Decker Bros. Upright

[Farrell]

Don't walk if you like/want the work! I tune/perform triage on a lot of junk
or otherwise old stuff. Comments interspersed below:

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry Beckingham" <beckingt@mb.sympatico.ca>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 5:36 PM
Subject: Decker Bros. Upright


> Hi Gang,
>
> I have a customer who just inherited an old Decker Bros. upright serial
no.
> 12557. According to Pierce Atlas it was built between 1875 and 1880. It is
> in surprisingly good condition. It is about 35-40 cents flat.
> Can anyone tell me if it was designed to be tuned at A435 or A440?

Don't know. But I have a question. Does it really matter that much? Let's
say it was "designed" for A435. If we tune it at A440, we will be
approximately 20 cents above it's designed pitch. So what will that do on an
old piano that is not likely in the shape it was originally designed?

> When I opened up the piano today, I immediately noticed that about half of
> the iron wound bass strings had been replaced with newer copper wound
> strings. This set off alarm bells in my head. I set my RCT for no overpull
> and started to raise the pitch to A440. I only got as far as G#1, a single
> wound unison and the string broke. I quit right there. About half of the
> bass strings up from there had been replaced and half were originals. It
> appears that all of the unwound music wire is original, but I wasn't
> willing to take the chance of having more strings break.

I sometimes like to break two strings before I give up going to standard
pitch, but obviously that is subjective, and also depends on what the
intended use of the piano is, and how bad the owner wants to try for A440. A
40-cent pitch raise is not so terribly much (usually), so it might be worth
one more try.

> I haven't spoken to the customer yet (she was at work), but I don't know
> how to proceed.

Absolutely need to speak with her first if you don't know the answers to all
the questions above (intended use, etc.).

> She just spent several hundred dollars moving this
> instrument up from her parents home in the south. I know she will want me
> to attempt some sort of repairs. At a bare minimum, I think it should be
> restrung complete with new bass strings and repinned.  Torque on the few
> pins that I checked is only 30-50 inch pounds. I temporarily replaced the
> broken string with a universal bass string. I only turned out the pin 1
> turn, but it was too loose to hold. I removed it to replace it with a
> larger pin. Only problem was that the original pin was a 2/0 only 2 inches
> long. The new 3/0 pin bottomed out in the hole.

Certainly something to talk to her about. She may be willing to restring
entire piano?????
>
> I didn't check the board for crown or the bridges for bearing. The board
> has 3 long cracks, but no rib separation as yet. There are no cracks at
all
> in any of the 3 bridges. This piano has two bass bridges. The lower one
for
> the single unisons is placed as normal, but the bridge for the double
> unisons is at almost a right angle from the other  bass bridge.

May not be a huge issue if she is only interested in function. If she wants
good performance, of course, ya gotta dig into it deeply.
>
> The piano has original hammers and keytops which are in fairly good
> condition. There are no broken parts and the action isn't even all that
> badly out of regulation. I understand that the piano was fairly well
> maintained until about 5 years ago.

Not too many original parts old upright actions that work smoothly after 120
years. Just depends on what kind of feel and performance she wants and is
willing to pay for.
>
> Any suggestions? I should probably just walk away from it, but then I will
> have an unhappy customer. I'm the only person for several hundred miles
> around who does any of this type of work.

I usually recommend that they either 1) junk the piano and not spend a dime;
2) spend a couple hundred $ and make it play - not well, but play (I often
use the word function - as in press key and hammer hits intended strings and
makes somewhat piano-like sound - it functions - it does not sound or feel
or work well, but it functions); or 3) tell them they can go all the way (or
some variation thereof) for $6K to $12K. They usually pick option #1 or #2.
I tell them that I find it is usually only people that 1) have to have that
antique piano; 2) the piano has sentimental value; or 3) it is a high end
piano (S&S, M&H, Bechstein, etc.) to spend a lot of money on it. And that's
all you can do. It is their call.
>
> Thanks
>
> Terry Beckingham
>
>