Sagenhatt

[Farrell]

Well, I'm certainly not the authority on this topic, but I do run across this need often, and since no one else is going to give a serious answer (although I do find Jim's giving me quite a laugh!)............. Here goes:

I don't have the original post, but the question was, how do you tell a high/good quality piano from a lesser one when inspecting a pianos for a piano-seeking client. Here are my thoughts, many are broad generalities and many exceptions can be found.

In a vertical, check case panels. Pressboard is generally low quality, solid core better quality.

In spinet, clip-on type drop wires (??term??) (on back of keys) usually indicate poor quality. Better quality have action connection to keys that have action centers and a capstan.

Any piano, look for hammer alignment and quality/consistency of boring. On cheap pianos you will often find hammers all over the place.

Pianos with hammer felt laying in bottom of piano are generally lower end pianos.

Pianos "Made by American Craftsmen" are not good pianos.

Vertical pianos that say "Grand" on the fallboard are a definite NO-NO.

I know some will disagree, but I find Kimball pianos consistently undesirable.

Tuning pin coils. If the wire extends out through the other end of the becket, it is likely a low quality piano. Also tuning pin height uniformity, angle uniformity, and coil tightness are good indicators - more uniform, better quality.

On vertical, weighted keys. Cheaper pianos will have unweighted keys.

Vertical, check out keybed robustness. Put your knee under the keybed and lift up with leg. On newer pianos especially, you will see the keybed flex significantly on lower end pianos.

All pianos, (grands of modest size) three section scales are generally lower end pianos (more so on grands). Four section pianos are generally better quality (in a vertical, definitely high quality).

Vertical, if there are three pedals and only two trapwork levers - watch out! A cheap piano mfg. is trying to pull the wool over the consumer's eyes!

All pianos - look at the framing on rear (vertical)/bottom (grand) of piano. No framing, definitely low-end piano. Generally the more and more robust framing will be found in higher-end pianos.

Vertically laminated long bridges are generally only found on better pianos.

Verticals, lower end pianos often do not have the hitch-pin side of the bridge notched, better pianos will have both sides of long bridge notched. I have never seen an un-notched bridge in a grand - even really bad grands.

Pianos wear out with age. In general, when someone is shopping for a used piano, a newer piano will always be better than an older piano. Even a 10-year-old medium-low quality piano that is in good shape will be a much better piano to play than a decent original quality piano from the 1950s or older. However, an older piano that is well preserved will often be the better piano than the newer cheapie. I just un-stuck a 1938 Baldwin Acrosonic spinet (remarkably well-preserved) action for some local folks that just got married and they have that piano and a 20 year old Kimball console. I told them that if the pianos are to be played as-is, the Kimball is better hands down because the Baldwin action is real slow. But if I can free-up the Baldwin at low cost, the Baldwin will make for a much nicer piano. They told me to take the action to my shop and hit it with alcohol/water. It worked perfect. I believe they will be playing the Baldwin and selling the Kimball.

Well, there's a few things to look at while inspecting a piano. Remember, these are generalities. Many exceptions to these guidelines can be found. 

The original poster mentioned bridges having notches in them often indicating a lower-end piano. This is often true, but older good pianos will sometimes have a notch. I own a 1900 Bechstein grand that has the plate strut between the high treble and the treble sections going through a shallow notch in the bridge. One thing I will say about a notch in the bridge: if it is a deep notch and there is no additional support found on the back of the soundboard at the notch location, it likely indicates low quality - if there is a piece of maple attached to the rear of the soundboard to add support to the notch area, it is likely a pretty decent piano. I can only assume having the notch allows for easier engineering of the plate. If you have to get that strut up another half-inch or so, I'm quite sure you'll have to put twice as much metal into the strut (I'm no engineer - I'm just guessing). 

On my Bechstein, the strut only goes at most 1/8" into the bridge. I just wonder if I could not slide by with grinding a quarter inch off the strut to get clearance and avoid cutting the new bridge. Then again, I hear a lot about old Bechstein plates cracking.......

Well, there's my 457 cents worth.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <JIMRPT@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 9:51 PM
Subject: Re: Sagenhatt


> 
> In a message dated 26/02/02 9:42:39 PM, Tvak@AOL.COM writes:
> 
> << But what other tell-tale cost-cutting clues might there be?  >>
> 
> Tom;
>  Having only two pedals is not needfully a sign of lower quality in a given 
> instrument as some countries 'standard' pianos are equipped with only two 
> pedals and 'custom' there dictates this.  However a dead give away for a 
> lower quality piano is the existence of pre-installed trebuchet brackets... 
> :-^)
> Jim Bryant (FL)
>