Restore 1900 Stieff Upright?

[Farrell]

Mr. Currie:

At least one of the following must be true to reasonably consider restoring
an old upright:

1) It was built by a premium manufacturer, i.e. Steinway, Mason & Hamlin,
Bechstein, Bluthner, etc.

2) It was your grandmother's and you learned to play on it.

3) You absolutely MUST have an antique piano with an antique-type case.

AND IN MOST CASES it is only reasonable to do if the soundboard is OK, the
pinblock is salvagable, and the bridges don't need too much work.

> *  Are there new parts available that can approximate the old ones?>

Yes, there are excellent parts available.

> *  What can one do about "legacy sytems," for lack of a better term, that
> are no longer put in pianos?  I'm thinking especially of the lost-motion
> compensation apparatus on our Stieff, which seems to be mostly missing.>

Let your selected tech/rebuilder include this in his/her quote.

> *  Do you need to find a tech with special experience and skills in old
> Stieffs, or at least old pianos, so that they'll understand and
successfully
> repair the antique action to the character of the original?  Or should any
> good tech be able to do the job?>

You need to find a tech with excellent rebuilding skills and the willingness
to use them.

> *  What about the case?  Is it best to leave it alone (as antique dealers
> would recommend for original "black" finishes), or can it/should it be
> refinished (assuming we could even afford this)?>

If you are restoring the inside, refinish the piano.

> *  I understand that many old uprights just simply aren't worth restoring,
> or simply can't be.  Do you think a 1900 Stieff is a promising candidate
for
> such a project?>

See my aforementioned comments. Get a quote from a reputable rebuilder. See
his/her work. Only you can decide whether it is worth restoring. Assuming
the piano has a good soundboard, pinblock, etc. realize that you will be
spending somewhere in the $5,000 - $8,000 range for a good job. You can buy
a new 52" Yamaha for somewhere around the upper range here. I would not do
it unless at least one of the first three factors I listed is true -
preferably two of them.

By the way, I just happened to look at a turn-of-the-century Steiff small
grand for a lady about 2 hours ago. She is thinking of purchasing it, and I
inspected it for her. I could readily see that that the manufacuring  and
general design (features) quality of the piano was very good - well towards
the upper end. Good luck, I hope this helps.

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Currie" <c.currie@ieee.org>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 4:20 PM
Subject: Restore 1900 Stieff Upright?


> Greetings, pianotechs!  As a layman, I profited immensely from reading the
> archives of this list for several months while researching the purchase of
> an old upright piano for our home.  We finally found a 1900 Stieff,
original
> everything (or what was left of it), in a home near Baltimore, and bought
it
> for the princely sum of $300.  We love it in spite of its scratched and
> peeling case and less-than-ideal sound.  Now, however, my wife is taking
> lessons, and we've found that tuning the darn thing results in numerous
> broken strings (and our tuner is tuning it a half-tone flat).  There are
> other problems, too, so he's recommending a rebuild, and that's the reason
> I'm posting today.
>
> I know from reading this list and from a couple calls my wife made
yesterday
> that rebuilding/restoring this old Stieff would be a several-thousand
dollar
> proposition.  My question is this:  Is it possible to rebuild such a piano
> so that it resembles what it was when new?  After all, for that kind of
> investment, I could get a spanking new piano; I'm not sure I'd want to
make
> a similar investment to bring my old, somewhat beat-up piano to the sound
> and quality of a piano built yesterday.  On the other hand, we might part
> with those dollars to give us something that is similar to the character
of
> the instrument when it was built (and many folks in these parts think the
> old Stieff uprights were much superior to what's built today).
>
> Some questions in this vein:
>
> *  Are there new parts available that can approximate the old ones?
>
> *  What can one do about "legacy sytems," for lack of a better term, that
> are no longer put in pianos?  I'm thinking especially of the lost-motion
> compensation apparatus on our Stieff, which seems to be mostly missing.
>
> *  Do you need to find a tech with special experience and skills in old
> Stieffs, or at least old pianos, so that they'll understand and
successfully
> repair the antique action to the character of the original?  Or should any
> good tech be able to do the job?
>
> *  What about the case?  Is it best to leave it alone (as antique dealers
> would recommend for original "black" finishes), or can it/should it be
> refinished (assuming we could even afford this)?
>
> *  I understand that many old uprights just simply aren't worth restoring,
> or simply can't be.  Do you think a 1900 Stieff is a promising candidate
for
> such a project?
>
> *  If this does turn out to be a viable project, can you refer me to any
> pianotechs who have the experience/expertise to do a job like this?  We
live
> in the Washington-Baltimore area.
>
> I appreciate any comments or advice you might have, and wish you all well
in
> your esteemed profession!
>
> Chris Currie
> c.currie@ieee.org
>
>
>
>
>
>