Rippen, beast or beauty?

[antares]

List,

The Rippen factory was originally a Dutch piano factory in a place called
Ede, in the center of Holland.
Everybody always made fun of the Rippen products (including me) because in
Holland there is a deep rooted feeling that everything outside this Country
is automatically better and superior.

 -It is a Dutch phenomenon that if anybody in this Country has earned a
somewhat higher status and/or makes much more money than the neighbor, then
he/she has to watch out and take care not to stick out too much.
There is a Dutch saying "Hoge bomen vangen veel wind" which translates :
"tall trees catch a lot of wind".
In regard to this I would recommend reading Simon Schama's book 'the
embarrassment of riches' which gives a superior and detailed account of
Holland in the 17th century (Golden age) and it gives us an extensive image
of the Dutch psyche.
Aside from that, it is a very well written book and a great pleasure to read

When I started working as an apprentice for one of the leading firms here in
Amsterdam, I was for the first time in my life confronted with products of
the Rippen factory.
As I had no actual knowledge yet, nor a developed taste in piano sound, I
could not really distinguish good from bad or beautiful from less beautiful.
However, this period lasted for about a year, and slowly but surely I was
able to tell the differences between all the pianos sold there.
This big firm does not exist anymore, but at the time (30 years ago) they
had in their assortment : Bechstein, Yamaha, Feurich, Schimmel, Sauter,
Petrof, Rösler, Förster, Brinsmead, Kemble, Welmar, and Rippen.
The Rippens were quite popular because the price was right, they had a very
good bass, a reliable Renner and/or Langer action and rather remarkable
construction. They were further used over and over again as piano rentals
because they proved to be very strong and reliable simplicity

What then was so remarkable about their construction?

Well, in the uprights :

1. the ribs in the older models were on the inside of the soundboard,
2. the soundboard was therefor not convex but concave and a dry winter
caused the soundboard to give more 'down bearing' instead of the ususal
opposite,
3. the soundboard was not glued to the rim in the bass section, cusing a
very very beautiful and interesting bass,
4. the soundboards were laminated with three spruce layers,
5. the angle of the grain varied by a degree of 90 degrees.

in the grand :

1. the rim was medal of metal,
2. the soundboard was not glued onto the rim, but screwed tight,
3. the soundboards were laminated with three spruce layers,
4. the soundboards were laminated with three spruce layers,
5. the angle of the grain varied by a degree of 90 degrees.
6. there was no real distinction in character between bass and treble.

Then there was another and highly daring development in the line of upright
models : an upright in the shape of a grand...a vertical grand piano like
the old giraffes but then shorter.
The action was really weird, like a fan and the case was funny too as it was
possible to lift the whole grand shaped top lid from the instrument, in
order to work on it (tune, regulate etc).

All these developments took place decades ago, in the 19th Century.
It was in the end a failure, financially speaking, but it shows that behind
all this was the head of a true inventor.
Inventors often need guidance in their financial cares.
A good Dutch example is airplane maker Fokker : in the last stages of
development (actually only a few years ago) they built outstanding airplanes
with revolutionary gluing techniques and electronics. They went down because
of their succes. Another highly respected person is the old Mr, van Doorne,
the inventor of the fully automatic auto transmission with the aid of a
metallic tape or ribbon consisting of metal links. Because of technical
production difficulties the factory went broke a number of times and in the
end his invention was bought up, improved, and used - world wide - by other
auto makers.

It is a story told many times over.
In the piano industry too there were quite a number of great inventors with
very remarkable 'finds'.
Mr. Rippen was a small and humble inventor, but one of 'them' nevertheless.

One of our respected colleagues here in Holland has worked in the Rippen
factory. His name is Rudyard Billenkamp and he is willing to share his
(initial) technical Rippen background with all.

His e-mail address is :

rudyard@euronet.nl

friendly greetings
from

Antares,

Amsterdam, Holland

"where music is, no harm can be"

visit my website at :  http://www.concertpianoservice.nl/


> From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
> Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 07:30:30 -0500
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Subject: Rippen Metal Grand
> 
> Thanks Bill Morton for the pictures. WOW, that is one unusual piano. I think
> if I had not seen your picture and walked into a home to tune a piano and saw
> that, I would have to change my pants! That thing is just too strange. Was it
> made on Mars? Was this thing developed for entertainment on an airplane? Did a
> sister of this one fly on the Hindenburg (sp?)?
> 
> Seriously though, I see it is straight strung! It looks awful grey under the
> strings - please don't tell me it has an aluminum soundboard also? What is the
> wooden curved object that I see under the strings to the rear of the dampers?
> How long is the piano? How does it sound?????
> 
> Thanks again for the picture. Anyone that has not seen an aluminum piano -
> request this picture from Bill. You just gotta see it to believe it!
> 
> Terry Farrell
> 
> 
>