List, I worked on an absolutely beautiful Steinway A, 1916 today. Beautiful because of the art work painted on the case. Flowery borders with classical type pictures on the sides and lid. The Steinway & Sons fallboard decal was also painted on. The owner said a shop in New York told him the artist went by the name of Blackmoor or something like that and that Steinway made some number of these pianos. This is white mahogany? which is pecan in color at this time. What a beauty...I wish I could say the same for the sound...He had the action "restored" in the 1993 because of vertegri. Steinway hammer, shanks and flanges but the tone was gone, the hammers were huge...needs lots of filing and juicing...He said he had the original shanks and flanges and brought them out. I installed and the original H, S & F and the tone was there...The hammers were in good condition! I lubed with Protek and they freed up perfectly...we may put the old H,S & F's back on if the Protek works in the long term... Anyhoo, if anyone has any information on these hand painted cases please post to the List or me privately David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA ilvey@a.crl.com
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