rebuilding decisions

[Robin Hufford]

Hello Mark,

Comments interposed below.

Mark Davidson wrote:

> After searching for a baby grand on which to learn some more skills, I had
> the good fortune to obtain a 1925 Henry F. Miller for small $$.  (Ad said
> "needs tuning").
>

I am surprised to see the piano was made this late if it has agraffes all the
way to the top.  Perhaps I'll learn something here.  The whippen shown in the
picture, though, is quite modern and not like the one used in HF Miller up until
the 1880's or so.  So here you have one antique characteristic- the lack of a
Capo, and one modern one - the type of whippen.   How long is the piano?

>
> Not in good condition, obviously, but all the notes play and all the pieces
> are there, and it is clear after looking it over a bit that this was a high
> quality piano when new. Gorgeous mahogany underneath a mediocre refinishing
> job.
>

These are tremendous pianos, in the very front rank, in my opinion.  At least
the ones up until the second decade or so of the last century.

> So now I have to make decisions about what to repair/replace.  Some things
> are obvious: needs a pinblock, and much of the felt is moth eaten.  Hammers
> have about 1cm long strike "points".  Tuning pins rusty.  Squeaky, flattened
> knuckles.
>
> Less obvious (to me) are
>
> bridges - hairline cracks near pins, worse on bass bridge.  Easiest would be
> to fill with epoxy, as has been discussed.  But I might learn more by
> recapping??  I'll get some photos.  Bass bridge has 9 monochords, 11
> bichords, 8 trichords (all wound).  All the rest is plain wire.
>

In my opinion, on this piano the best course, given adequate downbearing, or the
possibility of acquiring it by a plate adjustment or aliquot change, would be to
pull the bridge pins and seat them in either epoxy or CA.  One should try to
allow the material to flow out into the cracks.  The bass bridge probably should
be recapped.


> soundboard - haven't done any measuring yet.  No cracks visible, but it's
> covered with dirt and still the humid season here.  Crazed finish.  I
> suppose if it has no crown / downbearing and lots of cracks, the answer is
> obvious, but what if that's not the case?  There is a lot written on how to
> measure crown and downbearing, a lot less written on what to do with that
> information.
>

The suggestion elsewhere to replace the board is entirely inappropriate, either
for learning purposes or technical reasons, in my opinion.  Just be sure there
is some measurable crown in it.   One should choose intelligently where to
apply  resources so they will be put to best use.  The board on this piano is
very likely to be perfectly adequate and an expert installation of high quality
material and your chances of replicating this at this point, with a generic, off
the shelf soundboard, are,  pardon me for being frank,  zero to nill.  Not to
mention why take on another headache when one temple is pounding already?  By
that I mean the legion of details to be attended to in doing a good job of
rebuilding what is already there.

> center pin bushings - seem to be in surprisingly good condition, not loose
> nor overly tight.

The pictures suggests that the pins are loose in the birdseye, even if the
bushings themselves are OK.

>
>
> whippens - It's very complicated compared with modern ones I've seen.  These
> have some felts that need replacing, but also have silk cords that look OK.
> Photo attached.
>

The cords are a time bomb waiting to go off and should be replaced.  Also the
pining looks suspiciously like it may be loose, at least on the rep lever.

> One interesting design problem.  There are agraffes all the way to the top,
> and treble hammers are rubbing and hanging up on the plate in the high
> treble.  This limits how close you can get the strike point to the end of
> the string.

One has to be careful with a replacement for the hammers as the shape in this
area is extremely critical if it is to clear well.

>
> I don't really need to make a big profit on this piano, but would like to be
> able to recover my out of pocket costs when done.  It's primarily an
> educational exercise.
>

You should be able to wind up with a great piano, make a profit and acquire a
valuable bit of expertise.
Regards, Robin Hufford

>
> Thoughts?
>
> -Mark
>
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