I sold it to a quite accomplished jazz pianist in Jonesboro, Ark. Where, I assume, it still resides because everyone is afraid to move it. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA Phone 360.515.0119 — Cell 360.388.6525 <mailto:del at fandrichpiano.com> del at fandrichpiano.com — <mailto:ddfandrich at gmail.com> ddfandrich at gmail.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Dale Erwin Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2011 11:06 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Julius Bauer finished Hey By the way , what became of it? Dale S. Erwin www.Erwinspiano.com 209-577-8397 209-985-0990 Ronsen hammers/prep Sitka Sound boards Belly packages Poor decisions are rarely made right by a greater commitment to them. "David Love" -----Original Message----- From: Delwin D Fandrich <del at fandrichpiano.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sun, Jul 3, 2011 10:54 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] Julius Bauer finished I did do some work on the piano. Before I got the piano it had been sitting in an uncontrolled storeroom for some years. The bass strings were shot and the pinblock was pretty bad. At the time I had just moved to Arkansas to start my job with Baldwin and I did not have a workshop of any kind. The piano was in my living room. But, due to the way the piano is designed, I was able to replace the pinblock with the plate and rim intact. Simply pull the action and damper tray and drop the pinblock down and out. I made a new block and fit it back in place as well as I could then epoxy bedded the thing. After about a year the tuning was rock solid. Because of the dual, sistered ribs the soundboard was in pretty much the same condition it was in the day after it was constructed. I can’t imagine this soundboard changing over the years no matter the environment. The Bauer, by the way, had the only system I’ve ever seen that actually could alter the crown of the soundboard assembly after the piano was built. Dale, have you looked to see if your piano has this feature? Anyway, I cleaned up the bridges some—there were some hairline cracks developing in the bridge cap. I sanded the surface of the cap, renotched and repined everything. The bridges were mounted on dowels. There was a bass piece (probably 12 to 15 mm high by the width of the main bridge wide) attached to the soundboard that was notched to allow the ribs to run through. There was a series of dowels that started out about 25 mm long in the treble and getting progressively longer down to around 50 or so mm long at the low tenor. Through the bass section these dowels were about75 mm long. The body of the bridge was mounted on top of these dowels. This piano always made me wonder about the conventional wisdom that blames bridge termination for all false beating strings. This thing has about the loosest treble bridge I’ve ever seen and not a falsely beating string to be heard. Fascinating piano. If any of you ever has a chance to examine one of these up close and personal they are well worth the time and effort. They must have been frightfully expensive pianos to build but what glorious pianos. Dale, think of the sound your piano has and then put it on steroids. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA Phone 360.515.0119 — Cell 360.388.6525 del at fandrichpiano.com <mailto:del at fandrichpiano.com> — ddfandrich at gmail.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org?> ] On Behalf Of Dale Erwin Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2011 9:19 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Julius Bauer finished Del/Laura This would be something to see/play one. Ok,...I know it was 25 years ago but what was your impressions of the sound/power/sonority/subjective experience? Mine is a very clear and full. A lovely musical sounding piano and to my ear a finer sound than so many things these days especially for 5 ft 6insches. Its a wide bodied case and so has a few more square inches of board area. The double crowned construction with the ribbing done up this way must have been very expensive to make. I wouldn't have the foggiest notion of how to try to replicate the board set up though for enough money... I would try Laura, the plate was made by a now defunct plate manufacturer. Godzilla piano plates....really. ;-) <http://o.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/resources/core/images/wink.png> Yours was the same vintage. I marvel at the sheer ingenuity of folks that designed wonders like this. BTW.....Probably the piano movers union bought them out....hmmm.... The usual standing invitation to visit this relic is open to any brethren who wander thru the area. Dale S. Erwin <http://www.Erwinspiano.com> www.Erwinspiano.com 209-577-8397 209-985-0990 Ronsen hammers/prep Sitka Sound boards Belly packages Poor decisions are rarely made right by a greater commitment to them. "David Love" -----Original Message----- From: Delwin D Fandrich <del at fandrichpiano.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sun, Jul 3, 2011 8:01 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] Julius Bauer finished Unfortunately I don’t remember the date—this was 25 years ago. I never had the piano officially weighed but my best estimate was somewhere around 2,000 lbs. (A Baldwin SD-10 is, if memory serves, about 1,150 lbs. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA Phone 360.515.0119 — Cell 360.388.6525 del at fandrichpiano.com <mailto:del at fandrichpiano.com> — ddfandrich at gmail.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org?> ] On Behalf Of Laura Olsen Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2011 7:47 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Julius Bauer finished A 9'Bauer! How old was it? It must have been a tank. Any idea how much it weighed? Laura Olsen Barrington, IL On Jul 3, 2011, at 7:54 PM, Delwin D Fandrich wrote: For several years I owned a 9’ Bauer grand. It looked just like an elongated version of Dale’s piano. This was the heaviest piano I’ve ever seen. I often pondered what the looks on the foundryman’s face must have been like when the Bauer folks showed up with that plate design. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA Phone 360.515.0119 — Cell 360.388.6525 del at fandrichpiano.com — ddfandrich at gmail.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org?> ] On Behalf Of Laura Olsen Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2011 5:40 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Julius Bauer finished Hi Dale, I had one of these I took care of for about 15 years. Huge plate. Ribs on both sides of the soundboard, right? Mine was serial number 35073. Was that close to yours? I had a Bauer upright of the same vintage (and heft to the plate). Who cast those plates? They were real knuckle busters. (the uprights). There was a picture on a Journal of the Chicago Opera House, pre 1871 and a W.W. Kimball store and J. Bauer store flanked the main entrance. I think it's in Jack Greenfield's book The History of Midwestern Piano Manufacturing that J. Bauer was established in Chicago in 1857. A chief competitor of Kimball in those days. It was bought by Wurlitzer in 1930 and the name dropped by 1940. What do you think of that soundboard configuration? I'll have to check the archives for your trials and tribulations during the rebuilding process. It looks fabulous. Congratulations. Laura Olsen Barrington, IL On Jun 30, 2011, at 10:10 PM, Dale Erwin wrote: Ok,.... How bout some really fun piano news. Today it finally got done. Many will recall my endeavor over the last few years to restore a 5ft 6 inch Julius Bauer grand circa 1924. Well,... my original assessment about its unique construction, and possible tonal glory, has now been vindicated. It sound fantastic! I have it the same room with my Hot rod B. They are interestingly in similar tonal pockets/universes. Clear floating sustaining sound. A very respectable legitimate sounding bottom end and a decent bass/tenor break. A full bodied and balanced sound. Tenor trebles are clear and singing. Tone powered by Ronsen Weickert. Of course! A little filing over the tops and pound in some tunings and it sound gorgeous. Playing real music on this overweight beast is a real listening pleasure. Affectioanly named ller when the boys moved it 4 years ago. There is so much weight in the palte that it fell over and tried to squash Dennis in the trailer. It hit the side and not him. More pictures <Julius -1.jpg> Web site at WWW. Erwinspiano.com under pianos for sle Dale S. Erwin www.Erwinspiano.com 209-577-8397 209-985-0990 Ronsen hammers/prep Sitka Sound boards Belly packages Poor decisions are rarely made right by a greater commitment to them. "David Love" = <Julius Bauer 2.jpg> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20110704/00b5d507/attachment-0001.htm>
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