rebuilding decisions

[Mark Davidson]

Thanks for the comments, Robin.  The piano is 4'10", quite small, but
interestingly doesn't seem small, if that makes any sense.  SN 51124.
One of the action rails has a 1923 date stamped on the end.
Many baby grands look "truncated" to me whereas this one looks
more to  be proportionately scaled down.  I will post scale
measurements when I have them, but I thought it was interesting to
have wound trichords at the high end of the bass bridge - something
I haven't seen before.

The soundboard seems to be quite solid and the sound is still
strong with lots of sustain (ignoring the dead bass strings and flattened
hammers).  I won't be making any rash decisions in that department.
Right now it's in my garage with a dehumidifier at about 45%
and I'll let it sit a few weeks to make sure nothing develops.
I thought about putting a small (25W) light bulb under the piano
to help dry it, but I don't want to *encourage* cracks, so I think
not.

I tried reshaping one of the flattened hammers and a much fuller
tone resulted, bright but without the harshness of the flat strike
points.

I tend to agree with you about the bridges.  The treble bridge
has only a few hairline cracks, while the bass bridge is really
splitting in places.  The workmanship is amazing on these -
I don't think my photos do them justice.  Note the maker's
mark on the treble bridge photo.

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

Not sure what you're seeing here, but I will check these more
closely.

Silk cords - yes once they start to go...  These are installed with little
pegs holding them in place.  Probably glued also.

Another "feature" -  a small bellows at the left end of the fallboard,
presumably some sort of "slow fall" damping mechanism (fallboard is
two-piece with hinge in middle of keys).

-Mark

> 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?
>
> 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.
>
>
> 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.
>
>
> 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.
>
> The pictures suggests that the pins are loose in the birdseye, even if the
> bushings themselves are OK.
>
> 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 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.
>  You should be able to wind up with a great piano, make a profit and 
> acquire a
> valuable bit of expertise.
> Regards, Robin Hufford
>