•For sale is a 1923 Welte "Original" Piano. This piano was made in the US and plays Welte Licensee rolls. The case is in good condition and the reproducing part was restored in 2009. The piano has a turbine pump which works well and is quiet. The piano has been re-strung and is in working condition...

•Hi MMD friends, I have a restored Mason and Hamlin Ampico 'A' size piano, RA39028. This piano has been fully restored, including restringing. I hired a piano restorer to do the piano restringing, and assumed that all that he did was according to the right specifications. However, in recent discussi...

•Perhaps we think that the Mona Lisa would be better if her teeth were whiter? Maybe someone should have told Picasso that women are not triangular? Who needs that primary valve -- simply add a bleed to your secondary valves that's large enough and you've improved your Duo-Art. How about extending y...

•Regarding the Duo-Art system removed from a Steinway [140522 MMDigest], I have to vent on this subject as well. A few years ago I was asked to service a piano in the choir practice room of a local church. It was described as a player and the tech who tuned it had some regulation problem and couldn'...

•I have a 1921 Knabe 5'8" grand piano, serial #91546, with the Ampico A system installed. The piano plays well and holds tune well, the ivory is excellent but not pristine shape. With new-ish dampers, would benefit from re-stringing and new hammers. Some rust on pins and coils. The case is free from...

•Hi from New Zealand to all fellow MMD readers, It is with great pleasure that I can say we have finished the strung back (back posts, soundboard, bridges, pin block, frame and stringing) of the Wurlitzer Photoplayer model K found here in New Zealand in 2010. Our restorer, Kevin Hanna, estimates tha...

•Dear MMDs, The YouTube video of the Heller six-air grand format forte piano musical box in Breker's auction on 30 May (Lot 571) is now on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_fzbQ8HBao Catalogue description: Rare Grand Format Forte-Piano Musical Box by J.H. Heller, c. 1860. Playing six airs...

•Hello Clay, I think I can solve your problem. There is a fellow near Rochester who does wonderful woodworking and finishing. He's done a number of music box cases for me and several friends. He also restores pieces for some of the local museums. Replacing the stringing and missing veneer on your li...

For those interested in the Stuart Piano, I was speaking to Wayne Stuart today in regard to his new piano that was on the ABC here recently. The picture that I have of this new innovation in piano construction is still a little sketchy. My conversation with Wayne didn't delve very deeply into the re...

•I finally located a Foster & Co. piano, with a really bad cabinet. The tone was gone so I decided to re-string it. Upon removing the plate I found out the plate was in two pieces: #1 the plate, #2 the part of the plate containing the name. The whole thing was made to look like one piece. This spark...

• [ Editor's Note: [ [ Here's another article which I gave to Joyce Brite for editorial revision. [ The article has been edited for readability only. No change in meaning [ was intended. [ [ Thanks Joyce, for the quick response on this. [ [ Jody I certainly agree with Don Teach's idea of playing "O"...

•In response to Hal Davis' view on the sustain pedal and piano strings: I believe the Aeolian people would have had 255 steps or more of pedal, and key velocity too, if they didn't go under at the time. One must remember that what we speak today is as a result of the evolution from yesterday. If one...

•> Having spotted a rare Dimier Freres box in Ian McDonald's list of > treasures, I thought it would be interesting to ask if anyone else in MMD > is aware of other boxes made by this manufacturer. It would be > interesting to compare notes. Just wondering... > > Jim Heyworth, > Temporarily in Vanco...

•There are several possibilities each of which can be the cause of your problem. Also all of them could be the problem. The shape of the bass hammers will dull the clarity of the bass line on any piano. They should be sand-filed so that there is a pear shaped hammer with a slight point on the crown...

•I received one personal e-mail concerning the ills of using felt in the valves. And one other suggesting I do my own leg work concerning finding out if American Piano Supply had a supply of bulk thin center rail felt. In yesterdays MMD here is the statement I made: > "My problem is finding a supply...

•Hi All, I need a general consensus from the group of professional piano rebuilders. Here's the situation: I was called in to evaluate the condition of an Aeolian Duo-Art grand that was 'completely restored' three years ago. Upon looking at the unit, my immediate response was, "This unit was not res...

•Hi Bob. I also had a similar experience about 11 years ago. The first Piano I ever restrung was an upright Lakeside player (made by Cable Nelson). We bought that old player piano from an estate auction Marion Illinois. It was the poor old average "family piano". When I got It home, cleaned it up an...

•Hi, I just acquired an old Farrand player (double-valve Standard) built in Holland, Michigan. A friend of mine bought it in a lot of other stuff at an auction. He told me "I knew you rebuild old pianos, and thought you could use it." I evaluated the piano today. It's a large piano, very similar to ...

•I am addressing Andy Taylor who bemoaned the winter loose pins from lack of humidity. All pianos are affected by humidity fluctuations. The most often affected is the soundboard and its crown. If you ever wondered why the piano went out of tune in one section but not another, consider when a soundb...

•About the only way to break a good piano plate is to shock it hard enough to bend it while the strings are still on it. They are otherwise almost impossible to bust. But defective piano plates are another story. I had a plate break one time, right across the widest portion of the lower treble web. ...