Good evening,
I own a German upright piano of the Ritmüller brand, 130 cm tall, purchased as a refurbished used instrument in the early '90s.
Since then, the piano has never required major maintenance interventions except for the replacement of a couple of broken strings and the re-gluing of a few black keys (for this second type of intervention, I was able to manage on my own after watching a technician do it).
In the last 10 years, the piano has not been used because, due to scheduling issues, I unfortunately had little time to play, and what little time I had was always at hours that are not very suitable for an apartment building. Added to this over the years are some mechanical problems that require restoration/repair work, for which I would need to consult experienced people.
In particular, what I noticed right away is that many hammers have come unglued from the shanks (some were probably glued suboptimally, as the typical glue "collar" around the shank is missing).
I have therefore researched, mainly by studying Arthur Reblitz's book, so that I could disassemble the action and the keyboard to perform an initial assessment of the most obvious problems myself. What I identified are:
- some lateral play in the hammers, which does not seem to be related to wear of the center pin felts, but rather to the fork screws that have loosened (the lateral movement starts right there);
- some long cracks in the boards on the back of the instrument, but fortunately they do not affect the soundboard;
- some of the felt washers found on the wooden pillars are crushed and, judging by the color, different from the others.
During disassembly and the removal of about thirty years of accumulated dust, I also found the instrument's serial number and was able to trace the production date of the piano, which should have been produced in 1910.
From what I could see, the entire action of the piano seems original and I did not find any damaged or heavily worn parts, while the hammers are quite grooved by the strings but have not lost their characteristic egg shape.
It would therefore be very useful for me to have your opinion regarding:
- the overall condition of the piano, seen through expert eyes;
- the necessary interventions regarding both the hammers (shaving, re-felting, or replacing... personally, I would lean towards re-felting in order to preserve the instrument's state of conservation) and the action in general;
It would also be useful to have a rough idea of the costs of a possible repair of the piano and, setting aside the sentimental value of the instrument, an opinion on whether it is worth undertaking such an expense... which obviously depends on the cost.
In order to provide you with as many elements as possible right away to help me in these evaluations, I have taken extensive photographic reports, which I uploaded to Google Photos so as not to be banned for life from this forum. The link is https://photos.app.goo.gl/w5RXeSBmxpN2G8dw8.
I also managed to find information on a piano of the same brand and period that, excluding the cabinet, is identical to mine. I am providing below the links to the English website (https://thepianogallery.co.uk/videoshop/ritmuller/) and the YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGZP_5I-dQM).
Thank you for your attention, apologizing if I have perhaps gone on too long.
