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you're in denial.
get the dealer to fix it.
That's what our mark-up is for.

If you were my customer, I would exchange your piano straight awayfor another one and sort the the regulation out properly in my workshop,-not your front room.
Mind you, it wouldn't have left us in that condition anyway.
It's only going to get worse,not better. The faults won't heal up.

This is a routine job for a tech---not neccessarily for a tuner. Different trade

The Lindner story is very sad. When they came out in the 70s they incorporated so many innovations that the conservative piano industry couldn't cope First they came "flat packed" years before Ikea, with the keyboard folded down and the whole lot in a stout cardboard box. They were cheap. Had a weld...

I remember in the early 80s one of the Danemann brothers would call as he was their rep. I remember he had a wooden leg!
He would huff and puff into the shop and slump onto a stool, produce his order book and say "what am I putting you down for today!"
I always called him Mr "Danemann" with no demur.

A new one on me.

I saw an early 1900s Danemann u/r with ornate case today ,unfortunately with split plank and completely useless.

However, on removing the delightful "Arts and Crafts" style plate on the fall it revealed underneath an inlaid brass name " T Edwards"

What's going on there?

and hiding the knots and cracks and old bits of firewood used occasionally.

Most tuners carry them--or should do

Korrect.

I look down on you. I look up to him!

What about the fortunately rare ones where your trained assistant plays the keys while you squat at the back and tune the loosish long through wrest pins?
I remember those times when our family was living in a cardboard box on the M1

I know this is about Lindners but.. I've got a teacher in the wilds of w scotland who has an Eavestaffe Miniroyal that is built into an alcove. You can just raise the coffin lid enough to tune it. There is a broken jack b flat that cannot be accessed without a builder. She just says " I just avoid b...

better than Crotchet I suppose

As Bill says, don't think it's modernised----three pedals,88note etc and lid is recessed and not pruned off.The columns aren't the standard modernised sort tho' similar.The pedals appear to be in a satin finish that I have never seen.
Very intriguing. Hope someone recognises it

Not strictly relevant but my Dad worked at Allisons during the first War and he suggested that they closed then due to some sort of lock out or strike.
This is just a vague memory of him talking as we cleaned out old pianos in the workshop tea break.
I bet Bill Kibby will know!

These are all quality instruments and tested by time.
Follow your heart and choose the one that suits you best. Touch ,tone, looks,cost. .etc.You are the final arbiter and you will be hapy ever after.

What a fantastic joanna

If I were the dealer I would just send you the new one when it arrives and repair the damaged one back in the workshop with all the equipment to hand and no rush.
The amount of jars,colours burnishing gear,resin etc needed for the smallest blemish is amazing

I can't think anyone would want to forge a Boyd. I think it's more likely that Boyds used a different font sometimes.
Most other makers have over the years.

viz; Broadwoods,SteinwayChappell et al.

Add a trailer with a few pianos for sale or hire behind the van.

That seems pretty definitive.
Wasn't there some scandal with Broadwood White?

Why would one forge an Erard? Seems a lot of trouble to go to.I would have thought Erards would have them assassinated in those wilder days.

The sloping/opening top door indicates a Canadian influence. This feature(to increase the volume) was often worked by a third pedal or hand lever. Check for these. Never seen the principle in any other nationality. Heinzmann used them. Interestingly,some ancient harpsichords had a pedal or lever tha...

A competent tuner/technician/ dealer (must be all three)will give you an indication of it's replacement value for a fee.
An excellent example will only be in the low hundreds mind.

Colin You've not seen nothing not yet! I've got an ancient upright in Ullapool that fortunately is past any hope. However, I can't find out how the action comes out and I do know a few tricks. Admittedly, I controlled my curiosity for fear the whole lot would disintegrate on the floor leaving me wit...

I'll keep the action and keyframe. Good idea re agraffes Thanks

Right on

that piano can't be younger than the first World War from the case alone

Colin Gone years ago. I would have had them! It fell over with the carriers and started all the seams so reluctantly I have written it off.I think I'll keep the key frame.. Even the Bechstein trapwork has gone and that would have been handy. Somebody had tried to fit a pedalboard I suspect,using a k...

Dismantling a damaged Bechstein upright overstrung,newly strung,gilded frame etc, tied action Don;t know the model. Set of excellent white keys.

Free to a good home before I demolish

I really hope people listen to this sort of practical advice from technicians with years of experience between us. One can counteract the ravages of time on any old piano if no expense is spared but the result will be nothing like the original except in cosmetic appearance. Sure, we still have an ol...

roger to that good sense

As I remember,Knights never really "did" grands. Similarly, neither did Kembles or modern Broadwoods.
However, Danemannn made superlative grands- top of the tree in 60s= 70s.
Indeed, Mr Ogden when he won the Tchaikovsky Piano prize in 70s(?) picked a Danemann for himself from all competitors.

No Monington and Weston ever had eight octaves.
If the lowest note is as you describe it then it has suffered some trauma and has been re-constructed but this will not affect the integrity of the rest of the piano.

It is clear that you are "abroad" by the power socketnext to the piano The spiders to be seen in the piano should keep any moths at bay. If the piano is newly installed, I suggest you leave it in a warm room for a couple of weeks. It may get worse briefly but there is a good chance much of the stick...

Never ever come across one in70 years

We've just given a new lease of life to an old Bechstein upright upon which some herbert had installed some sort of pedal mechanism. This entailed chopping off large bits of the innards and giving us a nightmare trying to restore the original Bechstein pedalwork. His work seems to have been accompli...

Bill Kibby
Thanks for the comprehensive reply.
You should charge everyone for the prodigiuos information you supply
bw Vernon ( letter in the post)

We are doing up a Bluthner grand aliquot 70000 ish (1906?). However, on the belly varnished over, it lists prizes at exhibitions up to 1929!
Was there some skullduggery about this?

ref Colin's recommendation to test the pitch with a tuning fork; most of the new pianos seem to come in at A444 nowadays for some reason and it is anathema to a tuner to lower the pitch as that will happen on it's own with time if not religiously maintained.

Yes, the Kawais are serviced in the UK before dispatch to their dealers with the result that we don't have to spend ages setting them up properly.
They are super pianos and knock spots off their rivals in my opinion.

For goodness sake look at the Kawais they wil knock spots off the Yamahas

why not just but proper Kawai K 15

Tuned a 1910 ish s/strung piano today Wilson Nottingham or some such trade piano. It's 3/4 frame but the false bit of old iron round the wrest plank has their name cast in it. In those days was it usual to get that done to make it look as tho' you'd built it. Although there was a Trade Description A...

Surely the second hand Yamahas are a minefield of old/older grey imports of questionable antecedents.
A new Kawai K200 would knock spots off them, in my humble opinion

It's an old trade piano with a "modernised case done in the 1950s.
Probably straight strung and overdamper.
Unless you get a technician to look at it you may be wasting £40.

My problem with used Yamahas is that there is no way to determine their age or antecedents

Without seeing either of the pianos on offer,my first thought is that the Bluthner,whatever the work done on it is grossly overpriced. If it has had all the work recommended by Colin then it is now hardly a "Bluthner!" For a good Chappell of the age mentioned I would think £1500 would do nicely. All...