key duplication/uprights

[Brian Trout]

Hi Mark,

I've had this gut feeling also, that someday people at large might just
figure out that some of those old uprights could be pretty nice pianos if
they were _really_ restored / rebuilt.

It seems that the upright is in a time warp about 30 years behind the grand,
at least in this country.  30 years ago, a person who "rebuilt" a grand was
likely giving it the ol'  _ file the hammers, replace the keytops, maybe
replace the dampers, maybe restring with oversize pins, spraypaint the plate
as accessible, and if they wanted to be fancy, maybe even refinish the
soundboard, hoping not to have to touch those bridges..._   Right now,
there's a lot of old upright pianos that have gotten a similar treatment (or
less), and have been passed off as rebuilt.  It's no wonder the upright has
gotten the public reputation of being the clunky old dinosaur that'll be
dead soon with no hope of resurrection.

Someday, people are going to find out that a good rebuilder can take an old
upright piano, and turn it into a fine piano, and a nice playing instrument.
And some of them have cabinets on them like you just can't buy new anymore.

The uprights have a big advantage in that they have a very large soundboard,
and much longer strings than many of the tiny little "baby grands" (I hate
that term).  If an upright piano would receive a new soundboard, new
bridges, a new pinblock, rescaling, some keyboard work, and basically a new
action, (much like what the high end rebuilders of grands are doing now), I
think people would be surprised at the tonal and structural quality of
instrument that they would have.  There was a thread a while back on whether
to rebuild a Steiff upright.  Wow, what a piano to rebuild!  If done well,
it could likely blow away a lot of new pianos out there.  (LaPetites, look
out!)

There are limits to what a rebuilder can do.  There were a lot of old
uprights out there that deservingly went to 'piano heaven' long ago.  Some
were really not very good pianos.  But a fair number of them were very solid
ly built, and very much over-engineered by today's design standards.

I have in the back of my mind to rebuild an upright piano someday, not
sparing the expense of giving it the whole enchilada, going the whole nine
yards, taking it farther than this guy has ever taken an upright before...
I just haven't found the right one yet.  I've found nice cabinets around
some of the lesser pianos, and plain cabinets around some of the nicer
pianos.  I'm just looking for that nice fancy old cabinet around an old
Steiff or similarly built piano.  When the time is right it'll happen.

Sorry if I waxed rhapsodic there for a moment... <g>

Best wishes,

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net