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not understand any of this

Colin
who told you of the trick of plucking the trebles with the Papps wedge?
Nobody told me.nor did I read it anywhere so is it something in tuners genes as many seem to do it?
Not in Reblitz (yet)?

Who was Mr Papps and did he make a wodge from his wedges?

As I read all this my heart sinks as I forsee all the increasing aggravation that is building up. Personally I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole as nobody is going to be happy-- the client will find it was not all he expected and the technician will be eternally called back for minor adjustments t...

let the tech tune the piano and fix the broken notes on the spot if possible. If it is a spring and loop action with a couple of loops broken, you are looking at replacing the lot. If the piano tunes ok then all you have to do is decide if you want to go ahead to restore it with the advice of the te...

The wrest pins seem to be square to me and as Colin says make sure they are not threaded into an iron wrest plank.Try to drive them in and the plank will irretrievably crack. Personally, if it were me,before you do anything else,I would hire a tuner/ technician to look it over,tune it if possible,re...

this one dates from the 1920s whatever the serial number says

The name "Schreiber" appears to be in genuine Deutscherbuchstaben that suggests it was made in Germany for export

Assuming you live in a house, I have never heard of any piano that has suffered from "European Weather."

Keep it warm,keep it dry,40-60 relative humidity, keep it serviced and tuned and play it often.
If you are not enamoured of Yamahas, try a Kawai K-15 that you will get for £3k new.

presumably you will de-string it otherwise it will hum like a beehive..
As Bill says, the conversion is better than scrapping it.

sounds like a result.
I bet Bill's not pleased. Neither am I.

Bill I've got my weekly work book at Moningtons 56-58 in the finishing.tuning dept. if it's of interest. The boss was Mr Watts senior and his sons, Clarence(ex Lancaster bomber pilot) and Bernard. Bernard had twins and once invited me to tea in N London somewhere! It's all in pencil and a a bit blur...

We have for sale a beautiful 1909 Bechstein grand in largely solid mahogany Sheraton case with carved legs and cheeks. Everything appears original--hammers,strings, belly etc'. The ivories are Daz white and it is in beautiful un-worn condition. Should I wrench out it's heart when it is fit to do ano...

Barrie
dump nothing!
Send them to me and I'll pay the carriage.
We used to use a cupped rod against the wrest pin and then use a leather strap, armed with oily pumice to clean coils.
For goodness sake, I've still got a vellum saw and sets of vellums!

we still use them

refer to my post ages ago re the family cleaning kit;
nail brushes,tooth brushes, flute cleaning brushes, steel wands, goose feathers, bridge pin files,
flute rods,blunted hacksaw blades, blunted coping saw blades etc

sets available here @ £3.17.6p

viewing the keyframe it seems the backtouch is the original . likewise the one brown balance washer. Perhaps the front baizes aren't original. The hammer-rest felt looks fresh so possibly it's different thickness from the original and has not been compensated for.(see previous posts) If you want to ...

Is the set-off rail loose?
Is it correctly positioned under the jacks?
It could be that it needs moving forward or back a bit

Old fogey speaking. one must realise that an acoustic piano is a box of bits of unstable string,felt,wire,wood etc-- all very scientifically unmeasurable materials. Given the box,the tuner is then instructed to put the resulting instrument nicely out of tune(equal temperament.)so that it sounds ok t...

Perfect advice

seems to have been "modernised" about 1900 as there are the screw holes for sconces.
The panels look very out of place.

Gill the Piano

Listen missus I got Georgie Fame's autograph so there

I seem to be back on now. The Broadwoods 250 year Dinner invite lists all the guests- many of whom I didn't know of course, but what a trip down memory lane reading it now.. We were only invited because sold lots of the beautiful late Broadwoods in the 70s. Present was Tom Danemann,Ivan Zender the H...

Kawai for me every time.
I'll buy modern Yamahas(not greys) anytime if they have survived ok.However, only once in a blue moon does a Kawai come up for sale.

Knights of that age are very resilient and at that time ,soon after the war were almost exclusively made for export to earn hard cash.
In Britain they attracted 100% purchase tax to encourage exports.

Gill must go to all the p;aces we do My anecdote is true not a chestnut but this year. On the same trip I went to the hew £10million island school to find the ancient old piano re-instated. The janitor(caretaker) told me I wasn't allowed to touch it as it was dangerous!( This is after my having pene...

We encourage people to put things on the piano. A grand piano allows one to display five times the number of christmas cards as opposed to an upright.Photos too. It can ,at the same time accommodate at least one vase of flowers poised to spill water into the long-hinge on the half top. Fortuitously,...

We have used SAP several times and their work is superlative and the prices are v competitive.
They had a problem once with the lid of one of our grands and they made a new one free of charge-no questions asked.
Recommend them 100%.

we need to see a pic of the end of the leg. An "A" frame sounds like a later addition for use in a hall or club.. If square cupped castors were removed prior to constructing the frame it's likely the " stubs" were sawn off, thinking that never in a million years would anyone want...

We are now in Scotland (last 30 years) Before that in Canterbury and Margate.
When we were in Margate,Alfred Knight himself visited as he was the rep.
I have no records whatsoever of past sales.
We are piano technicians,repairers,dealers tuners etc

The photo of the underside of a key shows my personal monogram so I must have handled it sometime in the past!
Vernon Kennard

When I said that all Bechsteins have a false tenor section I was shot down in flames. Nice to know that Gill the Piano seems to agree with me. They send me barmy, but then, I am a rather sensitive soul. Am I and she alone? Why do crap old straight- strungs not suffer so much from falseness and have ...

Blimey!
What are things coming to.How sad.
I used to walk across town( a mile) for a lesson and had to be back by seven, Never had a watch even.

That's correct.it seems you have a longidtuninal crack in the wrest.
No cure. New wrest plank plank,

Peut-etre un three man queue?

Back to basics.
In the factory one is presented with all the case parts in front of you preparatory to staining.
The rule is ; the vertical panels(top door bottom door sides) are given two coats of stain and then wiped off..
The horizontal parts fall top etc are given one and wiped off.
job done.

With the horrifying forked shanks, supreme care is needed before proceeding with any repairs.

Actually I used to go under the name of Julius Bluthner.
Perhaps you've come across me!

Bill
Eyre and Baxter(Stampcraft)

Bill
I had a name stamp made in the 1950s that I still use on good repairs.
I've no idea who made it but it was a firm in Sheffield.
Come to think of it ,it must be on the Web as I got one for my daughter about three years ago. I'll see if I can find the Firm.

Bill How do you know so much! As you know it was(and is) the custom for the various craftsmen to stamp the area of their expertise on their work. The stringer, marker off case maker, finisher and regulator tuner etc as a mark of pride. it is interesting to see their names on different instruments. I...

Any competent restore will be able to give a quote. There is nothing mysterious about Erards.

If you go to a reputable shop you will get a good modernish piano for under £1000 that is in good order and backed by the repution of the shop.
Private sales and ebay beckon disaster..
We occasionally get a super old straight strung, with full iron frame, concert pitch for a monkey*£500)

This is clearly a 1950s "modernised" or at least half modernised. The top door has just been reversed and covered with a sheet of( I suspect,plywood).As usual the bottom door is retained. All the holes in the top door are where the mouldings used to be. The trusses have been replaced by th...

place a steel rule from the top bearing( below the wrest pinsPover the bridge and to the appropriate hitch pin.The end of the rule should be above the base of the hitch pin ie the iron frame by 3-4mm and that is the bearing. As Colin says, less than that and its big trouble. If subsequently restrung...

Whereabouts are you. Area can affect the price offered. The dealer's current level of stock, demand for that quality of piano etc.(leave aside age and condition)qualify an offer. A dealer will offer you what it is worth to him on that day..- collection, bringing up to standard regulation tuning, cos...

Speaking as an old technician I would say that a few pot plants round your joanna will keep it perfectly healthy. You've got to keep them watered else they will die.
Jam jars in the piano are soon forgotten but not your priceless alopesia plants.

An interesting point is that all piano bellys are varnished overall to xcluse moisture.
String instruments are only varnished on the exterior. The inside is raw

we used to collectively call this "tree-wood" meaning that it joined several other unspecified and unidentified timbers.
However, Knights called this walnut.

looks like a K 10

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