcage will be explained. It was
> an English technician, from England giving the class. I can't remeber
> specifics, but after the class, no one had a better understanding of the
> piano than before. May'be it is just the lower end ones that I have seen.
> The pianos had been purchased, cheaply, with the intension of a child
> learning.
> To get them working at any level, of efficiency, would have cost more than
> they had paid
> for the piano, and they couldn't afford it. So the best answer I could
give
> people, who
> asked me, was, don't buy them. I suppose a lot of them may have had the
> wrong orientation of damper felt, I didn't check as I didn't know they had
> to be damped on the end grain.
> These birdcage over here, have not had anywork done on them for years, and
> arefor the most part down in pitch, a tone or a tone and a half.
> Last but not least, they were not made for theNorth American climate, with
> our extremes, of humidity. The pins are almost always loose. Even Yamaha,
up
> until the 70's, had a problem with loose pins, till they changed the
> moisture content of their wood in the manufacturing.
> So yes, I will still say to a client, NEVER buy a birdcage. I had just
given
> a superficial answer as to why, in the previous post. They are not worth
the
> money required to bring them up to standard, and a customer would be
better
> off buying one that can be brought up to standard for less money. Most of
> the clientel in my rural area, have a problem coming up with the monet to
> buy a piano in the first place, and don't need a major expense for repairs
> to make it work.
> They do have lovely cabinetry though, would make a lovely bar, or bookcase
> :-)
> Regards,
>
> John M. Ross
> jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tony Caught" <caute@optusnet.com.au>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 4:13 AM
> Subject: Re: Birdcages
>
>
> > John, are you saying that you can't regulate an overdamper piano and do
> the
> > minor work that may be needed to get a note working ?. Try new dampers
to
> > get it to dampen properly.
> >
> > Your the technical. It is your responsibility to make the piano play
> > properly, be it restringing, fixing a sticky note or replacing the
> dampers.
> > Don't say to the customer "buy a new piano" give customer an option. Its
> not
> > a perfect world but to say  NEVER   tut tut tut.
> >
> > Tony Caught
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "John Ross" <jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca>
> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> > Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 8:24 AM
> > Subject: Re: Birdcages
> >
> >
> > > Snip
> > > tunable and not even bad-sounding.  I told
> > > her to advertise it in the paper and it will be perfect for a
> > > beginner and give no trouble.
> > >
> > > I completely disagree, with the above statement, at least regarding
the
> > > majority of the "birdcage" pianos, that I have run accross.
> > > A beginner, needs a piano, that is up to pitch, and all the notes work
> > > with no apparent problem. The majority of the above mentioned pianos
> > > over here, leave much to be desired, in their ability, to damp
> > efficiently.
> > > I would NEVER recommend a birdcage for a beginner, unless, I was
wanting
> > > to discourage them, from sticking to piano lessons.
> > > Regards,
> > > John M. Ross
> > > jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>