Erard Grand Piano

[John Delacour]

At 21:07 02/10/01 -0400, Clark A Sprague wrote:

>     It turned out to be the most beautiful, ornate (I know that  ornate 
> does not a piano make!) piano I have ever had the pleasure to  tune.  It 
> was a specially commissioned Erard, circa 1878 (serial #  on the 
> soundboard was 60060, signed by Erard).  The entire cabinet  was done by 
> a cabinet maker by the name of Savant?  (it was signed  on a little brass 
> plaque on the left rim edge).

I know just the sort of thing.  Till recently we had a full grand at a 
local museum which was bought at auction in 1976 for £900. The basic 
construction was Erard's most elaborate and expensive -- lots of brass at 
the top end and a solid brass capo tasto, but the case was out of this 
world.  I have never seen such fine and extensive inlaid work.  I coveted 
it like hell but was sure I would be outbid at the auction and saved myself 
the pain of attending.  The local society tuner, whose repairs and rebuilds 
I did, called me in to inspect the piano and ended up getting it for the 
above price, which I could actually have afforded.  I was due to leave for 
Shanghai on a two year contract and told him not to touch it -- I would do 
it when I got back.  He knew better how to make a quick buck and quickly 
'rebuilt' it to sell to the museum.  When I returned he called me in to 
sort out the 'regulation', since visiting pianists were refusing to play 
it.  To undo about a tenth of the damage he had done to the action alone 
and make the piano just playable I gave him a bill for £400.

Four years ago the museum was to be completely refurbished, all the 
contents being dispersed to other places in the meantime.  I was called in 
to reporton the Erard.  It was the saddest thing.  No attention was paid to 
the humidity in the museum and the once perfect inlaid work was coming 
loose all over the place.  I estimated many thousands of pounds to rectify 
this a repolish.  The museum was officially reopened last month by some 
Royal personage.  I am at present repairing some damage to a Kawai RX-A 
that I sold them and which was damaged in storage.  The Erard is gone to 
some other place.  I will find out where, but the whole story makes me so sick.

Anyway -- number one concern is not to let the piano get too dry and I 
would suggest to the customer that she have a french-polisher at least 
clean up and revive the polish and "skin it over" lightly to protect the 
glue.  This is a temporary measure which will do no harm and protect the 
piano until she is ready to have it properly stripped and 
french-polished.  For that job she will need a first class traditional 
polisher who will probably need up to 200 hours to do the work.  A 'glass 
finish' is required and there are few men capable of doing this even in 
Europe.  Broadwood and Erard probably had the best polishers that have ever 
lived.  I reckon 120-150 hours for a glass finish on an ordinary rosewood 
grand, including minor woodwork repairs.


>     What I did notice, though, was that it had #1 pins, which  were all 
> loose, some worse than others;

Could be worse, but the original pins would have been 000 or 6.60 mm. -- 
the French makers used very thin pins, which is in the restorer's 
favour.  I don't recall bad experiences with Erard wrestplanks -- unlike 
Pleyel's, which are a nightmare.

>  the strings were showing a  little rust, and it had been restrung at one 
> time, as evidenced by  the stringing scale written in pencil on the 
> plate,  and the really  funky feeling action, with the dampers coming up 
> from under the  strings.

The bass strings would originally have been of tinned brass and they should 
be whipped at both ends right down through the scale.  I make all the 
strings for David Winston's pianos(several Erards each year) and you could 
do worse than get in touch with him for detailed guidance and advice.

David Winston <periodpiano@talk21.com>

"Period Piano Company. The Period Piano Company, recognized as one of the 
world’s leading makers, restorers and dealers of antique pianos: Grand 
pianos, square ... <www.periodpiano.com>"

David is an American based in Kent, England.  We were talking of the Erard 
action only the other day and he was complaining of the difficulty of 
getting sufficient tension in the repetition springs.  This ought not 
really to be a problem, since phosphor-bronze alone ought to give better 
performance, though it's a while since I touched an Erard.  The 
crescent-shaped drop screws are a pain and you need to make sure before you 
begin any regulation that you can achieve the required drop throughout the 
scale without having to screw these T-screws right up to the flange.  As 
with all pianos, the first item in regulation is getting the rails, 
key-height etc. properly configured -- a point sadly neglected by 99% of 
workmen.

The dampers are very easy to deal with and nicely designed.  The springs 
should be replaced with phosphor-bronze (I can supply these if you can make 
them) and for the felt you must use a strip that tapers in thickness.  Such 
felt is obtainable in Europe/England.  Regulation is effected by raising 
the body and screwing the wire up and down.  It ought to take not much 
longer than ordinary dampers.


>     Like I said, the cabinet is breath-taking (at least it was  to 
> me).  What would you recommend?  Who would you recommend?  What  kind of 
> differences are there in the action?  It was straight  strung, with 
> individual looped strings, ala Bluthner,etc.  If she  decided to do a job 
> on it, I could repin, restring, etc,  but what  kinds of problems will I 
> encounter?

For the hammers (forked shank), I would recommend you have them recovered 
by Abel in Stuttgart.  In spite of disparaging remarks I have made about 
Abel's new hammers, the recover jobs they have done for me have always been 
excellent.  When I stayed with old Helmut a few years ago and was shown the 
factory, he was using a screw press for recovering work and a specially 
skilled man will be assigned to this work.  They are quite familiar with 
the Erard-style hammer, which was used also by several German makers, e.g. 
Hagspiel of Dresden till almost 1899.

These Erards can sound lovely.  Occasionally I'll turn on the car radio 
(nothing special) and hear a special sound and, as probably most of us do, 
try to guess the maker.  If it sounds like a xylophone, it's a Broadwood, 
like a dying fog-horn it's a Boesendorfer etc.  The Erard can have a 
wonderful clarity and purity and often sounds like just the perfect piano 
for the music that's being played.  Broadwood and Pleyel hated the guy!

JD