Thanks for your encouragement, Andy P...indeed there shall be more. We just finished a lovely 1925 Gabriel Gaveau that I want to record; and before long hopefully, make a before and after restoration recording of an instrument, to enable a true A : B comparison (same mics, same piece, same player)!
OMG ---dieser Klang erinnert mich an meinen ca. 100 Jahre alten Blüthner , den ich mehrere Jahre besaß und doch als wohl zu junger Dussel an einen (immerhin) Kommilitonen billigst verkaufte --- bin heute noch traurig :- (((
Interestingly, we only replaced strings, not hammers. And this recording was made with the old strings still on. In short - an awesome little piano. Who says pianos need to be big to be inordinately expressive?!
" COMO NO!!!!!!!!!!! DAR GRACIAS A NUESTRO DIOS!!!!! SI SEGUIMOS VIVOS!!!!!!! A PESAR DE TODO LO MALO QUE HA PASADO!!!!!! SOBRE TODO EL MAL DEL VIRUS!!!!!! GRACIAS MI SEÑOR MI DIOS!!!!!! TE AMO Y RECONOZCO COMO EL UNICO DIOS!!!! SALVADOR!!!!!! Y TU HIJO JESUCRISTO EL UNICO Y GRAN PASTOR!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!! "
I return to this video from time to time as I try to form my ideal for piano tone; although this is pre-restoration, it's a great starting point for the type of sound I want. The beautiful performance surely helps create that impression. It can be difficult to compare pianos on recordings (I've been watching a lot of demos of rebuilt/restored pianos) due to vast differences in quality of performance, mic type and placement, and room acoustics. By any chance (I know this was four years ago!), do you recall how this piano was miked for this recording? (I'm a classical pianist and beginning piano technician who has sadly never played or worked on any Blüthner piano)
I'm very glad you enjoy it, William, and find it inspiring; it is a lovely piano, and performance. It certainly shows how moving the sound of small piano pianos can be. We used Danny Grimwood's own microphones, which are a matched pair of Schoeps small condenser mics, rather expensive but very very nice for piano; in fact the recording of my Model O on my channel here (as well as all the other recordings) also utilized these mics. Nothing fancy as far as positioning, just two mics a couple of feet away from the curved side of the piano. I should add that the instrument didn't sound dramatically different after restoration; we kept the original hammers, which were in good shape, and the instrument was in good regulation as well as very precisely tuned for the recording; probably the bass was a bit more crisp, after the restringing. Cheers, Allen
Looking at the photos again (and trying to refresh my memory), I think that in the bass section alone with this piano there was what looks to be a plate under the bass tuning pin section, but it looks like perhaps a plated steel rather than brass? And thus somewhat scratched and with what looks like corrosion; we would have cleaned it up as best as possible. The other sections seem to have the normal cast iron plate configuration. Is yours the same model 6? Of course the models changed at times over the years.
@@akwirght mine is 1913, 238cm lenght with jubileum frame, beautiful piano, it has plates on bass section too. It is a 3mm plate. I see model 6 doesn't have it in bass section, is it only pinblock? Have you made German loop for every string by... hand ? Pretty good!
@@akwirght every bluthner I have seen was solid brass, like all hinges, wheels and pedals. I don't why yours is not brass. After all those works it is a pity... spray can ? The music I hear is that piano ?
No pianos have brass frames (aka plates). Almost all are cast iron, with gilding (paint) added. To regild the frame or not is a decision made based on cost and aesthetics. It is a demanding process requiring professional facilities and spraying equipment - not simply a matter of spray cans. And yes, other smaller parts are made from brass (pedals, hinges, pedal rods, casters, etc). The recording was made on the piano before the work you see carried out here; unfortunately I wasn’t able to record on it after restoration, and before it was sent to the client. With the original hammers kept on, however, it didn’t sound hugely different after, though - in spite of the new strings. A bit crisper, perhaps.
@@akwirght I am sorry but I have a bluthner the same age, the plate under tuning pins are separated from frames and screwed in the pinblock for additional tuning stability, like brushings on steinway. I don't know why your model was bronze plated. Someone had chrome (or nickel) plated over brass, bluthner were luxury piano in 1900 era. How do you made these lot of hitch pin loops? By hand or by a tool? Best regards
@@davidemarchi6366 Yours is a much bigger model, of course. Yes the loops are pretty easy to do by hand, with a little care and practice; you do the initial bend around the right sized steel pin or nail, then use pliers to wrap the loop around. It's a very satisfying procedure, actually (as so much about piano restoration can be).
A super condition and best recorded bluthnner! Thanks for sharing. I felt 20th century.
Yoooo!!! This piano sounds so good! Almost like my Blüthner modell 1 concert grand from 1960
Fantastic!
Lovely pics, a true craftsman at work. Let's have some more
Beautiful sound
Thanks for your encouragement, Andy P...indeed there shall be more. We just finished a lovely 1925 Gabriel Gaveau that I want to record; and before long hopefully, make a before and after restoration recording of an instrument, to enable a true A : B comparison (same mics, same piece, same player)!
Superb! Very close to my own Blüthner (2m30, 1901, pattentmechanik & aliquot). The most subtile, singing and colourfull grand ;)
Nice! It's a modell 2 right?
I got the 2m80 modell 1! It has such a warm blüthner-ish tone
OMG ---dieser Klang erinnert mich an meinen ca. 100 Jahre alten Blüthner ,
den ich mehrere Jahre besaß und doch als wohl zu junger Dussel an einen
(immerhin) Kommilitonen billigst verkaufte --- bin heute noch traurig :- (((
I know restoration brought it up to snappy spec but man does this have a warm and round sound. What it lacks in attack it makes up for in atmosphere.
Interestingly, we only replaced strings, not hammers. And this recording was made with the old strings still on. In short - an awesome little piano. Who says pianos need to be big to be inordinately expressive?!
" COMO NO!!!!!!!!!!! DAR GRACIAS A NUESTRO DIOS!!!!! SI SEGUIMOS VIVOS!!!!!!! A PESAR DE TODO LO MALO QUE HA PASADO!!!!!! SOBRE TODO EL MAL DEL VIRUS!!!!!! GRACIAS MI SEÑOR MI DIOS!!!!!! TE AMO Y RECONOZCO COMO EL UNICO DIOS!!!! SALVADOR!!!!!! Y TU HIJO JESUCRISTO EL UNICO Y GRAN PASTOR!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!! "
Lovely sound Allen! Great work. We need to meet up! it's been a while.... I'll email you too
Dov W
I return to this video from time to time as I try to form my ideal for piano tone; although this is pre-restoration, it's a great starting point for the type of sound I want. The beautiful performance surely helps create that impression. It can be difficult to compare pianos on recordings (I've been watching a lot of demos of rebuilt/restored pianos) due to vast differences in quality of performance, mic type and placement, and room acoustics. By any chance (I know this was four years ago!), do you recall how this piano was miked for this recording?
(I'm a classical pianist and beginning piano technician who has sadly never played or worked on any Blüthner piano)
I'm very glad you enjoy it, William, and find it inspiring; it is a lovely piano, and performance. It certainly shows how moving the sound of small piano pianos can be. We used Danny Grimwood's own microphones, which are a matched pair of Schoeps small condenser mics, rather expensive but very very nice for piano; in fact the recording of my Model O on my channel here (as well as all the other recordings) also utilized these mics. Nothing fancy as far as positioning, just two mics a couple of feet away from the curved side of the piano. I should add that the instrument didn't sound dramatically different after restoration; we kept the original hammers, which were in good shape, and the instrument was in good regulation as well as very precisely tuned for the recording; probably the bass was a bit more crisp, after the restringing. Cheers, Allen
Anyway... a beautiful sounding piano.
Looking at the photos again (and trying to refresh my memory), I think that in the bass section alone with this piano there was what looks to be a plate under the bass tuning pin section, but it looks like perhaps a plated steel rather than brass? And thus somewhat scratched and with what looks like corrosion; we would have cleaned it up as best as possible. The other sections seem to have the normal cast iron plate configuration. Is yours the same model 6? Of course the models changed at times over the years.
@@akwirght mine is 1913, 238cm lenght with jubileum frame, beautiful piano, it has plates on bass section too. It is a 3mm plate. I see model 6 doesn't have it in bass section, is it only pinblock? Have you made German loop for every string by... hand ? Pretty good!
POR FAVOR TENGO UN PIANO IGUAL ES QUE QUIERO VENDERLO COMO CUANTO ES EL VALOR DE ESTE PIANO
You don't polish brass plates under tuning pins ?????? Why??????
That's bronze gilding, not brass. It can only cleaned so much, short of entirely re-gilding, which we did not do on this piano.
@@akwirght every bluthner I have seen was solid brass, like all hinges, wheels and pedals. I don't why yours is not brass. After all those works it is a pity... spray can ? The music I hear is that piano ?
No pianos have brass frames (aka plates). Almost all are cast iron, with gilding (paint) added. To regild the frame or not is a decision made based on cost and aesthetics. It is a demanding process requiring professional facilities and spraying equipment - not simply a matter of spray cans. And yes, other smaller parts are made from brass (pedals, hinges, pedal rods, casters, etc). The recording was made on the piano before the work you see carried out here; unfortunately I wasn’t able to record on it after restoration, and before it was sent to the client. With the original hammers kept on, however, it didn’t sound hugely different after, though - in spite of the new strings. A bit crisper, perhaps.
@@akwirght I am sorry but I have a bluthner the same age, the plate under tuning pins are separated from frames and screwed in the pinblock for additional tuning stability, like brushings on steinway. I don't know why your model was bronze plated. Someone had chrome (or nickel) plated over brass, bluthner were luxury piano in 1900 era. How do you made these lot of hitch pin loops? By hand or by a tool? Best regards
@@davidemarchi6366 Yours is a much bigger model, of course. Yes the loops are pretty easy to do by hand, with a little care and practice; you do the initial bend around the right sized steel pin or nail, then use pliers to wrap the loop around. It's a very satisfying procedure, actually (as so much about piano restoration can be).