At 1:44 pm +0200 13/10/06, Stéphane Collin wrote: >I happen (lucky me) to have at this moment side by side a 1916 >Bechstein model A (183 cm) and a 1871 Bechstein model IV (220 cm). >What a difference ! In power of course (the 1913 is MUCH more >powerful), in brillance (the 1913 is capable of more high partials), >in damping (the 1913 has more, larger, more efficient dampers), in >action (the 1913 has modern repetition action, the 1871 has english >type of action)... Hello Stéphane, The old Bechstein I had, a 6' thing and very badly made, had the German action with escapement towards the flange and the pusher on the hammer-head side of the jack. The English action escapes away from the flange. I thought so much of mine that I burned it on the same fire as a Bösendorfer :-) That is not to say I don't agree with a lot of what you say and probably share many of your tastes... ...now last week I acquired, for nothing, an "antique" (silly word) Kirkman. See pictures here: <http://pianomaker.co.uk/kirkman12521/> The changes and advances this firm made in the space of a few years about 1860 are astonishing. This piano is certainly a domestic piano, bichord except for the top two sections, and well made without being too fancy. I'm fascinated by the pressure bar arrangement, which was not perpetuated in later models, for every good reason I can think of! What were they hoping to achieve by this, do you think? A brighter, less woody, treble of course, like everyone else, but I don't see how they imagined this curious arrangement would do it. What I shall do is remove the studs, which are parallel to and just behind the pressure bar and give it a proper pressure bar, probably fitting tight round the existing bar so that the original arrangement can be reverted to and the piano can at any time be made totally original again. I don't expect too much from this modification because other things need to be changed that cannot be changed without destroying the original design. Kirkman soon afterwards solved their problem mainly by one change -- they doubled the height of the bridge and made it wider too. JD
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