Mirror Pianos

[Maxpiano@aol.com]

List -

I had no idea what I was starting when I made that comment about Kluttz Piano
Co., and their mirror pianos.

The idea of cutting uprights down may have arisen during WWII when new pianos
were not being made, but it rose to new heights in the 1950's in the
Carolinas and Georgia, as people tired of the old "horse and buggy" upright
pianos and craved for the champagne of new, smaller pianos but lived on a
ginger ale budget.  There were individual technicians cutting them down, but
several larger outfits started doing it wholesale.

Among them was Rice Music House, the S&S dealer in Columbia, SC, who (as I
was told) started the MirraPiano name (I have been offered their left-over
decals for free).  Moving companies in Baltimore and Washington and points
north had warehouses full of old uprights that had been left in apartments
and been picked up, and would sell them for $25 each if you wanted to take
them as they came out, or $35 if you wanted to pick and choose.  I remember
visiting such a warehouse in the 1950's.  So this dealer got a trailer truck
to shuttle back and forth keeping his four stores supplied with pianos to cut
down.

He eventually discarded the MirraPiano name, and the Rice Mirror pianos I
occasionally run across had solid cabinet reworking, toe pieces and legs left
intact, and with mirrors attached to a board and shelf that can be removed
whole to set on top of the pin block.  Other outfits' work is less pleasant
to work on - there are some where the only support for the long piece of
mirror other than the two mounting screws, is 1/4" of overlap with the
cabinet on either end - and many do not have all the edges smoothed or
beveled from cutting, so one must handle sharp edges carefully.

I have never asked a customer to remove the mirror (never broken one,
either).  While I dislike the practice and the result (of cutting down an
otherwise lovely instrument), my philosophy is that I am there to serve people
 - the customer first - and my family in terms of support as a close second -
and I can ill afford to blow a hole in my working day by refusing to service
a serviceable instrument after making provision to do it.

Then there was the time when I was called to estimate on an old upright that
had actually been shortened - the plate cut apart at the bottom and welded
back together.  I didn't do that one - it was hopeless!

Bill Maxim, RPT
maxpiano@aol.com
Columbia, SC