Restoring Collard & Collard Grand

Stéphane Collin collin.s@skynet.be
Thu, 3 Mar 2005 12:40:22 +0100


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Hello Peter !

How is the sound ?  I recall having heard 3 Collard & Collard upright =
pianos, and they all had the same funny sound like if there was way not =
enough tension in the strings.  It made me think that those were =
designed to be tuned far higher than 440.  Just curious if the grand has =
the same issue.

Period hard drawn iron strings reproductions are available from =
different sources : Malcom Rose (www.malcom-rose.com) (you would =
probably choose type C) ; Stephen Paulello (he's got a nice chart for =
deducing (following his assumptions) the right string quality after the =
string length, the gage and the diapason) ; Pure sound =
(www.puresound-wire.com) (but this wire will probably be too stiff for =
the Collard & Collard).
But those strings are a modern mild steel compromise, not the real iron =
stuff.  Stephen Birkett had a project for reproducing the period iron =
equivalent.  I don't know if he already finalized this.  Some nice info =
here : http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett/historical%20wire.htm

Beware, when rescaling such an instrument with modern wire you have a =
great risk to over tension the piano, leading to pinblock failures =
and/or case failures.  And if you rescale with particular tension in =
mind, you could end up with not enough tensionned strings that will =
sound funny.  Many restorers here will first try to save the original =
strings and clean them.

Best regards.

St=E9phane Collin.
  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Peter Joris=20
  To: 'Pianotech'=20
  Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 10:34 AM
  Subject: Restoring Collard & Collard Grand


  Hi List,

  =20

  Currently I am restoring a Collard & Collard Grand Serial: 16016 this =
should date between 1830 and 1840 I think.

  There is a number on the plate "K2" is this the type number?  It is =
about 183cm (6ft) long.

  =20

  Is there anybody out there who has done this before?

  Im looking for information about what kind of strings to use for the =
restinging, what felt to use for refelting the hammers etc.

  Actually I can use any tip available, this the first time I am doing =
this, this will be a great for learning.

  =20

  Sound board is fine, the veneer of the case is rather bad (a lot of =
work), the pinblock feels still good on 1 or 2 loose pins.

  It was tuned to A440 and it holds very well.

  =20

  I am thinking of a rescale, so it can be tuned at A440 afterwards with =
a lower tension, doess anybody has experience with this?

  =20

  Also I would like to take out the plate for refinishing but it goes =
all the way into the case wood, I did not take any veneer of to see how =
it is constructed, maybe any of you know this?

  =20

  Any help will be very much appreciated,

  =20

  Kind regards

  Peter Joris

  Pianotuner (maybe becoming rebuilder)

  =20

  =20

  =20

  =20

  =20

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