Hello,
i wanted to ask you if it is possible to restore an old piano from the early 1900s to excellent condition. I called a technician and entrusted him with my piano because I couldn't play well. Aside from the tuning that needs to be done periodically, I had noticed for some time that at high speeds the notes would fail (they wouldn't sound, and it wasn't my fault) and it forced me to exert an immense effort to make the sound as homogeneous as possible. This only happened when playing fast pieces. I also noticed that the dynamic range of the sound was extremely limited; in the high notes there is no range, and to play forte—my goodness, what a struggle, and you just can't get there... repeated sounds at speed don't work, and at speed I have to articulate my fingers in such an exaggerated way that I end up with tendonitis. For example, in Chopin's Waltz Op.64 n°2, the most moving part is almost impossible to play on my piano; some notes stumble and do not sound. When I press the key down, it's as if I feel cotton, felt, or wool, as if the action or the key isn't working properly. The technician came and took the action away, telling me he would restore it because the piano was effectively at the end of its life. He performed hammer voicing (shaving) and replaced some small parts that weren't working, telling me that nothing more could be done because it was old. It has indeed improved a lot, but I still have problems when I have to play fast pieces. I also have problems with the pianissimo; at the end of pieces when I have to finish with a pianissimo, the note I press does not emit sound, even though I pressed it... I don't know if I explained myself well enough to make my problem clear. I am not an expert in restoration, but could it be the pins? I don't know if those were replaced. Can an old piano become like new, or is it true that in the end we have to replace it with a new one? It feels to me like I have spent a lot and in the end, I didn't get what I wanted. Let me know.
Bye Gilda
