Very cool Ben. I've always been intrigued by how far you can push an average piano by retrofitting the action and strings with top quality parts. But, I'm always concerned that after doing all that, the piano cabinet simply doesn't have what it takes to put out a great sound. Perhaps the rim materials or the soundboard just aren't that great. How do decide which piano is worth restoring and will yield a nice tone after all your work?
That’s a great question. One could definitely sink money and effort into a piano never to be truly satisfied. I would say to look for the tell-tale signs of a quality rim and board-strong and sustained tone, tuning stability; consider the maker’s general reputation; and try to hear past components that are mediocre or old (as vague a directive as that may seem). With this YC I like to think I maxed out the intersection of cost of improvements/impact thereof/and instrument potential. I didn’t restring the entire piano but just the bass section where the difference in quality would matter most. And those crusty stock hammers were not hard to improve upon. I replaced the shanks in conjunction w the hammers but not the wippens. The rest of the improvements were largely of the sweat equity variety. In the end, I don’t feel I could rate the result as a “great sound”, to use your words. The instrument can only reach so high. BUT it was a heck of a lot better than it was initially and actually quite appealing. I think the buyer felt they were getting a nicely-worked instrument that fit into their budget and had some class to the sound. And while I had it, I sure enjoyed the enhancements that didn’t come at too high a cost.
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Very cool Ben. I've always been intrigued by how far you can push an average piano by retrofitting the action and strings with top quality parts. But, I'm always concerned that after doing all that, the piano cabinet simply doesn't have what it takes to put out a great sound. Perhaps the rim materials or the soundboard just aren't that great. How do decide which piano is worth restoring and will yield a nice tone after all your work?
That’s a great question. One could definitely sink money and effort into a piano never to be truly satisfied. I would say to look for the tell-tale signs of a quality rim and board-strong and sustained tone, tuning stability; consider the maker’s general reputation; and try to hear past components that are mediocre or old (as vague a directive as that may seem).
With this YC I like to think I maxed out the intersection of cost of improvements/impact thereof/and instrument potential. I didn’t restring the entire piano but just the bass section where the difference in quality would matter most. And those crusty stock hammers were not hard to improve upon. I replaced the shanks in conjunction w the hammers but not the wippens. The rest of the improvements were largely of the sweat equity variety.
In the end, I don’t feel I could rate the result as a “great sound”, to use your words. The instrument can only reach so high. BUT it was a heck of a lot better than it was initially and actually quite appealing. I think the buyer felt they were getting a nicely-worked instrument that fit into their budget and had some class to the sound. And while I had it, I sure enjoyed the enhancements that didn’t come at too high a cost.
Sounds great!
Thanks, Matthew!
I love how in the end the "Sold" appears at the right moment in the music piece.
Well, this was a piano of the past. I wanted to ward off the hoards of people clamoring to buy a supped-up Young Chang. 😄
This is excellent, Ben!
Thank you, David. My very first grand piano.