Birdcage pitch raise

[John Delacour]

At 4:09 pm -0300 6/7/07, John Ross wrote:

>Not having thought on it before, I had always assumed, 'birdcage', 
>were pre 1900.
>What is, the latest date of manufacture?

With regard to the better makers in England, Erard used underdampers 
very early and so did Broadwood, neither producing over-damped 
pianos.  Kirkman switched to the underdamper action probably just 
before the turn of the century and Brinsmead finally switched all 
models to underdamped probably about 1907.  I can't think of any 
reputable maker that fitted overdampers after the first world war.

Whereas in England almost all over-damped pianos were vertically 
strung, many German makers continued making overstrung, overdamped 
pianos up to the first war, including the great makers Blüthner and 
Ibach.  Blüthner's overdamper action is a masterpiece.

Once all the good makers had adopted the underdamper action, the 
overdamper action was fitted only to cheap and generally nasty 
pianos, but it seems that the overdamper action must have been 
actually preferred by an important proportion of the buying public.

I recently bought a Kirkman straight-strung over-damped piano on eBay 
for next to nothing just to hear what it sounded like and look at its 
construction, and it really is an excellent piano, beautifully made 
with an all-over iron frame and agraffes throughout, and with a 
wonderful rich tone.  Not all overdamped pianos are rubbish, though 
probably 99% of them are.

JD