Category: Articles
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Three Approaches to Piano Restoration
When rebuilding a piano, the restorer is presented at every turn with questions concerning the extent to which the piano’s original design, parts, and materials should be preserved, or conversely, altered or replaced. The philosophies that guide these decisions fall roughly into three camps, which might be called respectively: Conservative, Modern, and Innovative. Of course,…
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Piano Pitfalls #6 – Tuners
PIANO TUNERS At present, the old time piano tuner/craftsman is fairly rare. He was the family tuner who cleaned, tuned, regulated and voiced the family instrument for years. The father/son relationship in piano tuning has almost ceased to exist, although everal fine examples of sons following in dad’s footsteps are still evident in Sydney. With…
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Piano Pitfalls #5 – Problems
VERMIN When buying a used instrument from a private home it is not uncommon to be greeted with “it was Grannies, hasn’t been played for thirty years and it’s in beautiful order!!!” Question: When was it last tuned and by whom? Any instrument without regular attention is an attractive place for vermin. The most common…
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Piano Pitfalls #4 – Wear & Tear
IVORY OR COMPOSITION KEYS. by Richard Smith The most beautiful feel to any pianist is the smooth, even and soft touch of an ivory keyboard. In Australia, we may have seen the last of ivory as a keyboard top, due to the customs law regarding imports of endangered species, ivory now prominent on the list.…
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Piano Pitfalls #3 – Strings
by Richard Smith At the turn of the 20th century, most over-damper pianos were “straight strung”. This means that all strings, both bass and treble were stretched vertically. The quality of tone in the bass strings was very thin. Length of string, in the bass notes particularly, plays a major part in the quality of…
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Piano Pitfalls #2 – Frames
by Richard Smith Mr Richard Smith was a highly respected teacher of keyboards in the City of Wollongong NSW. Frames – Wooden or Iron? In N.S.W. alone, there are literally hundreds of pianos with wooden frames, in my district of Illawarra, far, far too many. The most notable two makes are Bord and Aucher, Freres.…
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Piano Pitfalls #1 – Buying a Used Piano
by Richard Smith FOR SALE Small piano suitable for beginner or student, Reasonable price. Ring xxxxxxx Advertisements similar to this appear regularly in most classifieds. Having seen this ad, most Mums and Dads (not aware of pitfalls and not wanting to spend too much, “in case our daughter or son does not like learning”), buy…