uprights

[Anne Beetem]

>
>The outcome?....one VERY nice-sounding piano. The lady, though, would not
>allow me to recover the keys. I had to leave these broken, discoloured
>inories entirely alone (?). 

A wise brave woman!   She understood the underlying quality of the
instrument, and its history is part of its value.  Many of those old
uprights are indeed superior to the cheapies available off the boat today,
as you found out.  Does it surprise you so much that somebody prefers ivory
to too shiny, too slippery plastic?  Again, a wise woman.  I have seen many
19th century  pianos historical value compromised by replacing the ivories,
yes, even chipped and broken, with "perfect"  plastic.  Matching and
replacing ivories is generally a good compromise.  

>
>I wont do another one in a long time, but the interesting part of the
>whole fiasco is the sound of this piano. It souds (to my ear) fuller than
>the U1 Yamaha. It's voiced a little more mellow than the U1 because
>that's the way I usually voice them for this use and where the customer
>says they don't like a "bright piano". Frankly, outside of stage use,
>neither do I.
>
>In this case the pay-off was not the money, but rather the sound of this
>piano after rebuilding.
>
>just for conversation
>
>Ralph Martin MPT 
>

Thanks Ralph!  Good work.  
Anne Beetem
Harpsichords & Historic Pianos