[pianotech] very old pianos

[Gregor _]

It´s not the age. Here in Germany there are many very old uprights which are quite good and even in a good condition. But the climate here is quite stable. Actually, I sell a Rawie upright from 1897 in my shop , but it was rebuilt about 40 years ago. Very nice piano:

http://www.weldert.de/verkauf_gebraucht.php

The oldest piano I worked on was a Gebrüde Knake from my hometown Münster from 1880 or so (no birdcage). I reshaped hammers, tightened all screws, replaced some felts and center pins, leveled keys, regulated the action and tuned it to 435 Hz. The result was nice.

Gregor



To: l-bartlett at sbcglobal.net; pianotech at ptg.org
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:36:33 -0500
From: wimblees at aol.com
Subject: Re: [pianotech] very old pianos

Not as a general rule. Each piano will be different. When I was doing some work in Colorado, I was amazed at the pristine condition of pianos approaching a hundred years. The dry weather kept them clean, and in excellent working condition. 



Now here, in Hawaii, most pianos over 50 years old are ready for the reef. But I just worked on a 75 year old Apollo grand, that even thought the strings were rusty, and the brass is all black and pitted, sounded remarkably good, and the pins were tight. 



So there are always exceptions to the rule. 



Wim







-----Original Message-----

From: Leslie Bartlett <l-bartlett at sbcglobal.net>

To: pianotech at ptg.org

Sent: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 5:59 pm

Subject: [pianotech] very old pianos





Do any of you simply refuse to work on pianos approaching 100 years old?  

When do such things cease to be pianos....... ? 

les bartlett 

 



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