well-temperedforum.groupee.net
Piano picture of the day
05 January 2010, 06:41 PM
OperaTenorPiano picture of the day
The player piano guy has a couple of more challenges with the Apollo than he has/had with the Grau. First, and fundamentally, the Apollo is a 3/4 plate instead of a full plate, and is probably less stable to begin with. It looks to me like he didn't restring the Grau; he will absolutely have to with the Apollo - there are too many broken strings, and they're all extremely rusty. Besides, I can't imagine there is any tightness left in the pins.
Aside for that, the piano is incomplete. It looks like parts of the upper action stack are missing, and it's enough of an oddball that probably isn't a manual extant to fix it.
Just sayin'...
06 January 2010, 02:21 AM
Steve Millerquote:
Originally posted by OperaTenor:
it's enough of an oddball that probably isn't a manual extant to fix it.
Who needs a manual when you have
advertising?
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
06 January 2010, 04:41 AM
Brian Becroftquote:
but if my other piano is a piece of junk then this one should be kindling.
So I guess he is being realistic about the whole affair:-)
07 January 2010, 12:13 AM
OperaTenorquote:
Originally posted by Steve Miller:
quote:
Originally posted by OperaTenor:
it's enough of an oddball that probably isn't a manual extant to fix it.
Who needs a manual when you have
advertising?
[kenny mode]Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck[/kenny mode]
From the
Player-Care site, to my knowledge the biggest mechanical music nerd site around:
quote:
Melville Clark
The distinguishing feature of the Melville Clark player action was the "spring wind" mechanism which ran the music roll and became an integral part of the transmission. The winding of the main-spring was done by linkage to the pumping pedal movement. When fully wound, a slipping clutch would prevent overwinding. This was a nice feature for two reasons: it eliminated the terrific drain on the vacuum system otherwise required to run an air motor, and no pumping was required on rewind, due to the energy stored in the spring.
Earlier player stacks pushed directly on the keys with poppet wires and guide rail immediately behind the cover in back of the keyboard. The folding fall board normally found on pianos, was eliminated to make room for this player action. The stack was four rows of pneumatics facing forward. The valve chest was above and to the rear: Two rows of horizontal valves which screwed directly into the moveable leaf of a pouch-pneumatic through the inside valve seat. In order to have access to the pouch chamber, all of the valves had to be un-screwed first. Also there was a three-tier stack with same valve arrangement, but with smaller pneumatics which engaged with whippen of piano action. A later type of pneumatic stack followed; still with the spring wind, but with the more conventional three tier stack with circle pouches in individual chests above the pneumatics which engaged with the whippen through poppet wires at rear.
Unfortunately, there is no technical data on the spring-driven air motor mentioned above. And although Art Reblitz's book mentions Melville Clark numerous times, even his book doesn't contain any definitive information about this particular action.
There is NO Service Manual or Technical Reprint available!
It would seem this is one of the earlier models.
07 January 2010, 12:45 PM
Brian Becroftcaption reads:
This beautiful ART DECO piano made by Story & Clark,
called "STORYTONE" was built in 1939. It is the FIRST ELECTRONIC PIANO ever produced by RCA, exhibited
at the WORLD'S FAIR RCA Pavilion, creating a sensation!
RCA electrified it, making it the first ever electronic piano!
Each tone has an individual electronic pick up
and the sound is reproduced through the amplifier.
08 January 2010, 08:36 PM
Brian BecroftThe Centre at Kerikeri has taken delivery of its new Steinway D concert grand piano.
To celebrate the Kerikeri National Piano Competition turning 21, competition organiser Clare Penny has commissioned this record-breaking ‘Steinway’ birthday cake.
Expected to stretch to nearly 2 metres, and tip the scales at 75kg, the chocolate and almond creation will be cut by competition patron Michael Houstoun at a celebratory reception to follow the final on Sunday, July 6.
09 January 2010, 01:47 AM
ChickGrandFound together:
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"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." -- Albert Einstein
09 January 2010, 05:46 AM
Brian BecroftVery nice, that man with the grand above, would he be the piano mover..
11 January 2010, 07:33 AM
Brian BecroftHave a look at this piano, never seen anything like it, I am guessing the method here is to get more speaking length for the strings.
11 January 2010, 03:00 PM
rontunerI have a client with a Zwicki upright the same as that one. It is a 76? note keyboard, so the lowest strings take full advantage of the extra length afforded by this design. A pretty good sounding mini-piano. The main problem in tuning is the friction around the 90 degree bend as the strings get a little older. A little lubrication really helps!
12 January 2010, 06:51 AM
Brian Becroft
13 January 2010, 07:22 AM
Brian BecroftLesley Sanderson and Neil Conroy take over Pitzhanger Manor-House and Gallery with a series of works exploring physical displacement, used metaphorically to suggest an anxiety about how one is positioned within specific societies.
In this image the artists take the convention of the private recital, but then disrupt this with an elongated, blue, eyeless hood. The artists aimed to disturb a scene that usually elevates and preserves privilege, the respectable and the historical by an interjection that undermines those values. They also wanted to point to situations within the contemporary world where people are disempowered.
16 January 2010, 01:44 PM
OperaTenorYo Brian! You haven't run out of pictures now, have you?
16 January 2010, 06:04 PM
Brian Becroftquote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Brian Becroft:
You may find pianos in unexpected places in the environment...
quote:
So, is there a piano in this picture? Inquiring minds want to know!
Yes the idea here is the 'fence' that runs across the lower part of the picture - the faint segmentation suggests individual keys - how a piano keyboard looks when viewed "edge-on" from the front.
It is similar in concept to the photo someone posted a while ago of glass windows on a high-rise building. The particular way the windows were viewed suggested a piano keyboard with the pattern-alone aspect of white and black keys.
Also, OperaTenor, I was just hoping others would post something so I am not seen as hogging everything, which is a plausable statement. I am thinking of all the pianists and techs out there who see a zillion more pianos than I ever would know about. All I am doing is a few searches on Google. I have some more photos to come, some very startling ones. It appears very difficult to find those lovely artcase types from the industrial revolution era. The idea of 'piano' is treated in various ways by many curious-minded people exploring its significance in human history.
One day I will run out, but then how big is Google? Or more importantly, how effectively can google be used to find what you want? This is a VERY major flaw of the searchengine concept and is very frustrating. Most of what I have found is by pure chance and happenstance...
