Dilemma! restoring a 1940 German upright?

Hello Massimo, I have deleted a duplicate post of yours. The technicians and master tuners will certainly respond to you as soon as possible.

Regards,

Look, the answer would be a priori: Yes, a full restoration of the piano is certainly more worthwhile than a new one, but unfortunately there are at least 2 considerations to make every time pianos are discussed: 1) you need to know or ''find'' a reliable technician; someone who allows you to see the progress of the restoration: the workshop, to be clear (1 - 2 months; average time for a full restoration) 2) the structure must not be irreparably damaged, things that even a non-technician can notice by looking all over the piano.

Assuming the premises are good: a German piano from 1940, so not as old as you think; certainly, if it doesn't hold tuning, the restoration will be more expensive than average, but with a competent technician, an agreement can be reached

Thank you Adry for the answer,

i have a question: such a radical intervention, in your opinion, what could it consist of? replacement of mechanics, hammers and so on? And in this case, would the sound characteristics of the piano be altered in some way? And finally, more or less how much do such radical interventions cost?

Thank you in advance.

You know the bass, so: humidity and time ruin the strings, which would be better to change entirely, including the very expensive copper ones, but basically the concept is:

dismantle the entire pinblock and therefore remove all the tuning pins and replace them (these are the pins that you turn to tune the piano), check the hammer rail to see if it can still provide something or if it needs to be replaced, check the tension of the soundboard and basically along with the strings there is a series of special felts and gaskets under the strings and under the keyboard that control the feeling of the piano; let-off, return, escapement point.

That being said, if it is true that it doesn't hold its tuning, you also have to replace an expensive part which is the wood of the pins, the cursed soundboard. In short, a restoration would cost you as much as a mid-range new piano, but that's not the point; the point is whether the piano is recoverable or not (if positive, spend money but you obtain top-of-the-line reliability and quality that you certainly cannot afford given the costs of good uprights, sometimes higher than grands).

check what they are and therefore how they are in your piano: The soundboard must not be broken or even cracked, cast iron frame broken or with cracks present, bridges (wood on which the strings rest) unglued or even broken, and (last but not least, damage from woodworm, i.e., if they are present on one of these delicate parts: soundboard or bridges).

one last thing I feel like telling you is: if you want a good result, you will become aware of things that an average piano teacher does not know, and therefore you will be able to evaluate the piano's state of health not from the sound but from its condition; and then in this moment of unfavorable economic conjuncture, you might find excellent pianos at rock-bottom prices that require less care than your piano. So I advise you only one thing: start to understand how a piano is made and what matters, then decide, also because the biggest unknown is the restorer; besides being a good technician, they must be a good carpenter or have one in their workshop.

Thanks Adry, you have been more than exhaustive.

Since in this forum one finds people willing to give advice, I will take advantage of your experience a little more, if that's okay with you; I was thinking of taking some photos to submit to you for an opinion.

In the meantime, thanks a lot.

great, at this point however you must learn how to remove the covers! the bottom one is almost intuitive on nearly all pianos because in the center, on one side or both sides, there are levers to press or turn to release the panel which you will extract by pulling it towards you. Instead, the top one is sometimes complex, I wouldn't know how to explain it, but if I'm not mistaken, it was also mentioned in a post

Andry is right, if you have money to spend, spend it now while there's a crisis to find a good deal. Who makes you spend all this money on an old piano? Unless it's a family heirloom, it seems like wasted money to me.

The reasons for a restoration are various. Not least the emotional aspect. In this case, it seems to me to understand that you, Massimo, are also very satisfied with the sound qualities, which, you feel, can be "awakened." In any case, one can well invest a reasonable amount if the technician is good and respects, above all, the original materials. Replacements must be made with attention to perfect reproduction adhering to the original piece. I am speaking in particular about the hammer rail, which must be perfectly reproduced in shape and compression. The state of the strings and the stability of the pins must be verified. All the mechanical pins must be checked. The gaskets of the keyboard keybeds must be checked and potentially replaced, and the state of the related guide pins must be checked. In short, if well done, the work can yield very good results.

Hi Pianoexpert,

si, as I was telling Andry, aside from the significant emotional aspect, in recent months I have tried several 1/2 grand and 1/4 grand pianos, both new and used: Kawai RX series, various Yamaha C2/C3, and a few sub-brands of Petrof. From a "sound quality/beauty of sound" point of view, I was particularly disappointed by all the models tested, in the sense that I expected to find substantially superior qualitative differences when spending amounts from 10,000 euros upwards. Instead, I found exactly the opposite. Naturally, the problem, which is not easily solved, is understanding if there are people in the area with the right qualifications, who are honest and capable of giving me the hoped-for results. But this is a risk one often takes in life. I will shortly attach some photos of certain details of the action, and I hope that you too can contribute by giving me further advice. If I can, I will also insert some videos to give you an idea of the key weight (too light) and the return speed (also very strange).

Thanks anyway for the advice.

if you want, make this video, but keep in mind that, except for very pronounced lateral excursions, there are actually very few 'problematic' or tedious jobs to restore the right touch and the right key response; what seems like the biggest problem to you is actually the least (this gives you an idea of whether the piano has been used heavily, neglected heavily, or at most exposed to temperatures and humidity too far outside the mechanical tolerance range).

i forgot the damper regulations, so the felt must also still have the right shape; it must indeed dampen the sound perfectly both with and without the pedal