Old Uprights

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Neuman" <piano@charlesneuman.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: September 07, 2001 8:05 AM
Subject: Old Uprights


> When we think of old uprights worth restoring, S&S and M&H quickly come to
> mind. But I've been told that there are many other brands that existed
> 75-100 years ago which may be of similar quality. Is there any resource
for
> figuring out which ones were well designed and which weren't? I'm sure
they
> all had beautiful cases, but that can be misleading.
>
> There must be some guide to old pianos...
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There are several excellent guides to old piano. Probably the best is Jack
Wyatt, an occasional, and always welcome, contributor to pianotech. (Several
of us are encouraging Jack to put as much of his knowledge as possible into
book form but he's being stubborn about this and has not done so yet.) There
is another, Les Smith, who is also one of the best writers I've encountered
in some time. Sadly, Les no longer contributes to pianotech and, to the best
of my knowledge, has no plans to write a book. I hope I'm wrong.

If you're looking for something already in printed form, there isn't much.
Experience and knowledge will be your best guide. That and as much education
as you can get. There are classes from time to time that analyze various
piano design features, both in verticals and in grands. I would encourage
you to take them even if you've no intention of ever designing a piano. As
you gain an understanding about how pianos work you'll also gain to ability
to evaluate the various disparate design features of the individual pianos
you encounter. Then you won't need a guide of someone else's opinions which
couldn't possibly cover all of the various pianos out there anyway.

There are many pianos out there that are often written off by the piano
technical community because they don't have the right name that are really
quite excellent pianos. There are others which--based solely on their
name--are widely revered that are mediocre musical instruments at best.

And yes, the casework can be misleading. Almost as misleading as the name on
the keycover.

Del