[pianotech] Mirror Piano

[Delwin D Fandrich]

The harm is aesthetic, not structural. I haven't seen one yet that I'd pay
to haul away.

 

ddf

 

Delwin D Fandrich

Piano Design & Fabrication

6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA

Phone  360.515.0119 - Cell  360.388.6525

del at fandrichpiano.com  <mailto:del at fandrichpiano.com> - ddfandrich at gmail.com

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Noah Frere
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 6:29 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] Mirror Piano

 

I told someone yesterday that the cut-off portion of an old Upright, where
they added the mirror, did not degrade the structure of the piano. I still
believe that, but I wanted to confirm it with others. She found this online,
not I don't think to argue against my point, but just as an anecdote:

"During World War 2, American piano manufacturers ceased production to
assist in the war effort. Rationing made it impossible to build a piano
during those years, so piano tuners and rebuilders saw a golden opportunity
to keep up with the public's demands by introducing the "mirror piano". They
simply took a large old upright, often a gutted player piano, cut a
step-shelf along the top, and secured a mirror across the exposed back so
that the piano had the appearance of being smaller or more modern. These
"re-styled" pianos became very popular during the war, and unfortunately
this trend continued for another 30 years. Hundreds of thousands of heirloom
pianos were butchered during these years, and they are still commonly
encountered. Because irreparable damage was done to the integrity of the
instrument, mirror pianos are seldom worth more than a few hundred dollars
at best." 

Are we all in agreement that the "irreparable damage" is cosmetic only?

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20111007/9eb40314/attachment-0004.htm>