1890 Weber upright

[Michael Magness]

On Nov 13, 2007 11:30 AM, Cy Shuster <cy at shusterpiano.com> wrote:
> I just tuned a 1901 Vose & Sons upright with extra-long keys (maybe 18"?),
> and it played fine.  No leads; in fact, A0 and C8 had five Forstner holes in
> the bottom of the keystick under the head, about 1/2" deep.  I didn't
> measure DW/UW, but it was very responsive.  What kind of balance problems
> would there be?
>
> --Cy--
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Magness" <IFixPianos at yahoo.com>
> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>; <noahhaverkamp at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 8:25 AM
> Subject: Re: 1890 Weber upright
>
>
> > Value is in the eye of the beholder/owner! Having said that there are
> > tipoffs to the average old upright, the "good" old upright and the
> > "fine" old upright. Look at the details of the cabinetry and the
> > hardware is it just a plainjane cabinet or does it have some
> > "gingerbread" on it, is the hardware just potmetal or potmetal plated
> > w/brass or is it nickel plated heavy and well made? Does the action
> > have any extra features, a bar that takes up lost motion when the soft
> > pedal is used for example or is it just a standard action? Is it a 2
> > or 3 pedal piano? You and I know that the middle pedal frequently does
> > the same as the left or nothing at all but the buying public at the
> > time expected 3 pedals in a better piano, while the cheapies only had
> > 2. Are the keys extra long and the cabinet a little thicker than
> > normal indicating it came from the same production line as a player
> > piano and the key balance will be poor?
>
>

Hi Cy,

I haven't personally tuned or seen a Vose & Sons player. I have seen
many Vose & Sons pianos and based on the quality and extras that were
put into them, yes even their uprights, I would expect no less from
their player units. Vose & son pianos were one of the premier makers
of their time, making fine quality pianos both grands and uprights
with many extra features.

What I was referring to in the post was the 2nd line pianos that many
makers produced under other names or occasionally their own name. The
ones that were obviously designed to be players but were manufactured
without the player mechanism. So they still have the longer keys,
thicker bodies, frequently only 2 pedals which most often use the
metal type trapwork that is placed close to the bottom board to allow
room for the bottom stack of the player unit. Since these weren't
built as premier pianos but as second line pianos and were designed as
players the key balance isn't as good as you would find in a standard
upright. The expectation of the designers was that it would primarily
be used as a player, it was only a secondary use to manufacture it as
a piano without the player instead of retooling the assembly line for
a standard piano.
I have run across several of these over the years and they are abysmal
instruments. It is difficult to darn near impossible to get them to
the point where they will repeat fast enough to play eighth notes. The
primary problem is the too long, poorly balanced keys.

Mike
-- 
Knowledge is realizing that the street is one-way, wisdom is looking
both directions anyway.
Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com