Country Seat

[the_scott_meister]

Nice! Mine's not quite as old, nor is it voiced or regulated (yet). It's down for rebuilding right now so those are on the list.

[Kirbstone]

I wish you joy when you get yours back from the rebuilders. Our history is that I had bought our instrument from a colleague in Bromley in Kent, SE from London. At that time we lived in Hampshire. On Dec. 27th 1977 our 22 month-old younger son climbed out of his cot, got up on a little stand at the handbasin, turned both faucets full on and we woke in our nearby bedroom to the sound of running water.

I dashed across the landing and was greeted by a beaming little boy with an inch of water all over the floor behind him. The water had rained down through the ceiling onto the piano directly below, which had the top propped open. The piano was ruined and in desperation I went to a friend who had a similar instrument.

He put me in touch with a specialist firm in London: Whelpdale, Maxwell & Codd who sent a rep. down. He pronounced that the soundboard was undamaged and the instrument could be restored. They dried it out for three months and spent a further month rebuilding the internals and restringing it, also french polishing the case so you could shave yourself looking into any part of it! The insurance footed the bill, fortunately, but they asked me if I wanted real elephant tusk keys, which cost me an extra £188. I remember.
The thing arrived back on May 2nd. 1978 and looked like it had just left the showroom...a sight for sore eyes & a joy to behold. It also sounded like new, too.

T.

[Kirbstone]

Hey Scott_Meister,

Tell me about your 'Pinewood Derby Cars' for your cub scouts. Are they soapbox cars?

T.

[skirted_in_SF]

Hey Scott_Meister,
Tell me about your 'Pinewood Derby Cars' for your cub scouts. Are they soapbox cars?
T.

Back when I was a Cub Scout in the early '60s a Pinewood derby car was one made from a kit consisting of:
A block of softwood a couple of inches square in section and six or eight inches long. This block had a crosswise notch cut out near one end that would become the cockpit and a couple of small notches on the opposite surface that would hold two small pieces of wood that had grooves in their length. These became the axle when the four supplied plastic wheels were threaded on the four supplied large brads which then were seated in the grooves mentioned above. Construction consisted in those days of forming the block into a race car shape and maybe applying a bit of graphite to the brad "axles" as lubricant. As I recall we were not allowed to weight our cars.

The cars were raced in pairs against each other down an inclined track that had a slightly raised section in each lane that the cars straddled.

I hope this isn't too unclear. You might think of it as miniature soapbox derby done indoors.

[Kirbstone]

Thank you, Stuart for that explanation. Sounds like a lot of very inexpensive fun. As I recall from my teenage-hood, the real thing as run in Ackron Ohio was destined to be an expensive exercise for the contestants' parents.

T.

[the_scott_meister]

Stuart said it all. That's exactly the way it is now, except we can weight them to get within a specific range. It's great fun. I taught my son how to use a coping saw, sand paper, decals, spray lacquer, other stuff. He did a really good job on his. Can't wait till the next one.

For my piano, I'm the rebuilder. It's on it's side right now waiting for the lacquer to fully cure, and for the Arizona tempertures to get below 90 so I can resume work on it. I'm not a professional, just an amatuer, but I did study the subject under a master rebuilder. My real job is in engineering. The piano thing is more of a hobby. But your Bechstein is really nice. What size is it and has it been rebuilt at all?

[the_scott_meister]

I didn't fully read your entire post. That is quite a story, and a worst nightmare! Normally when that happens it's unsalvagable. Usually that much water will infiltrate every pore of the wood and cause the whole instrument to warp. The cast iron plate tries to keep it's shape but the swelling wood puts a whole bunch of extra stress on it and can result it it cracking. At that point it's an ex-piano. But I'm glad that they were able to get it rebuilt. Sounds like they replaced a lot of stuff in the process too. Did that include new action and/or keyboard? I would expect that if they didn't then they at least replaced the hammers and maybe the damper felts. And wow, a french polish. Now that is really a dieing art. Most professionals don't want to do it because it takes so long to do, and takes a lifetime to master, and is ultra expensive. But it's still the most beautiful there is. Just don't put your drink on it.

[Kirbstone]

Hi S_M,

Attached are two scanned pics of said instrument with no people about but not in it's present location. The Farmhouse we rented for a while, and 'Belinda's' was the home of a dear sadly departed wonderful clarinet-playing friend who looked after the instrument for us while we were having our house built.

It is 2 meters long, 6'6.5" in American, & has 'cusps' in the case, in that it doesn't have a continuous curve along the right side as most grands do. It is all the more attractive for that.
It had always been french polished rosewood, and the London firm merely brought it back to it's former glory. I suppose lacquer would be the next best thing, and a sight cheaper than french polish.
You're right about not putting drinks down on it. Someone did early on and we found this miracle solution which when rubbed into the ring causes it to disappear, thankfully. We now keep music & books &c on all flat surfaces and it hasn't suffered since.

The installed bits include a 'roller action', so they replaced all the moving bits, also completely restrung it, regilded the frame, polished the sounding board and all felts dampers & hammers were replaced. Our problem now is dust, as we burn peat & logs in an open fire in the room in which it stands.

I've left it in my will to my younger tap-turning son.

T.

T.

[the_scott_meister]

That is beautiful. It's quite typical of German pianos of that era. And it's rare to find one with the scroll-work music desk or the turned legs. A lot of times they were replaced with the typical squared off legs during the early part of the 20th century because they were more "modern". So it's great to see them intact. Thanks for sharing that with me.

[Tor]

The second picture is nice. The first... Well, my sister would not let you even think of putting things on her piano like that. Music may be put to either side of the stand, but nothing on the lid - and no beverages of any description on the piano anywhere.

As for rings in french polish, the ease with which it takes a ring can be considered an artifact of one of its greatest strengths: the repairability of shellac. Because it is alcohol soluble, it is possible even to cleanly strip the finish and try again.

For rings, there are a few ways to deal with them. Perhaps the most extreme, short of actually reworking the finish, is to quickly wipe with an alcohol moistened cloth and then ignite the alcohol. I cannot claim to have actually tried this, though I have french polished surfaces around here that I would be quite willing to try it on if needed. I should note, however, that I would almost certainly be the one to have originally applied the finish, so I would probably be more adventurous than you might choose to be.

Tor

[Kirbstone]

Tor,

I fully agree with your sister. My situation is that I share my space & possessions with my MM, who is THE arch clutterer of space on this Planet, so in it's present (& for the foreseeable future) location the poor old top is the base support for no fewer that 15 framed photos of forebears, offsprings, weddings & grandchildren, plus one vase (No water!), a trophy, a candlestick, a trinket box and a porcelain 'boat' made by our eldest grandson, aged 15.

When we had a parish garden party here last year on the ONE Summer day we got I had the great pleasure of throwing everything off it, propping the top up, opening the big French doors wide and giving the garden strollers a 2-hour long mostly classical medley straight out of my brain-store repertoire. Boy, does the thing sound different with the shackles removed!

I had 2 lady piano teachers among the 'strollers', neither of whom could or would play from memory, so in order to get out in the garden myself & listen to the piano I had to stick some music on the stand to satisfy those pianists with no memory-bank! Mind you, I'm consumed with envy of those who can perform music in public straight off the page, like that.

T.

[Tor]

Ah, then that explains the sad piano lid. Somehow I'm not surprised by the source of the "decorations". I suppose it helps that no one here is much inclined towards the maintenance of inordinate collections of knickknacks.

Being able to sightread in performance is certainly a skill, and not one I can claim great ability at either. I am under the impression it is a little easier on a viola than on a piano, except that one is then more likely to have other people to keep together with. Not sure that works out to be terribly much easier in the end. I have observed a definite tendency for either ear or reading to predominate for an individual, with the other side being a bit of a challenge.

Thanks to Franz Liszt, one can fairly reliably tell that those who can't or won't memorize any music are not concert pianists - though it doesn't diminish the feat of being able to properly sightread a piece at performance tempo.

Tor

[Sarongman]

I struggle along with sight reading until I can have the "finger patterns" in my head. It doesn't give a very large reportoire. This brings my small mind to recall the story of the young Mozart who, on hearing Allegri's "miserere",( which was a closely guarded Vatican secret) correctly transcribed the works after only hearing it once.A jaw dropping feat!

[Kirbstone]

Tor, Dustbins have lids. Grand pianos have tops! I agree, an accurate memory is paramount for performing in public. Ever see a concert pianist perform looking at music?. They have it all in their heads. Accompanying is another thing, and deft page-turning is the order of the day.

Four Thousand years ago in Hampshire in England I ran a choir for the Hartley Arts Group, HAG for short, for about dozen years. Very fortunately early on, a former Royal Ballet rehearsal pianist came the live in Hartley-Wintney who was capable of performing everything at speed at sight.

Out at my house one evening a choir member who drove aeroplanes for BOAC arrived late, straight off a 'plane from NY. He extracted an album of Rachmaninov preludes as a present for our said pianist, who promptly entertained us to at least four of them back to back, before we got him back to the rehearsal in hand. Very impressive!

Sight reading for wind instruments, voice or for the most part strings, one is following one lot of single notes on one stave. Piano music is for multiple notes on two staves and is therefore much more difficult. Proper organ music is on three staves, for the hands and feet. Now THERE's the King of all instruments. I have made the acquaintance of two organists who could not only sight read three staves, but simultaneously transpose the whole lot into a different key as well.

We're getting into Mozart country there. I agree, He's a very bright upcoming young talent from Salzburg, who'll no doubt hit the big time before long.....

T.

[Tor]

I can agree that top is a more appropriate word, though I am quite certain there is precedent (perhaps non-musical) for the use of lid.

These days, it seems no one worth their salt performs a solo with sheet music, but I have seen accompanists go to significant lengths to avoid nasty page turns (and have gone to lesser lengths with orchestra music). Doesn't help those poor folk when they have a vocal score with systems of four choral lines /and/ the piano part printed double sided. I'll take other challenges, thank you.

I'll agree that piano music is decidedly more difficult to sight read solo. Single line instruments are perhaps more likely to have to keep together with others, but accompanists trump that by being asked to follow others at the same time. The organ is a challenge I'm nowhere near taking on myself.

As for multiple simultaneus notes, trying to manage 120 buttons and a keyboard sufficient for me for the time being. Maybe someday I'll feel differently, but I really need to use the time that would require in the shop.

Tor