Bird Cage Rebuilding?

[Tony Caught]

Hi Patrick,

Rebuilding birdcages, yes I have done quite a few. Of course I have set
criteria to meet before I will rebuild, recondition, refurbish or whatever
you want to call it but in my opinion there are many birdcage (overdamper)
pianos that are better than some underdamper pianos.

A lot of the overdamper pianos had a una corda system that gave the same
playing and tonal results as in the grand piano. some good some bad but the
same principle.

Look at the soundboard's balanced shape, the bridges, quality quality etc.,
but not in all.

around the turn of the last last century, the overdamper (OD) pianos were
fazed out but at that time there were some OD's that had a quality of tone
and performance that was better than most UD uprights that were produced at
that time. Of course there is always the ecception to the rule, that works
both ways however the old Bluthner OD and the Bechstein OD and the
Schwechten OD where as in many cases, still are fantastic pianos with a
sound that just cannot be duplicated (at a reasonable cost) in todays
pianos.

So why knock them all, it's just most of them that are lousy.

Remember in the old days, there were over 5000 piano builders throughout the
world.  Many only produced a few pianos, but these pianos were their pride
and joy. some good, some bad but individual pianos that are to be looked at
as individual pianos.

Regards
Tony Caught ICPTG
Australia
caute@optusnet.com.au
----- Original Message -----
From: Patrick C. Poulson <ppoulson@jps.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 10:25 AM
Subject: Bird Cage Rebuilding?


> Hello Pianotechers! This message goes out to those of you with experience
in
> working on birdcage pianos, and most especially to any Brits out there.  I
> have read that you fortunate fellows in Great Britain still service these
> old instruments more commonly than we Yanks do.   ++++++++++++++++++