Old Uprights

[Brian Lawson]

In terms of European Uprights add Bluther, Bechstein, August Forster, Albert
Fahr, Carl Ecke and Ibach  to your list.


Brian

----- Original Message -----
From: "Delwin D Fandrich" <pianobuilders@olynet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 5:33 PM
Subject: Re: Old Uprights


>
> ----- 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...
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
>
>