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Has anyone had any experience with the Gabor silent system, either installing or using ?
I have a customer who would like a silent system fitted to her 85 note 1930s English piano with a D-type action. Also any advice as to the best system to retrofit to this older piano ?

Yes I do have his address and suppose his family still live there but can't be sure .
If you send me an email on pianobrereton@hotmail.co.uk I will reply with his address .

John Brereton

Ehh indeed

Well not to worry , I was just curious !

Alastair Lawrence will be giving the Alfred Knight Memorial Lecture in Birmingham on Broadwoods next month Is the lecture open to all and where abouts in Birmingham ? The second hand market for acoustics will still persist and there will be a requirement for technicians, and I expect that restorati...

Unfortunately I think you are right . The people who used to by the cheaper pianos are buying digitals, though if they are serious they do upgrade to an acoustic eventually . Like you I also think that there is room at the top to build top quality pianos with individual tasteful case work designs, f...

Alastair Lawrence has indeed bought Broadwoods and has relocated them to Finchcocks in Kent . His family connections with Broadwoods goes way beyond his grandfather in fact all the way back to 1787 I believe the green frame Broadwoods are being made in Norway . I spoke to him last year and he said t...

[quote="Barrie Heaton"]So was Hanging but we got rid of that, I bet if we had a referendum that would come back but the EEC will stay in its new dictatorial form once ratified. Bringing hanging back would be a great move we could hang all the politicians who commited treason by signing awa...

I too have no concept of what a killometre or a millimetre is and I have no intention of learning.
It's been part of our culture for hundreds of years and I for one value my culture and will not be giving it up to some unelected unwanted european superstate . WHERE's OUR REFERENDUM !

I still prefer it ! and I still measure in imperial .
In France they still use the old Ib measurements at markets . Though I dont think that they get prosecuted for it like we do here by the thought police .

I've just replaced my low light (sorry low energy ) bulb in my living room as I could hardly read with it . I've replaced it with a 150 watt normal bulb and what a difference it's like coming out of victorian times into the 21st century . I think I read the same report that you refer to. Apparentely...

Why don't you ask Broadwoods themselves ? They are still around and have a website and for a fee will tell you the history of your piano and who it was originaly supplied to . Just google J.Broadwoods pianos.

Windovers were built by the British piano manufacturing company and i would say above average quality . If you are going to recondition this piano it should be well worth the effort as they usually turn out very well . Incidentally in east sussex near to seven sisters is a hill where there is a figu...

Francis Rwamakaba ( The remarkable Francis ) passed away in his sleep recently. He was born in Uganda and after becoming blind was brought to England by francican nuns who recognised his musical abilities. He went to Dorton house in sevenoks kent . He also studied at Trinity college of music and wor...

The Kemble mozart is a very fine piano and very cheap at the price compared to some others mentioned . But I think it would be good idea to have provided you with a little booklet of the companys history and some tips . Perhaps because of its price they feel they can't afford it. It will be interest...

I think you haven't read the original thread. No one was saying that an upright is better than a Grand only that an upright is better than a baby grand .

Broadwood used their patented threaded Wrest pins from 1862 to 1897 so its just possible it could be , but these grands are quite light. I have one of these as well and can move it on my own .

I think it was Challen who coined the name baby grand . Though Broadwoods were the first to us the term grand piano . Broadwoods small grands were called the model O elfin grand . In my experience of tuning baby grands they are not great instruments being so small and the bass is very dead , but the...

I have an identical Broadwood grand of this size and vintage and managed to move it myself with the aid of my partner ( a slight french girl ) from my workshop in kent to my new address in London along with alot of other pianos. So i find it surprising that your 4 experts had such a difficult time ....

piano guy wrote; " Come on matey! They're U1 and U3s in drag! " I think we have been here before ! surely it only matters that they are very good pianos and that they are made in England providing a last vital toe hold in piano mass manufacturing. Don't you agree ? ennjaydee wrote ; Actual...

Incidentely, the Kemble 121 Mozart was tested in Europe by a team of World renown concert pianists and came second to a Steinway that was 4 times more expensive . Have you tried the conservatoir or the top of the range K132 ? A few of my customers have the conservatoir and the 121 and rave about the...

can't say i dissagree but !!!!!! it's a complicated story.Even at the height of British manufacuturing "foreign parts " were used as did foreigners use British parts. The wood itself came from exotic foreign places as did wire for strings and other parts at times . You could also say that ...

Dr Alastair Laurance is curator of Finchcocks ( its a large country house nr Tunbridge Wells in Kent full of historic pianos ) and its there that Broadwoods are now based, his son Sam is company secretary. They are buliding a new workshop for Broadwoods there . The Laurance family ties with Broadwoo...

I think its pretty unanimous a digital piano is fine if thats all you can afford
but an acoustic or real piano is so much better in all respects as long as you have the space etc. Get a real piano not a poor copy .

This is brilliant news ! and it could work. You can't compete at the bottom end of the market with the chinese . As Fazioli and Stuart's have demonstrated if you make top quality pianos there is a market for them and they started from scratch , with no history of excellence unlike Broadwoods . A res...

oko510 seems to have reprinted my earlier post ? Odd ! The point i was trying to make was that Broadwood were great inovators but the pianos that were made in there prime are now very old and will not sound as good as they did , so its not right to compare them with a modern example. The screwed in ...

There seems a bit of confusion here, i never said that the BPMC had manufactured the Broadwood barless . The story is...... After taking over control of Broadwoods in 1985 Geoffrey Simon decided to steer Broadwoods back to it's glory years by manufacturing something that was uniquely Broadwoods and ...

I beleive the Laurence and nash pianos were very well made and that the BBC bought some of them . I wonder what quality the Broadwood barless made by them was ? Labrookes took over production of them when Laurence and Nash went out of business , they even made a barless grand , what happened to it a...

You all seem to be sumising that the fellow who sold the piano didn't tune it to pitch , but if the piano was moved some distance it could easily have gone out of tune and dropped from pitch due to the move and different environment . Perhaps the new tuner didn't set the scale properly or didn't tun...

I think you will find that Bosendorfers have just been taken over by Yamaha . Not sure if thats good or bad but at least they have't gone bust.
jon

Well said ! Since I've started to view this Forum I've noticed a lot of cynicism particularly about Broadwoods. Why? They were the premier maker for many years and were great innovators. I have a broadwood upright on my rounds which has a full iron frame and a beautiful casework and still tunes to p...