Square piano

[Michael Gamble]

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Hello list
Yesterday I was called to tune and service two pianos in a largish =
Sussex country house set amid acres of rolling pasture and trees with a =
lake.... The two pianos were a Model "A" S&S round tail No.65717 (an old =
enemy with sluggish action) and this delightful square piano - complete =
and now all working. It is an Astor & Horwood No.5775 and so out of tune =
it was... terrible! The ruling pitch without too much change of tensions =
I worked out to be: C =3D 437Hz. Even with all the care in the world one =
string broke - but this was interesting in that it gave me a chance to =
"feel" the quality of its "malleability" - and convinced me that in no =
way should I attempt to replace it from my stock of Harpsichord string. =
As with all these ancient instruments there's a lot of string as a coil =
on the large diameter "oblong" tuning pin so I extracted the pin, =
unwound and straightened about two inches of it and did my usual =
reef-knot preparations to both "ends" to be tied. Worked a charm. The =
tuning pins were fairly loose anyway and the coils all over the place. I =
therefore started by loosening off and "cinching" up the coils =
one-by-one to give me the opportunity to pound the pins a bit further =
into the pin block. That worked too. One of the dampers had come adrift. =
They are screwed into a drum glued via a thick button of felt directly =
to the end of the key. This means taking all dampers off to withdraw the =
action - but was not necessary here. It's trial and frustration to get =
just one damper wire screwed back in to its drum, let alone the whole =
lot! Can't see the other end, it's so tight down there under the top =
bridge. Casework is also interesting. A bright rich mahogany, =
brass-banded. No secret flaps to lift revealing a cavity at the bass =
end. Legs are round, tapered and fluted. Surprising thing was the pedal =
lyre - and lyre it is - just like a S&S - though smaller with just the =
one wooden pedal. There's no metal frame. Tuning pins OK for a right =
handed - but I'm left handed so just as well I'm ambidexterous! Tiny =
damper heads. Loose wound bass strings leading into brass, then this =
malleable metal to the top. All bichord. Hammers finished in leather. A =
truly beautiful specimen. Wish I could say that about the S&S 85 note =
with no repetition worth talking about. Tried to talk her into a proper =
rebuild - new hammer assemblies, levers the lot - but she was too cagey. =
Can't have everything in this world I suppose - even with the =
mansion,acreage and lake....
Regards all
Michael G (UK) on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning - Maxim's swimming =
lesson at 9:00am followed by Violin.
TTFN
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