The Beauty of the Open-Faced Pinblock

[John Delacour]

At 10:48 am -0700 9/6/07, Delwin D Fandrich wrote:

>Well, now you make me wonder. I have all of the photographs of this 
>piano labeled "Bosendorfer" but I could be wrong. I did this piano 
>some fifteen years ago.
>
>I don't have a picture of the finished piano but I've attached one 
>with the soundboard being glued in so you can see the shape. As I 
>recall the piano was pre-1880s. I could probably find the build date 
>with some searching.

I haven't much experience with Bösendorfers but I thought that all 
their grands in the 19th century, and even later, were Viennese.  I 
had one of these from about 1899 and by then they were using a 
separate heavy iron top bridge in the treble just like more recent 
non-Viennese models, and it had no agraffes at all, using a 
half-round pressure bar, like an upright, right down to the bass. 
The soundboard floated at the front, stiffened by an arched spruce 
rail about 2" x 1/2" and had a pronounced crown -- I think I still 
have it somewhere.  The Viennese action slides up ramps each side of 
the key-bottom and the damper action (a section of which I have kept) 
is a simply removed unit above the strings.  So nothing in your 
pictures suggests Bösendorfer to me.

JD