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There's nothing standing on top of the piano, or leaning against it, is there? I speak as one who once drove 17 miles to move a picture frame... :roll: Sympathetic vibrations can come from the unlikeliest sources; picture frames, lamps, pencils, drinks mats on top, and things like trays, unhung pict...

I see, got the piano tuned and now you want to knock it out again... :lol: Just contact the Beeb; if you ring them, they're really helpful on things like that. I once wanted to know what the theme tune to a TV prog was, and they found out in no time! It doesn't have to be 9 - 5 either, as the duty d...

Speaking as a devil

, glad he sorted it out for you! Don't forget; put a note on your calendar FIVE MONTHS AHEAD now, and start ringing...

Everything depends on how the piano's been looked after. If you could find a serial number on it, Bill can tell you how old it is, but that doesn't tell us what the condition is. It's a bit like being offered a BMW; has it been caned by a boy racer and parked in a street, or was it driven to church ...

To be brutal about it, a tall piano with long strings is far better than a short fat one with short fat strings. And a baby grand is only a short fat piano lying down... :wink: If you're serious about your music studies, you'd be far better off putting your money towards a good - preferably modern -...

Lucy Coad repairs and restores square pianos (don't have contact details, but she pops up if you Google for her!) so would probably be able to help. She's based near Bath. Don't mention stainless steel to her, though, or she might need counselling!

I'm pretty sure that Edition Peters publish it, in which case you could probably get it from them direct in London, or Blackwell's Music Dept in Oxford post me stuff (just pay by credit card.) Don't they do music shops in France, then?! :shock: Though I remember from my days working in a music shop ...

P'raps there's only one bloke in Leeds with a piano...?

Not without seeing the piano. In theory, yes, because M&M made good solid instruments, if not very expensive ones, but a lot depends on how it's been treated since it was born!If it has been somewhere damp, the strings could be rusty and therefore a bit iffy (technical term...) to put more tensi...

There are three common sorts of key; the hollow barrel, the solid barrel, or the triangular. There will be a central spline in the round bit at the top of the keyhole if it's a hollow barrel, no spline if it's a solid key and the hole will be triangular if...well, you get the drift! This is all assu...

Can I add my two penn'orth?
DON'T DO IT!!!

But they were CHEAPER!!! And even then the cash register was winning over the technical integrity - see other comments on plastic bits in actions these days... Touch isn't as responsive from a player's point of view, and from a technical point of view they can be right *%&$^*$s to repair when th...

Look on eBay - I've seen them go for as little as a tenner there. Also, advertise in local shop windows - it's amazing how many people have pianos they don't want but haven't actually got round to getting rid of. Tell the local music shop, as they might have ideas, and finally ask at the local churc...

On a purely emotional basis, I find a lot of the older pianos have a warmth and a tone-quality which even the most expert toner couldn't reproduce on a new Yammy. It really depends what level of player you are - if you're crashing through concertos to learn them for performance for five hours a day,...

Fifth finger on bottom E , to thumb on the higher E and then your third finger over to the G# - smoothly, not a 'jump'! Practise it going up and then down continuously to get it smooth as you can so it feels completely natural, and as you play the bottom E get your hand spread out so the thumb is ni...

It's all down to taste, really, isn't it? Ultimately it boils down to what you like. No piano of the types you mention will be rubbish, so you're safe on that front. I do agree with Andy re the clinical sound of the SU 7; if I were spending ten grand I'd want a warm, vibrant tone - but that's my tas...

See? Told you he knows everything!

One of the larger ones would, but probably not much further. That said it's some while since I tuned one, and they may well have got better. Barrie would know. Barrie? Barrie...?

Gat a tuner/technician in to value it; only an on-the-spot examination will show how it is - whether the strings are rusty, bridges are cracked, frame is cracked, soundboard split...all these affect the value. A local tuner will know the local market and may even know of someone looking for a piano ...

He is probably busy; not enough kids are training to be tuners, and as older tuners retire the workload is increasing. I don't send reminders any more, as the work comes in on its own, as it were, without my spending twenty quid on postage and half a day writing every month! The trick is to call him...

Also, think about emulsion rather than gloss; if the person who has the piano after you feels like stripping and restoring it, the damage won't be irreversible. Gloss is a complete %*&!*$* to remove, I am assured by people who've tried it!

I always recommend the part-load solution to my customers; if the removal men hurt their backs or the piano they're insured

- you wouldn't be! And do you want a mate's bad back on your conscience?!

...yes, up to seventy quid or so in posh antique shops!!

Geoff Shackell at Witney is a Steinway specialist - you must get someone to have a look at it properly!

...and if the key covers are ivory and you take them off VERY VERY CAREFULLY they go for quite a bit on eBay.
Sorry, Geminoz, but if he's determined to murder it we might as well try to make sure SOME of it goes to a good home...

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Like a guitar; you can have a good make (Gibson, Fender, etc.) but if it hasn't been looked after it will be unplayable. Buying from eBay is a gamble - there are many honest sellers and many bargains, but there are sometimes crooks who sell untuneable/unplayable pianos. If you're thinking of bidding...

Well, let's face it, how patient are men compared to women...?! :D We want to get rid of something, we advertise it, mention it to friends...they want rid, and it's " God, is it still here after ten seconds? CHOP IT UP!!!" Now if it were an old car...it would have to be surgically removed ...

From the Music Trades Review of April 1917:- " While trying to reconcile ourselves to parting with the piano to make room for a bookcase, the thought struck me - 'Surely this would make a fine bookcase if its insides could be bodily taken out without injury to the frame.' The result is that we ...

Tell your piano tuner you're looking for pupils; I always get people asking me about piano teachers. Parish church magazines have proved an effective and cheap form of advertising for me over the years - for the price of half a tuning I get about two new customers a year. Thompson local directories ...

Can the magazine not supply you with back-numbers? Always worth a try!

If you're Grade VII ish, I would have thought a Clavinova would drive you mad; the touch isn't the same, whatever the salesmen say, and neither is the sound. Also, by the end of a couple of years, the clavinova will have depreciated in value enormously. What about a hire/buy scheme? Most larger pian...

Right, well then, you contact the tuner who was used to tuning it and ask him for an idea on price; he knows the instrument, and will be aware of any potential problems (loose pins, cracks in bridges/soundboard, etc) which might affect the price. He will also know the local market and may even know ...

I know this will hurt but you're going to have to PAY a tuner/technician to come and have a look. :shock: If I said I'd been left an old Bentley, what's it worth, you'd need to know how old exactly, how's it been looked after,how hard it's been driven, what conditions has it been kept in, etc., etc....

The Oldie magazine ( :shock: I know, but you don't have to be old to read it!) run a Piano Weekend. I'm not sure when it is, or where (it has been held at Cambridge University before now, but I think it's moved venues) but they seem to enjoy themselves. It isn't cheap, though.WHSmiths are supposed t...

I think Nippon Gakki just means 'Made in Japan', or that it's a Japanese company. But then we knew that...

As to price it depends on condition and whereabouts you are. Get a tuner out to have a look - it may save an expensive mistake!

Seems a bit premature, to send a notice without checking the veracity of the report. Is that usual? Could she visit the pupils in their own homes until it's sorted? A few piano teachers round here do that, but she'd lose out on travelling time and petrol bills. And pupils here are provably closer to...

Won't Environmental Health measure it for you? I'd do that first, because if they say the noise isn't unreasonable, there's no need to carry on soundproofing to the nth degree. What about waffle/eggbox type of proofing? That's what they played with at college when I was there hundreds of years ago. ...

A few of my customers have found that slabs of polystyrene (the sort of two inch thick stuff you lag tanks with) underneath and behind the piano has helped. Also that the piano shouldn't be on the floor directly, but on carpets, rugs - anything to help deaden the sound. The teacher could also approa...

I'm amazed I DO remember the scale fingering - it's so long since I practised scales I more or less need a red dot on middle C to remind me where it is :roll: . Are you anywhere you could get hold of a Scale Manual? The Associated Board do them, and they detail all the scales from C major to Z# melo...

Right Hand, major scale of C, up then down: 123 1234 123 1234 5 4321 321 4321 321 Left Hand: 54321 321 4321 32 1 23 1234 123 12345 Practise passing the thumb under unobtrusively; it's easy to hear a "thump" when the thumb strikes, otherwise. Pick a note and stick your third finger on it, t...

See the postings under the thread title 'Mariage d'amour' by Clayderman; all the same advice applies.
Good luck!

"No digital piano will ever sound or play like a real one" - you said it! So why not get a proper one? Go ooooooooooooooonnnn, you know you want to! :lol: Think what a plastic one will be worth in five years' time...then think what the real one will be worth!(I have decided that I have a s...

"No digital piano will ever sound or play like a real one..." You said it! So why not get a proper one? Go ooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnn....you know you want to! :lol: Think what a real one will be worth in five years' time. And think what a digital will be worth in five years' time...! ...

Digitals take up as much floorspace as proper pianos - you only save on wall space.
The Broadwood doesn't eat anything; it's not costing anything except space, so there's no hurry in deciding what to do. Keep running your fingers over the keys, though, to keep it moving.

Yes, you can get a few keys recentred - you don't need to get the lot done!
I earlier said 'Hydroceel' unit - I should have said Damppchaser..sorry!

SV's right; get a tuner's opinion before you consign the joanna to the garage for ever!
On the ingenious uses side, one customer has made a fishtank to fit inside the top half of a knackered piano. He now has a pianna full of piranha!

If anyone else has stories about tuners - the more dim and distant the better! - please contact me via private message or on this thread (if that's all right, Barrie!) as I'm researching the history of the piano tuner in England. Well,someone has to...

A Very Happy Birthday to ABPTA!!!!

Get a humidity meter; that will show you whether you're in the humidity band that Barrie mentioned. As soon as the action's moving freely, lose the de-humidifier. Around here, piano shops sell meters, but the piano parts firms mentioned elsewhere on the site should be able to sell you one. I've foun...

Me again - sorry! I've looked up the number and your Broadwood appears to be between 1876 and 1884 - much closer to the 1884 end of that bracket.

You would never ever get your money back on restoring an old wooden framed piano. A restring is over five hundred quid (well over! I'm being optimistic and allowing for the fact that you might live somewhere with a low cost of living!) and action work is as much again if you have it done completely....

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