August Forster

A. Foster is a good brand. Foster of Lobau even more so. The latter was built in Germany, in years past.

Good evening,

I tuned a Förster piano just today. It was a high model and had a beautiful sound full of lows and highs. The lower models I know have a less rich sound. However, it happens that two pianos of the same brand and the same model have a different sound. In general, Förster is a fairly good brand.

Hans Elzinga

www.accordatorepianoforti.com

I have one, a baby grand 170, bought 3 years ago, and on which I would like to learn tuning and various adjustments thanks also to the videos of the legendary Maestro Paolo. It has a truly beautiful sound, warm, full-bodied and versatile, but the mechanics do not satisfy me completely, and at the moment even the tuning doesn't.. I tried to adjust the parameters as per the video tutorials, seeing how the values were quite out of place, and it has already improved a bit, but we are still far off.. It is also over 30 years old, even if it doesn't show on the outside; unfortunately, it is from the period before '89 when the Berlin Wall still existed, in fact, it has the inscription "Lubau DDR". One of the tuners here in Genoa, Mr. Ferrari, who has come more than once, advised me to get rid of it because, although it is a piano that came out well for being from the early 80s (a period when the factory, remaining in the communist area, could not benefit from high-quality materials and support factories, like Renner, which made it famous and prestigious on par with others like Schimmel and co., losing quality points.. but not too much, like Zimmermann, where the soundboards would even peel off from the side casing!) and even though it has been well kept (it was played very little; when I got it, its original hammer felt, which is still there, was practically without grooves, they used it as a decorative item in a stately house in the Genoese hills), it is not worth fixing it up, given that the mechanics and the piano are not as high-quality as the Forster pianos that are 10 or 20 years older than mine, pushing me to get a new baby grand like a Hoffmann, a Bechstein brand.. But since I had just bought it and I chose it for love at first sight (or rather, at first hearing, since I was looking for something smaller and more economical), I don't want to part with it and I know that it can give much more than what it can do now.. I also know that he works on Steinway and other renowned brands, so.. it's a bit like taking your own car to have it fixed by a Ferrari mechanic..(Strange coincidence, it's his surname =D).. it's normal that he tells you "change cars!".. anyway, it's an excellent brand, which still exists today and has returned to its former glory, and has nothing to envy other prestigious brands, since it is one of them too =D

This type and model of Foster accompanied me through my "diploma". It belonged to my teacher and I played it for about 20 good years. It is a good piano, robust, with a full sound; certainly not perfectly "docile", but it can be considered a good instrument. You did well to keep it. I find your considerations to be correct.

Thank you so much, especially for the explanations in the videos and the passion you manage to convey, it's contagious.=D For my birthday 20 days ago I was given a kit to tune good old Augusto but figuring it out is still an arduous task, I am only at the beginning, and at the moment the tuning lasts one day =D and it doesn't even satisfy me.. time will tell, and thanks to your precious advice, me and that 170cm, 300+ kg beast are becoming more and more friends, thanks again for everything! and if you ever pass through Genoa, you are a very welcome guest!

Thank you for the compliments and the hospitality