Bob Wilson's comments/Reply/my reply

[Robert Wilson]

--- Joseph Garrett <joegarrett@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Bob,
> Obviously you didn't read my post thoroughly. I said
> that I work on ENGLISH
> pianos, 100+ years olde and the worst of the worst
> that England has to
> offer. These instruments were "rejected" by English
> technicians and were
> sold to American "Antique" dealers. Yes, most of the
> English uprights of
> that period, unfortunately, were 3/4 plates, (Why
> England was soooo far
> behind everyone else in the world, in this respect,
> is beyond me). These are
> precisely the instruments that I "Specialize" in.
> (Most Technicians on this
> side of the "Pond", think I'm nuts to do so. I do
> pitch raise those
> instruments to their "DESIGNED PITCH", which was
> 435cps, (or as you put it
> C517). I do this with little or no problem. By the
> way, 435cps is 20cents
> flat of 440cps, NOT a 1/4 tone as you state. When
> these instruments are at
> their DESIGNED PITCH, (ie the pitch that was used in
> the initial design of
> the scale), they have less damper problems, less
> tuning stability problems
> and sound a helluva lot better than you can imagine!
> This I have learned
> over the last 28 years of working on them. So, I
> disagree with all that you
> have said about Over-Damper pianos!
> Respectfully,
> Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)
> 
Joe,

Apologies if I misunderstood you - I thought you were
in favour of hiking everything up to A440 regardless
of the original pitch - I wonder how I came to
mis-read you.

I am quite happy about these pianos being tuned to
their original pitch but I am not in favour of taking
them any further.  There has to be some integrity for
the original design.

Some folks also thought Victorian pianos were better
without sconces and took them off - and in the 1960s
some pretty hideous things were done with
'modernising' the casework by removing the front legs,
shortening the height with mirrors and goodness knows
what else and painting them white - I am obviously not
in favour of that either.  The Victorian piano should
be as it was meant to be - those wanting different
should look for something else.

If you enjoy working on 100 year old English pianos
and the worst ones to boot, then I don't know whether
to feel sorry for you or admire you!  Here, even
rebuilt, they are worth next to nothing because no-one
with any sense wants them. If you get some of the
cracked, rusty, moth-eaten low grade uprights I have
come across, it must be akin to resurrecting corpses!

Of course, I still respect your opinions,

Best wishes,

Bob Wilson.
London.



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail!
http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/