Our own pianos

[Jean-Jacques GRANAS]

Hello all,

I am the happy owner of:

1. A 1887 6'1" New England with an Erard type action - our everyday user. 
"Takes a licking" from the whole family "and keeps on ticking". Solid 
American workmanship of pre AFL-CIO days :-)

2. A 1896 6'1" Bluthner with a Bluthner patent action. Restoration project 
in progress. Action is in outstanding shape. The instrument has hardly been 
played, but the board has collapsed and the sustain is next 
to zilch.

3. A 1881 overstrung 7'6" Friedrich Ehrbar with a Viennese action. Elegant 
grand with a deep mellow bass. Dried up hammer cover skin needs replacing 
in addition to other action work. Next year's project.     

I got the two latter pianos because I wanted to try playing on instruments 
with a different type of action. It will be some time before I can play on 
the Ehrbar, but I am very impressed by the Bluthner patent action. It's 
extremely light and responsive. Little friction and incredible control. A 
joy to play. These actions have an undeservedly bad reputation. Seems to me 
that the advantages of the "double repetition", Erard type action are of an 
entirely theoretical nature for players like me and probably for the great 
majority of players whose name isn't Vladimir Horowitz. Would love to hear 
from others here who have experience with those actions, either as players 
or technicians.

Regards,

Jean-Jacques Granas
Warsaw