Old uprights - think twice?

[Tony Caught]

Hi Peoples,   Sorry for the rave.

It sometimes seem that the longer we are in business the more respect we
have for the older pianos.

I can't play, I only listen.  I know what I like and I know what others tell
me that they like, but some times as we all know, we can't put the feelings
of sounds into the words that all will understand.

I remember 20 odd years ago that conversations I was having with pianists
and music teachers that the old piano has that "sound" but the new pianos
all sound high or tinny or sharp or something at that time I could not
describe.  To you, today I would say the old pianos were strung at a lower
tension and thus had a lower inharmonicity rating.

It seems (then) that people liked the sound of the older piano when playing
classical music, it had more harmony to it. I prefer Beethoven on a Ronish,
List on a Lipp and Mozart definitely on a Feurich. I have come across some
pianos with a bell like chime to them and others with a bass so rich I just
want to delve in the harmonics for hours to get the best combinations.

New pianos to me are new pianos.  Some new pianos tonally die after 6 or 7
years, even good ones. I don't profess to know the real reasons why, I guess
at things like kiln dried timber, timber selection, glues used, shaped
soundboards, the desire to always reduce costs in production via cheaper
materials and labour, the list goes on.

There are Rock & Roll bands out there tuning guitars and bass to 1/2 tone
below then using a capo just to get that tension free ? sound that they
want. Is everything going tinnier by demand or default. ?

The customer is always going to depend or the tuner for advise and this can
be given over years.  Pianos I first quoted restringing for 5 years ago are
now being done because the customer can hear the difference and will save
the money to do the work if, the piano is really worth it, if, you, the
tuner have been honest about all the piano.  Don't try to do it all at once,
but section by section.  Maybe start with the tone (hammers, dampers) then
the touch keys keyboard felts regulation then the strings.
The customer can see the improvements as you go along.

My string winder tells me that I replace more strings than any of his other
customers and I live in a place where there are less pianos (and tuners)
than anywhere else so I guess you could say that I am biased towards the old
pianos.

But, I always tell my customers that if you do this work you won't be able
to sell the piano for what it cost you to repair but then again you wouldn't
be able to replace it for under double the price. You do it for your own
enjoyment, for a piano you want and for a piano that is going to be there
for another 80 years.

Show them more respect ?

Have you ever reshaped the hammers, regulated the action on an old piano and
had the owner crying from enjoyment, on hearing how the life was wonderfully
brought back on an instrument that was thought to be dead ? I have, often.
And I say shame on all you piano tuners out there who walk in, tune the
piano and walk out because your running late for the next job.  How can you
let pianos get so bad that people like me can get so much joy over doing
something so simple.

These old pianos deserve to be revered.

Regards and Merry Christmas to you all

Tony Caught ICPTG
Australia
caute@optusnet.com.au


----- Original Message -----
From: Clyde Hollinger <cedel@supernet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2000 9:46 PM
Subject: Old uprights - think twice?


> Friends,
>
> I am wondering if there is a gradual change in our thinking taking place
> regarding old uprights.  Ten years ago I would have thought that the
> best way to advise owners of these pianos is that they be disposed of.
>
> Yet some of them were very well built, and it seems to me that there is
> a slow but increasing sentiment that at least the better ones are worth
> keeping.  Should we show these old beasts more respect?
>
> Regards,
> Clyde Hollinger, RPT
> Lititz, PA, USA
>
>
>