Eavestaff Piano

[John Delacour]

At 14:26 -0600 5/1/08, Floyd Gadd wrote:

>This model stands about 45 inches tall, and has a serial number of 20845.

Has it got ivory keys?  What maker's name is on the action?  Most of 
the Eavestaffs we come across in England are made after the war and 
this one was made well before two wars.  I've never come across an 
Eavestaff from this period, but if they like it and it has charms and 
it's lasted for 100 years it can't be all that bad.  Surely if you're 
qualified to repair it well then you're the best qualified to judge 
its qualities at first hand rather than rely on a crowd of people who 
are nowhere near the thing!  You can see how well it's made and you 
only need to listen to three or four sustained notes, preferably 
after tuning them, to get a pretty good idea of its tonal potential. 
Very few makers have a consistent record of quality but if the man 
who stuck his name on the piano was still around to govern the 
quality, there's more chance it'll be good.

JD