Erard Grand Piano

[Tom Servinsky]

Clark
I am restoring a 1900 6'4" Erard ( the 2nd one this year) as we speak and I
could add some helpful information about these instruments.
First, the pinblock, plate,and stretcher are inter-connected by means of
many laminated layers of wood, glued over screws holding the essentials
together....make sense?
Basically, if you plan on pulling the plate you will probably have to
destroy the stretcher, at least the was the case in our instrument. Which
means duplicating a stretcher and re-installing, which will take much longer
than you could imagine.
Our instrument had other significant problems as we think it was in a fire
of some sorts because all the veneer was bubbling and pulling off the
cabinet and lid. We had to have the instrument sent to a veneer expert who
did the whole instrument in starburst, book-matched Rosewood, with burled
Elm inlay and borders. Quite striking.
The action which you viewed..does it have the backchecking device within a
window on the shanks?  Believe it or not, these actions, once well
regulated, play extremely nice.
Also notice where the drop (screw) device was. It's hidden with a "t" micro
handle and you adjust manually from underneath the shank.
Key leveling also has to be approached differently. Keyleveling will be done
with the action stack on by carefully lifting the keys over the key center
pins.
Anyhow these are the type of pianos  we bring excitement and curiosity at
every step of the rebuilding.  They are  well made...probably extremely
over-killed in the engineering sense. But overall the experience of working
on an Erard is unique. The touch, warmth of sound,and in your situation, a
cabinet which is breath taking, are the features which has made Erard so
intriguing.

Tom Servinsky.RPT

----- Original Message -----
From: "Clark A Sprague" <clarks11628@juno.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 9:07 PM
Subject: Erard Grand Piano


> I had
> > the opportunity to go and tune an "antique" grand piano today, and
> > going in, that is all I knew.  It took my breath away, and I have
> > been in shock ever since.
> >         It turned out to be the most beautiful, ornate (I know that
> > ornate does not a piano make!) piano I have ever had the pleasure to
> > tune.  It was a specially commissioned Erard, circa 1878 (serial #
> > on the soundboard was 60060, signed by Erard).  The entire cabinet
> > was done by a cabinet maker by the name of Savant?  (it was signed
> > on a little brass plaque on the left rim edge).  Apparently it was a
> > custom, specially commissioned piano for the British Embassy, and it
> > had the Royal Seal of Britain on the side of the rim, done in
> > bronze, and a special bronze leaf-like trim all around the case.
> > Near perfect ivories, I didn't inspect the board or bridges too
> > closely, but they appeared at first glance to be serviceable.
> >         What I did notice, though, was that it had #1 pins, which
> > were all loose, some worse than others; the strings were showing a
> > little rust, and it had been restrung at one time, as evidenced by
> > the stringing scale written in pencil on the plate,  and the really
> > funky feeling action, with the dampers coming up from under the
> > strings.  No way was I going to pull the action without knowing what
> > I was getting into. The dampers were worn and kind of fuzzy looking,
> > and the hammers were worn, although not too badly.
> >         We got to talking, and the lady told me where she got the
> > piano, showed me the documentation she got with it, and how much she
> > paid for it.  I told her my observations on the condition of the
> > piano, and she asked me how much getting it re-whatever would cost.
> > I told her that you just didn't call Joe the corner Rebuilder for a
> > piano like this, and that I would do some research for her.
> >         Like I said, the cabinet is breath-taking (at least it was
> > to me).  What would you recommend?  Who would you recommend?  What
> > kind of differences are there in the action?  It was straight
> > strung, with individual looped strings, ala Bluthner,etc.  If she
> > decided to do a job on it, I could repin, restring, etc,  but what
> > kinds of problems will I encounter?
> >         This has been long-winded enough.  I sure would appreciate
> > some advice here.  Maybe there is a job in this for somebody, and
> > she apparently has the money.  Any advice would be appreciated
> > muchly!!
> >
> > Clark Sprague, RPT
> > Detroit/Windsor Chapter
> > Evola Music of Ohio, Toledo