steinway of unknown vintage

[Thomas Cole]

Thanks to Michael who wrote privately how the numbers on the tail of the 
plate could be translated into a manufacture date. I've long wondered 
what those numbers meant. The letter corresponds to the year, starting 
with A in 1911, continuing through the alphabet, ending up with Z in 
1936. They started over with A and discontinued sometime around WWII. 
This one has 1/14 R on the plate, so that would translate: January 14, 
1928, if I've got it right.

Keith, Mark, Tom D: lyre sticks have that same D 5659, as does the 
keyslip, keyframe, fallboard, lyre guide rail, etc., which I guess has 
some meaning to the factory people. So I did a lot of looking, following 
Yogi Berra's advice, but didn't observe (the serial #). I'm hoping for 
maybe a handwritten number on some obscure place on the action or keys. 
If I see something close to 260,000 I'll holler Bingo!

As for the smell, I guess it helps that the owner never complained of 
the smell, only the dozen broken strings, ostensibly broken by the 
heavy-playing neighbor. At first, she refused to believe that her 
prescious pets were turning her piano into a place of worship (Let us 
spray). So if she's okay with the feline fragrance, my job may be 
limited to restringing/block/refinish soundboard (no cracks in board or 
bridges) since the action still works. Just smells bad.

Tom Cole

michael campi wrote:

> Thomas,
> Michael Campi here. A-1 list lurker. The serial number is also located 
> on the front of the keyframe and can be verified by a letter stamped 
> at the back of the plate it will read something like 17/10 C
> The letters correspond to years. It was started with A in 1911 so the 
> above would be read as the 17th day of October, 1913. This continued 
> through the end of the alphabet and then started over and ended 
> sometime around WW 2.
> Sincerely
> Michael Campi
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> MSN Toolbar provides one-click access to Hotmail from any Web page – 
> FREE download! 
> http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200413ave/direct/01/
>
>
>