IF it has a good soundboard with it's crown if the pinblock is still good then yes theoretically yes IF you've got the money and a master technician available. It's no small expenditure.
Wow..Tears on my eyes. I'm 67 years old and I play piano since I was 5. Not lesson, only hearing and watching. When I was 5 my dad bought an upright piano. I already played guitar but I never tried to play a piano. It was new for me. A family friend came to test the piano and I was amazed watching what he was playing. The test ended and they were chatting and I sat at the piano and tried to play what i heard and see. And the family friend said.."Hey, he is talented. Send to teach to play or pay a piano teacher. My dad didnt have enough money to pay a teacher and never had a piano class. Only the radio, the music I heard i picked up notes and chords. The piano become my friend and everyday of my life I played piano. As a teen in the 70's I opened the covers and disasembled all the panel and clean inside and I like to play with the "naked piano" brcause it sounded great and loud and I could play Beatles songs and some rock too...The came Queen with Bohemian Rapsody and I learned to play bymyself. That old piano ended with the old parents house. Now I'm retired as electronic engineer but i had my electronics keyboards and guitar and music is my company. Living alone by option, divorced, and my son grew and was emigrated to other country and he got a degree as piano teacher in a neighbor country. That my life now with a memory of my old piano and making music to enjoy my life. (BTW, Could you tell me the piano and strings melody name you put as the video soundtrack while you tuned the piano??) Greeting to all who love music and pianos...
Oh hi there. Your story reminds me about a Malaysian RUclipsr who did his channel leisurely just for the sake of fun/hobby LOL His channel is Ray Mak, and also former ambassador of Yamaha Music Malaysia and currently ambassador of Kawai Malaysia (he plays piano by ears, just like you, because he just can't read even his piano teacher had try everything to teach him and he just can't read music sheets but his family is wealthy enough for him to learn piano formally under the care of private piano teacher who taught classical piano! He could play some of the famous classical pieces by ear too!)
Only three pianos I have failed to bring back in the 45 Years I worked as a Piano Tuner and that was due to very bad woodworm. I used to get a real buzz to save a neglected instrument and of course I had the joy of being the first to play the finished job and to hear the bloom of a freshly tuned piano.
Piano is an invaluable acoustic musical instrument which heals stress and depression. Most pionos are passing from generation to generation. I feel sad that most young people abandon them without giving proper care. Today's busy schedule does not let them learn how to play it. Therefore they end up in a junk yard. These old gold stuff should be preserved for the next generation without scrapping. I really appreciate your time and effort for giving life to this old gold piano.
My sister had a piano for Christmas when we were kids.It was 4 semitones lower than concert pitch,made in London.I decided to try and tune it up to concert pitch.I was only 13years old at the time.A very challenging job because the pins would slip back every time I tried to knock 1 in..Thanks for your video.....Brought back some happy memories as a child....I'm now 52,Still playing...
There are many antique pianos threatened with the landfill every day, in all kinds of conditions from very good to very bad. Most are restorable with enough good work put in, although the cost of restoration may exceed the _current_ market value in today's stupidly depressed piano market, which has been flooded with cheap and poorly made new pianos from China (as well as better quality - than those - new pianos made elsewhere). In my opinion, people in the market for an acoustic piano should be buying medium or high grade used (well restored), or medium or high grade new pianos, whether upright or grand (square pianos have their own special sonority which is partway between a hammered dulcimer and a modern piano, making them a specialty instrument and a niche market). However, in my opinion as a musician, monetary value be damned, the beauty of tone and excellence of construction of many of these instruments makes them worth saving no matter how much money you have to throw at them (although make sure you hire someone who is thoroughly reputable after having read/watched all you can and checked their work, or else you're throwing your restoration money down the drain and possibly hiring someone to make the piano worse than it was before). Maybe you can save one or more of them (I have 32 pianos in storage right now, on which I'm struggling to pay rent till I can get 2 more jobs and start paying off my debts and save for a house). I don't recommend people follow my route UNLESS they are able to either personally restore, or afford to have restored, the instruments, and have (*OWN*) an insulated, climate controlled building in which to store / display them, if not their own home. Don't go piano hoarding only to see instruments auctioned off for scrap etc or your heirs shovel everything into the dump. If you are going to save instruments, try to plan for their future and get them into good homes, whether museums, public venues, or long term private homes. The pianos I saved, I did because other collectors were not saving them and I knew they were very rare (one is one of a kind; several others are either one of only two known to exist or one of only 4-6 known to exist of that model), and I did not want to just stand by and let them go to dump and then look around 20 years from now when I finally own a home, and not find any of the pianos on my wishlist because all the remaining examples had been junked by then So this is kind of 'saving up for the future' for me. (As of the 1970s, in one of the piano tuning books I own, the author guesstimated that approximately 40,000 old pianos were junked every year then; the number now junked per year in this post-2008 Craigslist/eBay market (which has driven prices down by people being able to flood the market via the internet, without, *YET* enough corresponding GOOD historical/technical info about them, and corresponding GOOD easily-found high quality videos and audio recordings of restored examples, to offset this trend), may well be higher). That being said, if you want to find antique pianos for sale to save and restore, we (myself and friends) regularly repost ads for them on the Facebook groups 'Free Pianos Online' and 'Vintage Pianos For Sale Online', as well as dozens of other groups devoted to individual piano makers (like Chickering, Ludwig, Krakauer, etc). There are also FB groups for specialty and/or rare instruments like player pianos ("Player Pianos, Free, Cheap and sometimes, not... from any source!") square pianos ("square pianos buy-sell-trade, talk, and history group"), coin pianos and orchestrions ("Orchestrions of America"), and other instruments, as well as groups for buying and selling reed organs, electronic organs, and even pipe organs.
In some old German piano's I saw an appliance at the pedals to prevent the mouse entering. Because that's the only way for them to get in. A kind of metal shutter attached underneath the pedals. Why use the plastic damping tool for the middle section? The continuous felt strip works way faster.
Good job mate! Thank you for saving this old girl. Here in the states, old pianos are given away or scrapped by the hundreds simply because no one plays them anymore, or they don't fit the room decor or for many other reasons. I appreciate your thoughtful posts.
And there are a few piano companies still making magnificent, beautiful pianos, namely Steinway, Bösendorfer, Bechstein, Fazioli, and Yamaha, the top three are Steinway, Fazioli, and Bösendorfer. There were a number of competent piano building. Companies not that long ago and their grand pianos can still be had for relatively little. Those include Mason and Hamlin, Baldwin, Chickering among others. New grand pianos from $Steinway, Fazioli, and Bösendorfer are 23:53 breathtakingly expensive, with prices from their factories running between approximately $100,000 and $300,000. Steinways, all new ones, now come with complex electronics (as do Yamahas) that can playback the performances of any number of the top concert pianists. The prices of these high-end pianos is determined by the size of the instrument and the type of wood used to make their cases. The largest pianos have cases that are 9 feet long. They are generally known as concert grand pianos. Steinway in the recent past was owned by a private equity company. They still have factories in Germany and in New York. Their private equity owners worked to standardize their manufacturing processes between their facilities in New York and Frankfurt, Germany, while continuing to upholding the company’s abilities to continue the hand-built character of the new Steinways. Bösendorfer, an Austrian company, is now owned by Yamaha. Some pianists who have appreciated Bösendorfer’s rich tone now say that they feel that there is now too much Japanese influence in the internal design of new Bösendorfers. Were I to have the opportunaty to once again own a Steinway, I would choose a 7-foot model with a shiny black finish.
Repent and trust in Jesus. we deserve Hell for our sins. For example lying, lusing, saying God's name as a cuss word and stealing our just some examples of sin which we can all admit to doing at least one of those. For our sin we deserve death and Hell, but there is a way out. Repent anf trust in Jesus and you will be saved. Repentence is turning from sin. So repent and trust in Jesus. He will save you from Hell, and instead give you eternal life in Heaven. John 3:16 Romans 3:23❤❤❤
Glad you persevered, it is such a beautiful piano. It has a beautiful sound, too. I recently had my old Yamaha U1 upright restored. Bought it new 45 years ago, played it a few years, then left it at my folks house while I made my career on the other side of the world. Now retired so I had it shipped to me across the Pacific, but it arrived with a big gash in the side from an errant forklift and covered in mold. Most people would have dumped it and bought a new one, but it was MY piano. I insisted it be restored. It now sits in my living room reborn, glorious and sounding more beautiful than ever. A bit of mold here, a few mice there, they just add a bit of color to a piano's history.
Very good job. I tune this old piano (half armor) half a tone lower (compromise after agreement with the owner), because some malfunctions occurred as a result of trying to tune correctly (A=440Hz). Full armor was not standard until after 1930. Until then, tuning was lower, except for concert grands.
I'm rebuilding an 1890 Ivers & Pond upright piano now. Glad to see you've given this one a new life. It looks like it probably had some kind of rebuild / restoration done, maybe around the last time it was tuned, because it really looks to be in great condition for it's age. These well built old pianos really do hold up well over time.
I'm staying at this artist residence with a lot of old pianos that could really use some love. I have no idea how to approach this but your videos have been giving me a good introduction as to what to do. I guess "random piano that's been rotting away in a corner" might be a hard thing to start with, but I also can't possibly make it worse lol
Thanks for your comments! It has taken me years to be able to assess a piano and judge whether is is worth spending time to fix it or if it even can be fixed. If you are going to attempt it, I would get a piano tech to visit and assess which of the pianos can be saved and what needs doing. There are some obvious issues that would indicate that a piano is dead, cracked pin block, severe borer/woodworm, water/flood damage, multiple replaced strings, dry/damp damage, missing components, dodgy repairs etc etc. Usually, if all the keys and hammers work (sticky keys are easy to remedy) and the piano is sounding ok throughout the range then it's likely just to need a good service and tune. I've thrown away 100s of Pianos and spent a lot of time attampting to repair piano when I first started but it's all good experience. Good luck!
I've read that a lot of techs don't raise an old piano to concert pitch to avoid the very problem you're having, snapped strings. Once upon a time I did my own work when I couldn't afford to have my acoustic piano tuned. I never knew much about it. Thanks for sharing. This was a very informative video.
Lubricating the pressure bar and taking them down very flat and then back up again usually avoids breakage. I was surprised to hear of reusing strings from another piano I would have thought better to either go try and reuse the original or replace with some new wire.
It's not just broken strings, but could be potentially a cracked plate / broken frame, which could kill the piano (unless you happen to have your own foundry and can cast a new piano plate; or else can pay a 4-figure-plus amount to have a one-off replica plate cast by another foundry, or find an intact identical plate from a ruined/junked piano of the same plate/scale design). Old pianos pre-1928 were not designed to be tuned above A-435, and so tuning it higher than the piano architect / scale designer intended, could be disastrous, especially with wooden-framed instruments. It isn't ALWAYS disastrous, as some old pianos (particularly those with a full iron plate) were built heavily enough to actually be able to withstand the extra tension (as the scale designers built them in with a great enough margin of error / extra sturdy when designing the scale), but the average layperson or tuner would not necessarily be able to tell this just by looking at the instrument, particularly as some plate designs are more fragile and more prone to breakage if the tension is unequal or too high. So *some* can be raised to A-440 but not all. This should not condemn them, as many modern instruments (particularly string instruments like guitar, violin, bass, banjo etc, not to mention VOICE) can simply TUNE DOWN to match the piano, rather than have to bring the entire piano up to match them (brass instruments etc might be another story). In my opinion, a preference for any particular pitch like A-435, A-440, A-442 etc is just a kind of stupid matter of opinion and isn't really based on any real science. Unfortunately some antique instruments have been ruined by trying to change to a wrong / unintended pitch, particularly some pipe organs (I know one rare band organ which had all its pipes cut down by a restorer at the request of a 'sound man' at the amusement park where it plays, because he prefers to hear things at A-440; his arrogance and selfishness means those original pipes are now not playing at their intended pitch for the width and sound a slight bit 'funny', not to mention that this original wood is now gone from the ends of the pipes; if he had commissioned the builder to make all new pipes with scales at A-440 pitch, and crated and stored the original pipes with the organ for a future non-arrogant owner, that would have been a better option IMO).
@@andrewbarrett1537 If it were possible to give replies a 1 to 10 rating, I'd give yours an 11. I agree completely. Sadly, I also know of a beautiful old instrument destroyed for the same reason. My aunt who was an antique dealer had a gorgeous 19th Century piano ruined by a piano tuner trying bring the old instrument up to A440 when the treasured old instrument should probably have been tuned down a step and half. He broke the wooden soundboard, split it right down the middle.
@333Orobas 666 Thanks for sharing your experiences. It was just something I read that it was safer for a piano tuner to tune to lower than concert pitch than risk damaging an old piano. It may be a matter of what the owner can afford as well as the value of the piano to consider. I'm sure there are a lot of factors. My aunt had a local tuner try to tune her antique and he broke the soundboard on her 18th Century instrument. The cost of strings might determine whether or not to save an only piano or dispose of it for those, as you said, who can't do the work themselves. I bought the mutes, felt, and tuning hammer. I looked into repairs but decided it was more than I wanted to get into. Eventually, we replaced our old piano with another old one that we had repaired and tuned. My kids grew up with the repaired one. When they were grown, I ultimately broke the thing into pieces and hauled it off to the county dump. I replaced it with a Yamaha electronic instrument that never goes out of tune. I enjoyed tuning the piano. It was a good learning experience.
@333Orobas 666 That's obviously a major expense but a professional repairman showed me how the fabric parts are much more likely to need replacing on a piano that's been neglected that long. He showed me how all he had to do was take his finger beneath the straps and snapped them with the flick of his finger. The felts and corks get rotten on the old ones. Every part's replaceable, of course, but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to replace them.
Beautiful piano!! I have an old Vose and Sons upright built somewhere between 1900 and 1905, its a bit beaten up and scratched but it still plays wonderfully. I had it given to my by an elderly woman from my grandmothers church and hadn't been tuned since 1992 when I got it. I started learning to play 4 years ago and I absolutely love the old weathered look of it. I tuned it myself several months ago and found an old hotwheels car inside it. Lol
This video has given me more confidence to work on my own piano. I have a 100+ year old Welling upright that survived a fire a year ago. It's sustained smoke, heat and moisture damage but is in good shape. I feel with some work I could have it better than before.
I can't imagine anyone taking a perfectly decent piano to a dump site where it will be crushed up. Unless a piano has suffered catastrophic damage or is just missing too many parts they should be saved. They have been built by master craftsmen from an era that will never come back. Every piano is an individual as 10 piano's from the same model never sound the same. Heck in guitar world, old guitars especially damaged ones are normally sent off and rebuilt by a skilled luthier especially pre war stuff and then they are usually worth a lot of money so why not pianos?
Just now found your video. Guess I'm a year or so late to the party. I very much enjoyed the video. The cabinet is in excellent condition and the mechanics are sound. I can't believe someone was going to chuck it into a skip. I have a 1903 Schumann Cabinet Grand Upright which I did some work on with the help of an old gentleman who tuned and repaired pianos. After a number of years I concluded I should look into having this instrument restored. Yes, it was quite expensive, but, the appraised value is now 50% more than the restoration cost. After three years (thanks COVID), it is scheduled for deliver in a few days. So excited, I can hardly wait. Like many who have commented here, it breaks my heart to see these grand old instruments discarded. I sometimes think it is simply because people just don't know what they have. Cheers.
Thank you for your time & successful effort to restore this beautiful instrument! Thank you for recording your steps in the process. As a pianist, its inner workings fascinated me!
Brilliant video. (Subbed). I too am a piano tuner/renovator and was brilliant to see your approach to this old piano, as I agree that the older ones can be so much nicer with just some time love and care. Keep up the good work!
I reacted right away and "tooted" to the "you can call me Al" song and my son who is 17 and a pianist says "oh!! What's that song?" 🥰 that's a new sheet music we'll have to get (not a bad thing at all)...love that song since it was released when I was a kid...beautiful video...beautiful piano ❤👏
Aged wood gives instruments a sound that's impossible to replicate. Dump the piano for a mouse nest??? Seriously??? This 76-year-old grandma would come get the mouse, big guy. I would wear a mask in addition to the gloves, however. So glad you finished saving this beautiful piano. Thanks for sharing.
I was gifted a baby grand that is about 80 hears old. I can't find anyone that will come and quote me a price to fix it. However, one piano store told me over the phone that it would cost more than it was worth. I knew right there I wouldn't be using him for anything. Now I am researching videos tl see if I can figure out how to bring it back to life. Thanks for your video. Very helpful!
First time viewer. Really enjoyed seeing how a Tuner applies his trade. Will look at a number of additional videos, find out what tools are needed, and will see if I can apply them to a free Piano from somewhere for my personal use. Haven’t played since my childhood, I’m now nearly 65, but would love to tackle the ivories again and stave off old man fingers. Cheers!
Glad you decided to revive that nice old upright. Myself, I would have been a bit nervous pitch-raising it back to A440 (POP!-Oops, there goes another string!) - but you obviously know what you're doing. I would have chickened out, and just maybe brought it up maybe 30 cents or so, using the old circle of 4ths & 5ths method to tune it by ear (but I'm a retired old-timer who didn't have a digital tuner).
Yes, that's exactly what I would have done. I flinched when he pulled those OLD strings up to concert pitch (A440). I was waiting to see how many strings popped. I've had to work over a year just to bring an old Hobart Nelson upright up to be only 1 step low. It was originally 3 steps low. Haven't popped a string either. Pins were all good and tight - surprisingly.
I recently bought a piano that sounds similar to the one in this video near the beginning, but have very little knowledge and no experience with tuning. Does tuning it up but not as far mean the note it plays will be lower than it's supposed to be? And what should I search to find more info about safe tuning? I really want to avoid breaking any strings if I can.
I just got my first upright and am very excited it’s pretty old and the keys are stiff, and the lowest note sticks, but I’m excited for a new hobby. Would love to see a “5 easy ways to touch up an old piano” kinda video. You may already have one, this is the first tuning video over ever watched but just a good idea for someone like me! Thank you!
I have an old Kohler & Chase upright, I'm sad to say I never tune it, yet it's not too far off and amazes me that it hasn't gone more out of tune given its neglect. As a classical singer I don't need a fine instrument and I use it to teach, though I wish I could afford to tune it. When I first purchased it I stripped off the dark finish and I believe it's cherry wood. Thanks for your video. I've often wondered what the various parts were, so it was educational too. I live in San Francisco and was raised in Davenport, Iowa, I mention that because I actually saw a RUclips about a double piano with key boards on both ends and it's not being taken carre of in my home area, not something I might expect in a relatively unsophisticated part of the country.
I was so confused when you said you'd only need 2 tunings for a piano that is so out of tune. And then I flinched so hard when you instantly tuned them to 440 hz! You're either super skilled or lucky that only two strings snapped
At least it was not a dead parrot, but a mouse. The finished piano sounds really nice, well done, good job. Those early German pianos are pretty good overall.
Ive been playing piano for 15 years . To me every piano has character. If you play to hear music, not just play to read music. Itll always give you a different texture to the sound of it. Whether its old or new theyre always different. Im addicted to more of the sound other pianos give.
Thank you very much for this. Sadly my mum just died and left her piano (that we all learned on) to my son - I've started cleaning her up - your tips and recommendations are most helpful.
Oh no! As a freelance acoustic double bass player and also amateur hobbyist pianist (I don't know how to tune or do all the piano interior maintenance stuffs), I would suggest you to tune up at most a semitone (a.k.a. half a tone) or even half of a semitone at a time for all the strings to prevent any sudden pressure change and snap all the strings! What I meant is like, since the piano is like should be middle C (at A=440 hertz pitching) but it's way too low pitch than it should be and the middle C actually sounding let's say a lower A instead, the first round tuning you do the wrong pitching middle C key from the low A to A sharp (that's a semitone), from middle C to the higher octave C and the corresponding Cs, all the Cs just from almost sounding As to A sharps, then the Ds from about Bs to Cs, vice versa, semitone by semitone you tune them one by one, it will definitely cause so much time but it will 100% preventing the strings from snapping for sure! (from changing new strings for acoustic double bass experiences) All the best ;)
Always nice to see old stuff being refurbished instead of going to landfill when someone else can use it. Nicely done! Luckily in my kind of restorations, I've yet to see a mouse in them!
Just finishing restoring a 1902 Schaff Bros upright grand (57" Chicago). Wonderful iron wrapped bass strings and original hammers. Terrific sound in Edwardian mahogany. Cheers.
This looks exactly like the piano that I started learning on over 30 years ago as a child. The inlay looks so incredibly familiar. I'm sure it had a sticky key too (though that's probably not uncommon). I played it for a few years until it was replaced with a Yamaha (which seemed like a Rolls Royce in comparison - it had 3 pedals!). We let the dealer take the old piano for free. That would have been over 20 years ago.
Amazing stuff to watch! Such brilliantly made instruments. I wouldn't know where to begin taking one of those apart, and putting it back together. Sounds great at the end! RIP 🐁
What an awesome find, I'm so glad you managed to save the piano. I used to play but now i have no piano. i want a free one and learn to play again like you. I also liked it where you played a bit of "you can call me Al" by Paul Simon, please play more.
Edward...you might want to check out your local craigslist if you are in the States. I have noticed some pianos being given away. They seem quite nice.
@@lawriefoster5587 I’m looking for a piano but not sure where too find one. Do you think eBay is good? I found some for pretty good prices but I’m not sure how to verify if they’re good or not.
Greetings from Canada 🇨🇦 I was fascinated to watch your video and approach to saving this fantastic German Piano. The inlay and cabinet work were exquisite. There are many of us that appreciate older instruments, and I was delighted to see your video. I worked in a piano restoration facility for many years and realize the dangers of mouse nests, and other vermin. I wasn’t quite sure from the video, but I would recommend a mask in future as the dust from rodent excretement can be quite a health risk. I loved how you played Piano Man Andy, as you truly have the heart and soul of a true Piano Man. Bravo ❤️🔥 Cheers 🤩 and full support. I have liked, subscribed and rang the 🔔 for you sir. Kudos 🫡🫡🫡
Ahhh thanks Don, I do love these old pianos, it is a crying shame that many perfectly serviceable character pianos like this end up being thrown away. The trouble is, unless it's a top brand, they just sell for much. I spent total around 4 hours on this piano and sold it eventually for $200 NZD, around $150 USD? I take on board the mask wearing, will do that in future! Thanks for subscribing, this video was just to show my customers what I can do but it's quite popular so will definitely do another one.
@@churtonparkpianos4240 200 bucks? Man! That piano looks like it would be worth at least a 1000 just because of the amazing cabinet! Looks like it had work done on it at some point (new bridal straps are something every old piano should have) too so that's something
@@PiotrBarcz The problem is that hardly anyone (besides me?) is documenting JUNKED/DESTROYED antique pianos by serial number (I only have a few dozen documented so far; it's a daily struggle), much less SURVIVORS, and so no one really knows (yet) HOW MANY ARE LEFT of a particular make/model; rarity is just as important as original build quality (and current condition) in determining value. Also, many piano factory records have been (apparently) destroyed and so in many cases we don't know HOW MANY (of a particular model / case design / scale design) were ORIGINALLY BUILT, although some ESTIMATES can be made based upon a large enough data pool / census of SURVIVORS (like Art Reblitz' monumental study of Seeburg coin pianos, orchestrions, photoplayers, and piano-organs, hosted on the Mechanical Music Press website; which has documented over 1,000 instruments by now out of an estimated 20,000 or so originally built, including many surviving and several destroyed instruments; also, an anonymous person has been documenting Straube pianos on the Wikipedia page for that maker). This does not mean all is lost. With enough diligent documentation of what survives NOW and what is being junked NOW, plus careful studies of piano serial numbers etc., plus priceless info from surviving trade journals (like "Music Trade Review"; "Music Trades"; "Music Trade Indicator" and "Presto"; plus the short-lived "Piano Trade Magazine"), original piano catalogs/manuals, and advertising flyers/leaflets, a lot of history can still be written about these instruments, which may help save them by giving people HARD data on them (instead of the usual: "If it's not made by Steinway I don't know anything about it").
I had a German piano that looked just like this one, it had a name like Albert Fahr Hertz. I really loved it and moved it with me twice. The next time I moved it was sold as I wasn't playing much then. Hopefully someone is still enjoying it. Thanks for the video.
Beautiful woodwork and a lovely sounding piano once tuned. I needed to see this as I am about to try to tune up the local outside, public piano. This clip gives me hope, though it may be a lot to hope for. There is a lot of rust. If one string breaks, end of project. It sounds about like this one did before your tuning. Thanks for sharing. ***Update 12.26.24: I was able to retune the outside public piano, a Baldwin Acrosonic console. It took three tunings to get everything to settle, but it was well worth it. Lots of folks enjoy playing it during the warmer months here in Maine, USA. Sadly, it sits outside all winter under a custom vinyl cover. I will have to tune it again come Spring. I also retuned the other public piano here, a Jansson console. It generally is put inside the train station here during winter, otherwise it is under an awning next to the tracks. Last I looked, it was still out there a couple days before Xmess.
Acoustic piano is really something else, doesn’t really matter how long it’s never been tuned as long as they’re in a good condition it still can be saved, n it also mean how experienced the tuner was, awesome :D I’ve seen this short someone tuning an upright piano that never been tuned since it’s been Made for 30years n he also made it alive again, but to be fair this one right here is looks older.
After seeing this Video, I feel the urge to repair the only family Piano. I am by NO way a professional, but after seeing you getting these keys back to work I now think I know why some of the are stuck on our Piano. Next time I'm visiting my parents I will try to fix up the mechanics so a professional can come to tune it.
I loved this video!! I’m debating to purchase/save a c.kemmler & sons upright piano it’s been sat in old workman’s club abandoned for 20hrs I’ve checked all inside no mice!!
This piano could take you through all the grades not just 1+2. It's a perfectly good piano or at least the mouse thought so. When I retire I am going to buy a baby grand in ebony. For now I am using a Nord to learn on which is going OK as I already know a lot of theory. I am looking for a warm sounding upright overstrung or something in the middle that can be tuned warmer. I have never been too keen on bright piano's as I always set up my Nord to sound toffee like soft and all the 60-70s sounds are my favorites.
I clean the used piano's and do delivery for our piano showroom.....I can tell you, cleaning a piano out is alot of work and time when done throughly. Good job bro.
Who'd of thought a strapping fellow like you would be so scornful. I suppose old pianos are so ten-a-penny that you can pick and choose which to renovate. I'd love a piano but I have no space so I'm about to spend £1k on a digital keyboard that feels and sounds as near to a piano as I can get. Soon as I have room I'll get the real thing, reconditioned will do fine.
BUDDYYYY IT'S MEEEEEEE THE GUY THAT BOUGHT A DIGITAL PIANO FROM YOU JUST YESTERDAY (SEPTEMPBER 5, 2023... the one who you showed how to play the bohemian rhapsody) I was just scrolling down to see how people actually fix pianos and found you!
When i saw the thumbnail I thought this was similar to a piano that i had to give up on (which had been in my family for more than 120 years). Once you opened it i was relieved to see that the inside was considerably newer. I kept the inlay panel, haven't decided what to do with it.
It blows my minds that somebody would even consider to throw a beautiful old playable piano in the bin because of a small mouse nest and some droppings🤯!!! Good job and glad you didn’t 👍
I've been restoring old pianos for 40 plus years. This one is really nice looking. Before you opened it up I was sure it would be one of the old "birdcage" designs. Pleasant surprise to see a modern looking action. With the middle registers SOOO far out of tune, I'm surprised you did not check the tightness of the pins first. Might have saved you a lot of time if the pin block was bad. If the block is good, anything else can be fixed pretty easily. I cringed when you used course sandpaper on the front rail pins. That can kill the touch of a good grand piano but I guess on this old piano it did not make any real deference. Currently I am restoring an old Fischer grand built in 1865. Lots of challenges there, but worth the effort.
BURLE WALNUT wood. Verrry beautiful! You brought it back to life. God has given you an amazing talent! I SUBBED Thank you for posting. Bill, from Tn. 🇺🇸
Well, I think that piano is quite beautiful and sounds great after being restored. . . . I looked at the online marketplace in my area. There are three pianos being given away.
Could not believe it. The piano is identical to the one I grew up with and played well into my 40s. The only clue was the name plate on mine was Julius Hilse.Really hope that this one finds a good home
That sounds like it's been a LOT more than 20 years since It was tuned, sounds like it was close to about 200 cents flat or more. When I first got one of my Baldwin uprights (a Hamilton studio upright made in 1956), it was about 25 cents flat (or an eighth of a tone), and had been 15 years since it was tuned. My other Baldwin Hamilton (from 1950) was still pretty close to pitch, maybe a few cents off, even though it had been several years since it was tuned, and so was a 1951 Hamilton I had gotten for my church a year earlier. Also another piano (a former player Ricca & Son upright from 1913) I had before the two Hamiltons, hadn't been tuned for several decades when I got it (at least 30 or 40 years, maybe more), and it was about a semitone (or 100 cents) flat. Also when working with a piano with rusty strings, one thing tuners often do is lower the pitch until they hear a tick that's the sound of the rust at the termination point breaking free, THEN they raise the pitch to where it should be. This should reduce the risk of breaking strings. Also when replacing treble (plain wire) strings, usually they have spools of wire and will cut the appropriate length off of that for replacing a string. Also a bass string can be spliced with new wire on the end depending on where it breaks, although it is better to order a new custom string whenever possible.
It really depends on the climate conditions, a piano could go flat by 3 semitones if it were exposed to extreme temperature and humidity swings. If it was moved a lot it would also throw it out of tune.
Thank you for your video stream I appreciate that there are people like yourself who take care of pianos, keep up the good work kind regards Mr Worrell Robinson.
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Old pianos have so much character, they are well worth keeping a hold of, good video
Thank you, had a lot of interest in this video, will do another one soon!
Some are.
ruclips.net/video/ufaSfovghKY/видео.html
Yeah, some people say it takes some of its old life with it ;@)
IF it has a good soundboard with it's crown if the pinblock is still good then yes theoretically yes IF you've got the money and a master technician available. It's no small expenditure.
Wow..Tears on my eyes. I'm 67 years old and I play piano since I was 5. Not lesson, only hearing and watching. When I was 5 my dad bought an upright piano. I already played guitar but I never tried to play a piano. It was new for me. A family friend came to test the piano and I was amazed watching what he was playing. The test ended and they were chatting and I sat at the piano and tried to play what i heard and see. And the family friend said.."Hey, he is talented. Send to teach to play or pay a piano teacher. My dad didnt have enough money to pay a teacher and never had a piano class. Only the radio, the music I heard i picked up notes and chords. The piano become my friend and everyday of my life I played piano. As a teen in the 70's I opened the covers and disasembled all the panel and clean inside and I like to play with the "naked piano" brcause it sounded great and loud and I could play Beatles songs and some rock too...The came Queen with Bohemian Rapsody and I learned to play bymyself. That old piano ended with the old parents house. Now I'm retired as electronic engineer but i had my electronics keyboards and guitar and music is my company. Living alone by option, divorced, and my son grew and was emigrated to other country and he got a degree as piano teacher in a neighbor country. That my life now with a memory of my old piano and making music to enjoy my life. (BTW, Could you tell me the piano and strings melody name you put as the video soundtrack while you tuned the piano??) Greeting to all who love music and pianos...
Not sure of the first song but the second was Piano Man and Fur Elise was the last one.
The first song I think was Call me Al , by Paul Simon.
Thanks for sharing a beautiful story 😊
Oh hi there.
Your story reminds me about a Malaysian RUclipsr who did his channel leisurely just for the sake of fun/hobby LOL
His channel is Ray Mak,
and also former ambassador of Yamaha Music Malaysia and currently ambassador of Kawai Malaysia
(he plays piano by ears,
just like you,
because he just can't read even his piano teacher had try everything to teach him and he just can't read music sheets but his family is wealthy enough for him to learn piano formally under the care of private piano teacher who taught classical piano! He could play some of the famous classical pieces by ear too!)
That's awesome to hear ❤
Only three pianos I have failed to bring back in the 45 Years I worked as a Piano Tuner and that was due to very bad woodworm. I used to get a real buzz to save a neglected instrument and of course I had the joy of being the first to play the finished job and to hear the bloom of a freshly tuned piano.
Piano is an invaluable acoustic musical instrument which heals stress and depression. Most pionos are passing from generation to generation. I feel sad that most young people abandon them without giving proper care. Today's busy schedule does not let them learn how to play it. Therefore they end up in a junk yard. These old gold stuff should be preserved for the next generation without scrapping. I really appreciate your time and effort for giving life to this old gold piano.
My sister had a piano for Christmas when we were kids.It was 4 semitones lower than concert pitch,made in London.I decided to try and tune it up to concert pitch.I was only 13years old at the time.A very challenging job because the pins would slip back every time I tried to knock 1 in..Thanks for your video.....Brought back some happy memories as a child....I'm now 52,Still playing...
My heart nearly stopped when you said you were probably going to dump it, then you did the right thing and everything was a-ok!
There are many antique pianos threatened with the landfill every day,
in all kinds of conditions from very good to very bad.
Most are restorable with enough good work put in,
although the cost of restoration may exceed the _current_ market value in today's stupidly depressed piano market, which has been flooded with cheap and poorly made new pianos from China
(as well as better quality - than those - new pianos made elsewhere).
In my opinion, people in the market for an acoustic piano should be buying medium or high grade used (well restored), or medium or high grade new pianos, whether upright or grand (square pianos have their own special sonority which is partway between a hammered dulcimer and a modern piano, making them a specialty instrument and a niche market).
However, in my opinion as a musician, monetary value be damned, the beauty of tone and excellence of construction of many of these instruments makes them worth saving no matter how much money you have to throw at them (although make sure you hire someone who is thoroughly reputable after having read/watched all you can and checked their work, or else you're throwing your restoration money down the drain and possibly hiring someone to make the piano worse than it was before).
Maybe you can save one or more of them (I have 32 pianos in storage right now, on which I'm struggling to pay rent till I can get 2 more jobs and start paying off my debts and save for a house).
I don't recommend people follow my route UNLESS they are able to either personally restore, or afford to have restored, the instruments, and have (*OWN*) an insulated, climate controlled building in which to store / display them, if not their own home. Don't go piano hoarding only to see instruments auctioned off for scrap etc or your heirs shovel everything into the dump. If you are going to save instruments, try to plan for their future and get them into good homes, whether museums, public venues, or long term private homes.
The pianos I saved, I did because other collectors were not saving them and I knew they were very rare (one is one of a kind; several others are either one of only two known to exist or one of only 4-6 known to exist of that model), and I did not want to just stand by and let them go to dump and then look around 20 years from now when I finally own a home, and not find any of the pianos on my wishlist because all the remaining examples had been junked by then
So this is kind of 'saving up for the future' for me.
(As of the 1970s, in one of the piano tuning books I own, the author guesstimated that approximately 40,000 old pianos were junked every year then; the number now junked per year in this post-2008 Craigslist/eBay market
(which has driven prices down by people being able to flood the market via the internet, without, *YET* enough corresponding GOOD historical/technical info about them, and corresponding GOOD easily-found high quality videos and audio recordings of restored examples, to offset this trend), may well be higher).
That being said, if you want to find antique pianos for sale to save and restore,
we (myself and friends) regularly repost ads for them on the Facebook groups 'Free Pianos Online' and 'Vintage Pianos For Sale Online', as well as dozens of other groups devoted to individual piano makers (like Chickering, Ludwig, Krakauer, etc).
There are also FB groups for specialty and/or rare instruments like player pianos ("Player Pianos, Free, Cheap and sometimes, not... from any source!") square pianos ("square pianos buy-sell-trade, talk, and history group"), coin pianos and orchestrions ("Orchestrions of America"), and other instruments, as well as groups for buying and selling reed organs, electronic organs, and even pipe organs.
Yes it can and should be saved - YES!
ruclips.net/video/1cuWs6J8LXk/видео.html
Right! Who throws out every piano that gets a mouse in it? That was absurd.
In some old German piano's I saw an appliance at the pedals to prevent the mouse entering. Because that's the only way for them to get in. A kind of metal shutter attached underneath the pedals.
Why use the plastic damping tool for the middle section? The continuous felt strip works way faster.
@@andrewbarrett1537I would have just smashed it up with an axe and a sledgehammer. I've broken up loads of old crap pianos!
I so want to learn this craft and to be able to save those old neglected pianos out there that have been around for ages. Great job!
Good job mate! Thank you for saving this old girl. Here in the states, old pianos are given away or scrapped by the hundreds simply because no one plays them anymore, or they don't fit the room decor or for many other reasons. I appreciate your thoughtful posts.
Beautiful old piano....sounds better than a lot of new cheap pianos
Yes there are some awful Pianos being made today, you get what you pay for!
And there are a few piano companies still making magnificent, beautiful pianos, namely Steinway, Bösendorfer, Bechstein, Fazioli, and Yamaha, the top three are Steinway, Fazioli, and Bösendorfer. There were a number of competent piano building. Companies not that long ago and their grand pianos can still be had for relatively little. Those include Mason and Hamlin, Baldwin, Chickering among others.
New grand pianos from $Steinway, Fazioli, and Bösendorfer are 23:53 breathtakingly expensive, with prices from their factories running between approximately $100,000 and $300,000. Steinways, all new ones, now come with complex electronics (as do Yamahas) that can playback the performances of any number of the top concert pianists. The prices of these high-end pianos is determined by the size of the instrument and the type of wood used to make their cases. The largest pianos have cases that are 9 feet long. They are generally known as concert grand pianos. Steinway in the recent past was owned by a private equity company. They still have factories in Germany and in New York. Their private equity owners worked to standardize their manufacturing processes between their facilities in New York and Frankfurt, Germany, while continuing to upholding the company’s abilities to continue the hand-built character of the new Steinways.
Bösendorfer, an Austrian company, is now owned by Yamaha. Some pianists who have appreciated Bösendorfer’s rich tone now say that they feel that there is now too much Japanese influence in the internal design of new Bösendorfers.
Were I to have the opportunaty to once again own a Steinway, I would choose a 7-foot model with a shiny black finish.
Repent and trust in Jesus. we deserve Hell for our sins. For example lying, lusing, saying God's name as a cuss word and stealing our just some examples of sin which we can all admit to doing at least one of those. For our sin we deserve death and Hell, but there is a way out. Repent anf trust in Jesus and you will be saved. Repentence is turning from sin. So repent and trust in Jesus. He will save you from Hell, and instead give you eternal life in Heaven.
John 3:16
Romans 3:23❤❤❤
@@christianweatherbroadcastingJesus Christ there's something wrong with you
@@christianweatherbroadcasting i'm going to kiss you on your lips
the echo inside is pure magic, like a portal to a whole other immense universe.
That piano looks gorgeous, I wish I had a piano that had as much character and charm as that one
😢😢😢😢 1:41 😊
Glad you persevered, it is such a beautiful piano. It has a beautiful sound, too. I recently had my old Yamaha U1 upright restored. Bought it new 45 years ago, played it a few years, then left it at my folks house while I made my career on the other side of the world. Now retired so I had it shipped to me across the Pacific, but it arrived with a big gash in the side from an errant forklift and covered in mold. Most people would have dumped it and bought a new one, but it was MY piano. I insisted it be restored. It now sits in my living room reborn, glorious and sounding more beautiful than ever. A bit of mold here, a few mice there, they just add a bit of color to a piano's history.
Very good job. I tune this old piano (half armor) half a tone lower (compromise after agreement with the owner), because some malfunctions occurred as a result of trying to tune correctly (A=440Hz). Full armor was not standard until after 1930. Until then, tuning was lower, except for concert grands.
Old is Gold. .......Very difficult to get such sturdy construction in present Pianos.
The best ones I found to redo were school ones.
They were great ones when new and were only needing refinishing, and tuning.
I'm glad you continued, would have been a tragedy to trash it
I'm rebuilding an 1890 Ivers & Pond upright piano now. Glad to see you've given this one a new life. It looks like it probably had some kind of rebuild / restoration done, maybe around the last time it was tuned, because it really looks to be in great condition for it's age. These well built old pianos really do hold up well over time.
I'm staying at this artist residence with a lot of old pianos that could really use some love. I have no idea how to approach this but your videos have been giving me a good introduction as to what to do. I guess "random piano that's been rotting away in a corner" might be a hard thing to start with, but I also can't possibly make it worse lol
Thanks for your comments! It has taken me years to be able to assess a piano and judge whether is is worth spending time to fix it or if it even can be fixed. If you are going to attempt it, I would get a piano tech to visit and assess which of the pianos can be saved and what needs doing. There are some obvious issues that would indicate that a piano is dead, cracked pin block, severe borer/woodworm, water/flood damage, multiple replaced strings, dry/damp damage, missing components, dodgy repairs etc etc.
Usually, if all the keys and hammers work (sticky keys are easy to remedy) and the piano is sounding ok throughout the range then it's likely just to need a good service and tune.
I've thrown away 100s of Pianos and spent a lot of time attampting to repair piano when I first started but it's all good experience.
Good luck!
I've read that a lot of techs don't raise an old piano to concert pitch to avoid the very problem you're having, snapped strings. Once upon a time I did my own work when I couldn't afford to have my acoustic piano tuned. I never knew much about it. Thanks for sharing. This was a very informative video.
Lubricating the pressure bar and taking them down very flat and then back up again usually avoids breakage. I was surprised to hear of reusing strings from another piano I would have thought better to either go try and reuse the original or replace with some new wire.
It's not just broken strings, but could be potentially a cracked plate / broken frame, which could kill the piano (unless you happen to have your own foundry and can cast a new piano plate; or else can pay a 4-figure-plus amount to have a one-off replica plate cast by another foundry, or find an intact identical plate from a ruined/junked piano of the same plate/scale design).
Old pianos pre-1928 were not designed to be tuned above A-435, and so tuning it higher than the piano architect / scale designer intended, could be disastrous, especially with wooden-framed instruments.
It isn't ALWAYS disastrous, as some old pianos (particularly those with a full iron plate) were built heavily enough to actually be able to withstand the extra tension (as the scale designers built them in with a great enough margin of error / extra sturdy when designing the scale), but the average layperson or tuner would not necessarily be able to tell this just by looking at the instrument, particularly as some plate designs are more fragile and more prone to breakage if the tension is unequal or too high.
So *some* can be raised to A-440 but not all.
This should not condemn them, as many modern instruments (particularly string instruments like guitar, violin, bass, banjo etc, not to mention VOICE) can simply TUNE DOWN to match the piano, rather than have to bring the entire piano up to match them (brass instruments etc might be another story). In my opinion, a preference for any particular pitch like A-435, A-440, A-442 etc is just a kind of stupid matter of opinion and isn't really based on any real science.
Unfortunately some antique instruments have been ruined by trying to change to a wrong / unintended pitch, particularly some pipe organs (I know one rare band organ which had all its pipes cut down by a restorer at the request of a 'sound man' at the amusement park where it plays, because he prefers to hear things at A-440; his arrogance and selfishness means those original pipes are now not playing at their intended pitch for the width and sound a slight bit 'funny', not to mention that this original wood is now gone from the ends of the pipes; if he had commissioned the builder to make all new pipes with scales at A-440 pitch, and crated and stored the original pipes with the organ for a future non-arrogant owner, that would have been a better option IMO).
@@andrewbarrett1537 If it were possible to give replies a 1 to 10 rating, I'd give yours an 11. I agree completely. Sadly, I also know of a beautiful old instrument destroyed for the same reason. My aunt who was an antique dealer had a gorgeous 19th Century piano ruined by a piano tuner trying bring the old instrument up to A440 when the treasured old instrument should probably have been tuned down a step and half. He broke the wooden soundboard, split it right down the middle.
@333Orobas 666 Thanks for sharing your experiences. It was just something I read that it was safer for a piano tuner to tune to lower than concert pitch than risk damaging an old piano. It may be a matter of what the owner can afford as well as the value of the piano to consider. I'm sure there are a lot of factors. My aunt had a local tuner try to tune her antique and he broke the soundboard on her 18th Century instrument. The cost of strings might determine whether or not to save an only piano or dispose of it for those, as you said, who can't do the work themselves.
I bought the mutes, felt, and tuning hammer. I looked into repairs but decided it was more than I wanted to get into. Eventually, we replaced our old piano with another old one that we had repaired and tuned. My kids grew up with the repaired one. When they were grown, I ultimately broke the thing into pieces and hauled it off to the county dump. I replaced it with a Yamaha electronic instrument that never goes out of tune. I enjoyed tuning the piano. It was a good learning experience.
@333Orobas 666 That's obviously a major expense but a professional repairman showed me how the fabric parts are much more likely to need replacing on a piano that's been neglected that long. He showed me how all he had to do was take his finger beneath the straps and snapped them with the flick of his finger. The felts and corks get rotten on the old ones. Every part's replaceable, of course, but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to replace them.
Beautiful piano!! I have an old Vose and Sons upright built somewhere between 1900 and 1905, its a bit beaten up and scratched but it still plays wonderfully. I had it given to my by an elderly woman from my grandmothers church and hadn't been tuned since 1992 when I got it. I started learning to play 4 years ago and I absolutely love the old weathered look of it. I tuned it myself several months ago and found an old hotwheels car inside it. Lol
This video has given me more confidence to work on my own piano. I have a 100+ year old Welling upright that survived a fire a year ago. It's sustained smoke, heat and moisture damage but is in good shape. I feel with some work I could have it better than before.
I can't imagine anyone taking a perfectly decent piano to a dump site where it will be crushed up. Unless a piano has suffered catastrophic damage or is just missing too many parts they should be saved. They have been built by master craftsmen from an era that will never come back. Every piano is an individual as 10 piano's from the same model never sound the same. Heck in guitar world, old guitars especially damaged ones are normally sent off and rebuilt by a skilled luthier especially pre war stuff and then they are usually worth a lot of money so why not pianos?
This is one of those old pianos that will appreciate in value in the future.
Another old piano shinning again... great job!!!
Just now found your video. Guess I'm a year or so late to the party. I very much enjoyed the video. The cabinet is in excellent condition and the mechanics are sound. I can't believe someone was going to chuck it into a skip.
I have a 1903 Schumann Cabinet Grand Upright which I did some work on with the help of an old gentleman who tuned and repaired pianos. After a number of years I concluded I should look into having this instrument restored. Yes, it was quite expensive, but, the appraised value is now 50% more than the restoration cost. After three years (thanks COVID), it is scheduled for deliver in a few days. So excited, I can hardly wait.
Like many who have commented here, it breaks my heart to see these grand old instruments discarded. I sometimes think it is simply because people just don't know what they have.
Cheers.
Thank you for your time & successful effort to restore this beautiful instrument! Thank you for recording your steps in the process. As a pianist, its inner workings fascinated me!
Fantastic work - Would have been a tragedy for this piano to end up at the tip - Great to see this piano being given a new lease of life.
Brilliant video. (Subbed). I too am a piano tuner/renovator and was brilliant to see your approach to this old piano, as I agree that the older ones can be so much nicer with just some time love and care. Keep up the good work!
I reacted right away and "tooted" to the "you can call me Al" song and my son who is 17 and a pianist says "oh!! What's that song?" 🥰 that's a new sheet music we'll have to get (not a bad thing at all)...love that song since it was released when I was a kid...beautiful video...beautiful piano ❤👏
When you said “somebody’s been busy” I laughed my head off-you’re so entertaining!!!
Glad you save this one. The case is gorgeous!
Yes indeed. The case is stunning!
Wow! The woodworking on that old upright is lovely.
Aged wood gives instruments a sound that's impossible to replicate. Dump the piano for a mouse nest??? Seriously??? This 76-year-old grandma would come get the mouse, big guy. I would wear a mask in addition to the gloves, however. So glad you finished saving this beautiful piano. Thanks for sharing.
I was gifted a baby grand that is about 80 hears old. I can't find anyone that will come and quote me a price to fix it. However, one piano store told me over the phone that it would cost more than it was worth. I knew right there I wouldn't be using him for anything. Now I am researching videos tl see if I can figure out how to bring it back to life. Thanks for your video. Very helpful!
Terribly entertaining, so glad you continued working on it. Cheers from Netherlands
First time viewer. Really enjoyed seeing how a Tuner applies his trade. Will look at a number of additional videos, find out what tools are needed, and will see if I can apply them to a free Piano from somewhere for my personal use. Haven’t played since my childhood, I’m now nearly 65, but would love to tackle the ivories again and stave off old man fingers. Cheers!
This was wonderful to watch! Thank you for showing us how you bring these beautiful old pieces back to life!
Fabulous!
Glad you decided to revive that nice old upright. Myself, I would have been a bit nervous pitch-raising it back to A440 (POP!-Oops, there goes another string!) - but you obviously know what you're doing. I would have chickened out, and just maybe brought it up maybe 30 cents or so, using the old circle of 4ths & 5ths method to tune it by ear (but I'm a retired old-timer who didn't have a digital tuner).
Yes, that's exactly what I would have done. I flinched when he pulled those OLD strings up to concert pitch (A440). I was waiting to see how many strings popped. I've had to work over a year just to bring an old Hobart Nelson upright up to be only 1 step low. It was originally 3 steps low. Haven't popped a string either. Pins were all good and tight - surprisingly.
I recently bought a piano that sounds similar to the one in this video near the beginning, but have very little knowledge and no experience with tuning. Does tuning it up but not as far mean the note it plays will be lower than it's supposed to be? And what should I search to find more info about safe tuning? I really want to avoid breaking any strings if I can.
I just got my first upright and am very excited it’s pretty old and the keys are stiff, and the lowest note sticks, but I’m excited for a new hobby. Would love to see a “5 easy ways to touch up an old piano” kinda video. You may already have one, this is the first tuning video over ever watched but just a good idea for someone like me! Thank you!
I have an old Kohler & Chase upright, I'm sad to say I never tune it, yet it's not too far off and amazes me that it hasn't gone more out of tune given its neglect. As a classical singer I don't need a fine instrument and I use it to teach, though I wish I could afford to tune it. When I first purchased it I stripped off the dark finish and I believe it's cherry wood. Thanks for your video. I've often wondered what the various parts were, so it was educational too. I live in San Francisco and was raised in Davenport, Iowa, I mention that because I actually saw a RUclips about a double piano with key boards on both ends and it's not being taken carre of in my home area, not something I might expect in a relatively unsophisticated part of the country.
My mom's piano hasn't been tuned in over 30 years but sounds pretty damn good after hearing this one before you did your magic.
Poor mouse.
Respect for history will pay off : the satisfaction afterwards will become a golden memory snd the tune of the instrument incredibly! Try it!
Every pub needs one just like the old days 😊😊😊
So beautiful and a beautiful tone to it! ❤ A lovely friend!
Refreshing to see an old and lovely piano given a new lease of life. Well done.😊
I was so confused when you said you'd only need 2 tunings for a piano that is so out of tune.
And then I flinched so hard when you instantly tuned them to 440 hz!
You're either super skilled or lucky that only two strings snapped
You did a good job cleaning up this piano. It's so beautiful and unique! So glad you didn't give up The Nest 🤢
At least it was not a dead parrot, but a mouse. The finished piano sounds really nice, well done, good job. Those early German pianos are pretty good overall.
Ive been playing piano for 15 years . To me every piano has character. If you play to hear music, not just play to read music. Itll always give you a different texture to the sound of it. Whether its old or new theyre always different. Im addicted to more of the sound other pianos give.
Thank you very much for this. Sadly my mum just died and left her piano (that we all learned on) to my son - I've started cleaning her up - your tips and recommendations are most helpful.
Oh no!
As a freelance acoustic double bass player and also amateur hobbyist pianist (I don't know how to tune or do all the piano interior maintenance stuffs),
I would suggest you to tune up at most a semitone (a.k.a. half a tone) or even half of a semitone at a time for all the strings to prevent any sudden pressure change and snap all the strings!
What I meant is like,
since the piano is like should be middle C (at A=440 hertz pitching) but it's way too low pitch than it should be and the middle C actually sounding let's say a lower A instead,
the first round tuning you do the wrong pitching middle C key from the low A to A sharp (that's a semitone), from middle C to the higher octave C and the corresponding Cs, all the Cs just from almost sounding As to A sharps, then the Ds from about Bs to Cs, vice versa,
semitone by semitone you tune them one by one,
it will definitely cause so much time but it will 100% preventing the strings from snapping for sure!
(from changing new strings for acoustic double bass experiences)
All the best ;)
This piano is way too beautiful to be thrown away!
That mouse nest and dead mouse disturbed me. Well done for carrying on.
Our poor four legged friend, maybe part of the chorus of 'a Windmill in Old Amsterdam'.
Always nice to see old stuff being refurbished instead of going to landfill when someone else can use it. Nicely done! Luckily in my kind of restorations, I've yet to see a mouse in them!
Just finishing restoring a 1902 Schaff Bros upright grand (57" Chicago). Wonderful iron wrapped bass strings and original hammers. Terrific sound in Edwardian mahogany. Cheers.
This looks exactly like the piano that I started learning on over 30 years ago as a child. The inlay looks so incredibly familiar. I'm sure it had a sticky key too (though that's probably not uncommon). I played it for a few years until it was replaced with a Yamaha (which seemed like a Rolls Royce in comparison - it had 3 pedals!). We let the dealer take the old piano for free. That would have been over 20 years ago.
What a beautiful instrument. With 3 hours of TLC, it sounded great:)
I am so grateful you decided to carry on. You have given me the confidence to look after my own!! thank you sir.
Such a gem of a channel. So soothing and enjoyable to watch!
Amazing stuff to watch! Such brilliantly made instruments. I wouldn't know where to begin taking one of those apart, and putting it back together. Sounds great at the end! RIP 🐁
What an awesome find, I'm so glad you managed to save the piano. I used to play but now i have no piano. i want a free one and learn to play again like you. I also liked it where you played a bit of "you can call me Al" by Paul Simon, please play more.
Edward...you might want to check out your local craigslist if you are
in the States. I have noticed some
pianos being given away. They seem quite nice.
@@lawriefoster5587 I am not in the States but thanks for your help.
@@lawriefoster5587 I’m looking for a piano but not sure where too find one. Do you think eBay is good? I found some for pretty good prices but I’m not sure how to verify if they’re good or not.
Now its going to be a joy and pleasure for the happiness of many 😊😊😊
Greetings from Canada 🇨🇦 I was fascinated to watch your video and approach to saving this fantastic German Piano. The inlay and cabinet work were exquisite. There are many of us that appreciate older instruments, and I was delighted to see your video. I worked in a piano restoration facility for many years and realize the dangers of mouse nests, and other vermin. I wasn’t quite sure from the video, but I would recommend a mask in future as the dust from rodent excretement can be quite a health risk. I loved how you played Piano Man Andy, as you truly have the heart and soul of a true Piano Man. Bravo ❤️🔥 Cheers 🤩 and full support. I have liked, subscribed and rang the 🔔 for you sir. Kudos 🫡🫡🫡
Ahhh thanks Don, I do love these old pianos, it is a crying shame that many perfectly serviceable character pianos like this end up being thrown away. The trouble is, unless it's a top brand, they just sell for much. I spent total around 4 hours on this piano and sold it eventually for $200 NZD, around $150 USD? I take on board the mask wearing, will do that in future! Thanks for subscribing, this video was just to show my customers what I can do but it's quite popular so will definitely do another one.
@@churtonparkpianos4240 200 bucks? Man! That piano looks like it would be worth at least a 1000 just because of the amazing cabinet! Looks like it had work done on it at some point (new bridal straps are something every old piano should have) too so that's something
@@PiotrBarcz The problem is that hardly anyone (besides me?) is documenting JUNKED/DESTROYED antique pianos by serial number (I only have a few dozen documented so far; it's a daily struggle), much less SURVIVORS, and so no one really knows (yet) HOW MANY ARE LEFT of a particular make/model;
rarity is just as important as original build quality (and current condition) in determining value.
Also, many piano factory records have been (apparently) destroyed and so in many cases we don't know HOW MANY (of a particular model / case design / scale design) were ORIGINALLY BUILT, although some ESTIMATES can be made based upon a large enough data pool / census of SURVIVORS (like Art Reblitz' monumental study of Seeburg coin pianos, orchestrions, photoplayers, and piano-organs, hosted on the Mechanical Music Press website; which has documented over 1,000 instruments by now out of an estimated 20,000 or so originally built, including many surviving and several destroyed instruments; also, an anonymous person has been documenting Straube pianos on the Wikipedia page for that maker).
This does not mean all is lost. With enough diligent documentation of what survives NOW and what is being junked NOW, plus careful studies of piano serial numbers etc., plus priceless info from surviving trade journals (like "Music Trade Review"; "Music Trades"; "Music Trade Indicator" and "Presto"; plus the short-lived "Piano Trade Magazine"), original piano catalogs/manuals, and advertising flyers/leaflets, a lot of history can still be written about these instruments, which may help save them by giving people HARD data on them (instead of the usual: "If it's not made by Steinway I don't know anything about it").
It's amazing hearing that piano actually sound right after being so far out of tune to start with. You've done a fine job on this old instrument!
I was completely engrossed watching this. Thank you...
I had a German piano that looked just like this one, it had a name like Albert Fahr Hertz. I really loved it and moved it with me twice. The next time I moved it was sold as I wasn't playing much then. Hopefully someone is still enjoying it. Thanks for the video.
Lipps are one of the best pianos ever made... the sound is like a refined old red wine
I thank you for tuning and repairing the beautiful piano. 😊 ❤ this reminded me of my grandfather’s old black upright and it so out of tune
Do you know when it was made?
I used not to mind my guitar strings and now seems a pain until I see you changing piano strings. Great video!
I would have replaced all of the strings. I know it is a big job, but it gives the piano a new life. Good video.
Sounds incredible! You did an amazing job on this beautiful piano.
Thank you so much for this video, I very much appreciate your work. Keep those old piano's alive!
What a great informative video Andy, I've just been given a very similar upright piano for free and I'm gonna have a go at tuning it myself. Thanks
Hey Andrew, yes lots of tuning videos out there, let me know how you get on!
Beautiful woodwork and a lovely sounding piano once tuned. I needed to see this as I am about to try to tune up the local outside, public piano. This clip gives me hope, though it may be a lot to hope for. There is a lot of rust. If one string breaks, end of project. It sounds about like this one did before your tuning. Thanks for sharing.
***Update 12.26.24: I was able to retune the outside public piano, a Baldwin Acrosonic console. It took three tunings to get everything to settle, but it was well worth it. Lots of folks enjoy playing it during the warmer months here in Maine, USA. Sadly, it sits outside all winter under a custom vinyl cover. I will have to tune it again come Spring. I also retuned the other public piano here, a Jansson console. It generally is put inside the train station here during winter, otherwise it is under an awning next to the tracks. Last I looked, it was still out there a couple days before Xmess.
That was so interesting! I have an old upright and now I'm enthused to get it tuned. Thanks for the video!!
Acoustic piano is really something else, doesn’t really matter how long it’s never been tuned as long as they’re in a good condition it still can be saved, n it also mean how experienced the tuner was, awesome :D
I’ve seen this short someone tuning an upright piano that never been tuned since it’s been Made for 30years n he also made it alive again, but to be fair this one right here is looks older.
After seeing this Video, I feel the urge to repair the only family Piano. I am by NO way a professional, but after seeing you getting these keys back to work I now think I know why some of the are stuck on our Piano. Next time I'm visiting my parents I will try to fix up the mechanics so a professional can come to tune it.
Great content! I am an apprentice tuner. The piano sounds great. Thank you from Brooklyn, NY
Thank you so much for the video. It was heart warming to see this brought back to life
I loved this video!! I’m debating to purchase/save a c.kemmler & sons upright piano it’s been sat in old workman’s club abandoned for 20hrs
I’ve checked all inside no mice!!
Thanks, really enjoyed watching the whole thing. Feels like I had a visit at your workshop.
Given the age and state of the instrument, it held the tone remarkably well! After tuning, the Billy Joel Piano Man sounded just great.
This piano could take you through all the grades not just 1+2. It's a perfectly good piano or at least the mouse thought so. When I retire I am going to buy a baby grand in ebony. For now I am using a Nord to learn on which is going OK as I already know a lot of theory. I am looking for a warm sounding upright overstrung or something in the middle that can be tuned warmer. I have never been too keen on bright piano's as I always set up my Nord to sound toffee like soft and all the 60-70s sounds are my favorites.
So glad you saved this pretty piano. Your video is quite enjoyable. You have a pleasant way about you. Greetings from New England.
I clean the used piano's and do delivery for our piano showroom.....I can tell you, cleaning a piano out is alot of work and time when done throughly. Good job bro.
I have an upright my mother's school gave her when she retired. Plays great!!
Who'd of thought a strapping fellow like you would be so scornful. I suppose old pianos are so ten-a-penny that you can pick and choose which to renovate. I'd love a piano but I have no space so I'm about to spend £1k on a digital keyboard that feels and sounds as near to a piano as I can get. Soon as I have room I'll get the real thing, reconditioned will do fine.
BUDDYYYY IT'S MEEEEEEE
THE GUY THAT BOUGHT A DIGITAL PIANO FROM YOU JUST YESTERDAY (SEPTEMPBER 5, 2023... the one who you showed how to play the bohemian rhapsody)
I was just scrolling down to see how people actually fix pianos and found you!
Ha, small world! 😂
@@churtonparkpianos4240 i know right
When i saw the thumbnail I thought this was similar to a piano that i had to give up on (which had been in my family for more than 120 years). Once you opened it i was relieved to see that the inside was considerably newer. I kept the inlay panel, haven't decided what to do with it.
It blows my minds that somebody would even consider to throw a beautiful old playable piano in the bin because of a small mouse nest and some droppings🤯!!! Good job and glad you didn’t 👍
I've been restoring old pianos for 40 plus years. This one is really nice looking. Before you opened it up I was sure it would be one of the old "birdcage" designs. Pleasant surprise to see a modern looking action.
With the middle registers SOOO far out of tune, I'm surprised you did not check the tightness of the pins first. Might have saved you a lot of time if the pin block was bad. If the block is good, anything else can be fixed pretty easily.
I cringed when you used course sandpaper on the front rail pins. That can kill the touch of a good grand piano but I guess on this old piano it did not make any real deference.
Currently I am restoring an old Fischer grand built in 1865. Lots of challenges there, but worth the effort.
i always find it quite enchanting that mice make homes in pianos, its like something out of an old cartoon
BURLE WALNUT wood. Verrry beautiful! You brought it back to life. God has given you an amazing talent!
I SUBBED
Thank you for posting.
Bill, from Tn. 🇺🇸
Very nice piano and in exellent condition!
Well, I think that piano is quite beautiful and sounds great after being restored. . . . I looked at the online marketplace in my area. There are three pianos being given away.
my grandfather was a piano and organ tuner .... he would have loved that little tuning software program!!
Could not believe it. The piano is identical to the one I grew up with and played well into my 40s. The only clue was the name plate on mine was Julius Hilse.Really hope that this one finds a good home
I love that you tested it with You Can Call Me Al!
That sounds like it's been a LOT more than 20 years since It was tuned, sounds like it was close to about 200 cents flat or more.
When I first got one of my Baldwin uprights (a Hamilton studio upright made in 1956), it was about 25 cents flat (or an eighth of a tone), and had been 15 years since it was tuned. My other Baldwin Hamilton (from 1950) was still pretty close to pitch, maybe a few cents off, even though it had been several years since it was tuned, and so was a 1951 Hamilton I had gotten for my church a year earlier.
Also another piano (a former player Ricca & Son upright from 1913) I had before the two Hamiltons, hadn't been tuned for several decades when I got it (at least 30 or 40 years, maybe more), and it was about a semitone (or 100 cents) flat.
Also when working with a piano with rusty strings, one thing tuners often do is lower the pitch until they hear a tick that's the sound of the rust at the termination point breaking free, THEN they raise the pitch to where it should be. This should reduce the risk of breaking strings. Also when replacing treble (plain wire) strings, usually they have spools of wire and will cut the appropriate length off of that for replacing a string. Also a bass string can be spliced with new wire on the end depending on where it breaks, although it is better to order a new custom string whenever possible.
It really depends on the climate conditions, a piano could go flat by 3 semitones if it were exposed to extreme temperature and humidity swings. If it was moved a lot it would also throw it out of tune.
Thank you for your video stream I appreciate that there are people like yourself who take care of pianos, keep up the good work kind regards Mr Worrell Robinson.
Thanks I really enjoyed watching this. Perhaps getting a piano tomorrow so great info!