<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2716.2200" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Looked at an old upright in a church social hall today. The fallboard name is "The Oliver" and the Plate = says "Oliver ... Chicago Ill. & Huntington, Ind. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>I tune their chapel piano and they wanted my = advice. My advice will be ".. .off the nearest cliff" But they were really = interested in knowing its age. Pierce is not clear ... two listings for = "Oliver."</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Anyone? The serial number is 21719. Would it be = a Schaff Bros. (Wurlitzer) serial number? That would make it 1905 and it = certainly could be that old.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Base strings are steel or nickel-wound, = definitely not brass. When was steel used? Might they be original or a 60-year-old = re-string? Man, talk about some dead bass strings, we are talking about Zither-Zombies, here (not a bridge problem either). </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Thanks, </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Alan Barnard</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Stumped in Salem, MO</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>