[CAUT] 80 year old S&S hammers

Jim Busby jim_busby at byu.edu
Thu Apr 9 19:24:15 PDT 2009


All,

A few months back I posted an ad by the father of the "5 Browns" for a 1939 D for sale. Supposedly it was pick by Paderewski for his final concert...  I finally got to look at the piano. It did have quite good sound, good sustain, crown in the soundboard and the right bearing in the right places, etc., no killer octave, per se, and all original except the strings, which were 6 years old. I've never seen a CC soundboard that old that good. Did they do rib-crowned soundboards back then? Maybe they just got lucky. Rick Baldassin was with me and agreed that this one needed an action rebuild only.

The main reason I'm writing is that the hammers were original, and although it was played hard for many hours every day for many years, these hammers still sound great! No grooves. No Lacquer. Very supple felt. How can that be? 80 years and no grooves/wear??

I kind of chuckled at all the hype in his ad, but it was kind of refreshing to find that it was a decent instrument.

Jim Busby

p.s. I think a school in Oregon is trying to buy it.
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