[pianotech] Worlds prettiest upright ?-1878 Weber

[Will Truitt]

We're all just a bunch of romantics, aren't we?  No matter how long we are
in this business, we can still get our heart stolen, and isn't that a lovely
thing?  

 

Will Truitt

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of erwinspiano at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2008 11:02 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org; Erwinspiano at aol.com
Subject: [pianotech] Worlds prettiest upright ?-1878 Weber

 

Listerers
  Every now & then we all have the opportunity to work a very special piano.
I guess it was my turn.
   I recently worked on an 1878 Weber Upright. It is stunning & I thought
I'd post a few pics. 
    This piano lived in a Victorian mansion in Fresno, Ca until about 20
years ago. It was strung and sold at that time.  It's original finish is
remarkable. It's Ivory's slightly yellowed but thick & flawless.
   I chose to install Ronsen Bacon felt hammers for the acoustic invironment
& what I thought it needed to optimize it tonally. Trix refelted the
dampers,keybushings,damper levers and butt felts. Basically tone
improvement, noise reduction & playability issues. The hammers were simple
shaped with the top 25 hammers tapered for weight. The tonal result was
stunning. Power ,clarity without noise. Sometimes one gets lucky. I did no
further voicing.
  The original tonal assessments sounded pretty iffy with the old hammers as
it has a relatively old school sound board design. so I wasn't sure it would
turn out well. It was such a rewarding job as the clients are friends I've
known for over 30 years.
  Oddly when I went to reassemble it all in there house it was there 25 th
wedding anniversary. Nov. 28. I left the piano apart over the next day,
which was thanksgiving. When I returned they said. We saw a date on the
Action ( WNG) & it said Nov 28. 1878. SO cool. Cosmic coincidence. The tone
was perfect. No further voicing was needed. It hardly ever happens that way.
   A Happy trail
  Dale Erwin

 

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