[pianotech] Conover 77

[Porritt, David]

Will:

My experience with the Conover 77 has always been very good.  There were some good pianos made by other than the Big 3 or 4.  When I was in college the head of the Music Division had an old 7'6" Knabe in her studio that was really nice.  I'd love to be able to get one of those for myself.

dp


David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu<mailto:dporritt at smu.edu>

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of William Truitt
Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2010 4:06 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] Conover 77

To the list:

I saw my first Conover 77 yesterday ( we don't see many Conovers here in the Northeast).  Someone had given it to my customer, and it had not been tuned for a very long time.  It had been restrung with a new block some time ago, and the board shimmed.  Not the best rebuild, but serviceable.  I did a couple of pitch raises and a fine tuning.

What a nice piano, even in the rough!   The tone was very focused and present, with good clarity.  No killer octave in the mid treble, good sustain and volume in the treble.  Overall, a solid citizen of the piano world.

The piano is about a 5' 8".  The board has 15 ribs, and a small curved cut off bar in the bass.  The root of the treble bridge is vertically laminated oak.  26 bass, log scale on treble bridge.  Nicely laid out overall.  Good bracing underneath.  Has a treble stiffening bar stretching from the belly rail to the inner rim, like you see on Steinways over 6'

Properly rebuilt with new hammers and strings, it could be very nice indeed.

Will Truitt
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