Brinsmead patent tuning device

rennie · Post by **rennie** » 19 Jan 2007, 09:04

Thanks for solving a mystery for me - my piano tuner has told me he has never seen another piano like mine in all his 16 years tuning pianos and now I think I know why. I have a John Brinsmead & Sons piano, number 31901, last exhibition medal date 1884. The inside looks just like the one in the posted photo of the Brinsmead piano in South Africa with patented wrest pins. I have read about the Brinsmead firm on the web site, but would like to know a bit more. I s this type of piano really scarce? Did they not make very many, or did they not survive? And why didn't the design catch on? Could you describe, in layperson's terms, (apart from needing the special tool and having the octagonal shape nuts) how it differs from normal upright pianos? Thanks very much for your help. I am very much a piano novice.

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 19 Jan 2007, 11:07

The piano label doesn't mention the 1885 medal, so is probably around that date. Most pianos have the same crude arrangement for tuning, wrestpins on much the same principle as a violin tuning peg, although much stronger. Part of the difficulty in learning to tune pianos is in mastering the problems associated with the crudeness of this system. Brinsmead designed a very different arrangement, using screw threads to gear down the tuning, in a somewhat similar fashion to guitar machine heads, except that the end of the string goes through a threaded tube. Using a special L-shaped hexagonal key, the tuning is much smoother, easier and more stable with the patent tuning device, which is known as a "Top-tuner" because the screws on an upright model are on top, rather than in front. By avoiding wood in the tuning area, many of the problems caused by climatic changes are thought to be avoided. Because the strings are fixed in an entirely different way, many tuners reject the task of replacing broken strings, and some refuse to even get involved in tuning these instruments, which is a great shame. They are not rare or valuable, many were made around the 1880s and 1890s, and the reason why the idea didn't catch on is probably a mixture of resistance to change, and cost of production. For myself, I wish every piano had geared tuning, and we'd love to have museum space for one of these. Printed information is available via pianogen.org

rennie · Post by **rennie** » 19 Jan 2007, 15:08

Thanks Bill,

We bought the piano second hand for 50 pounds about 8 years ago and I'm just thrilled to learn it was as old as it was (I'm Australian, so a 120 year old piano is something). It was originally sold by a dealer (Klitz) in Southampton where we used to live. My former piano tuner thought it might have been made for export to hotter climes, because the ivory on the keys was tacked on as well as glued, so I can see that this tuning mechanism might have been more useful for that as well.

I'm not so glad to hear that piano repairs might not be so easy

Denise

Tom Tuner · Post by **Tom Tuner** » 19 Jan 2007, 19:53

What we call "screw-stringers", mechanical advantage tuning as made by Mason & Hamlin for example, are wildly unpopular with tuners in the US. I suspect for the same reasons that player pianos, square pianos, and anything else a bit out of the ordinary is similarly scorned. What you need is a technician with a spark of curiosity and a bit gumption.

Tom Tuner

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 19 Jan 2007, 23:29

What can you tell me about the M&H screw tuners? Were they similar to Brinsmead's?

Tom Tuner · Post by **Tom Tuner** » 20 Jan 2007, 18:08

In brief, M&H used a threaded rod with an eye on one end to which the string was fixed. The threaded end passed through a hole in a ridge cast into the plate and was held by a hexagon nut which was turned up or down to change the string tension. If I can manage it I will send a couple of pictures to make this clearer. A very simple system.
You might not be so ready to condemn the venerable wooden plank had you ever been called to tune any pianos with a WurliTzer 'Uni-plate' or a Wegman 'pin lock' (I understand there was a similar system of a tapered pin set directly in the plate on some Australian pianos, but I cannot place the reference at the moment). All one's finely honed hammer technique goes for naught on these and there is no 'feel' to the pin whatever.

Tom Tuner

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 20 Jan 2007, 19:09

...And how about Papps' pear-shaped wrestpin hole? Sounds ridiculous, the pin pulling itself into the thinner end of the hole, and therefore gripping better, but some say they work!

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 20 Jan 2007, 22:29

Has anyone ever seen a Brinsmead tuning hammer/crank? How are they different, what do they look like...and where could I get one? I still come across these beasties now and then, but they NEVER have the hammer with them so I can't tune them.

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 22 Jan 2007, 19:06

Bill Kibby wrote:...And how about Papps' pear-shaped wrestpin hole? Sounds ridiculous, the pin pulling itself into the thinner end of the hole, and therefore gripping better, but some say they work!

The Papps Stronghold?

They are absolutely dreadful.

Tom Tuner · Post by **Tom Tuner** » 23 Jan 2007, 19:17

The Papps Stronghold is evidently identical to the Wegman 'pin-lock'. These are tunable once one's trepidation is overcome, but if a string breaks - what a surprize! The pin goes flying; the initial impression is that it has snapped off as it is rather short.

Tom Tuner

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 23 Jan 2007, 21:24

Tom Tuner wrote:The Papps Stronghold is evidently identical to the Wegman 'pin-lock'. These are tunable once one's trepidation is overcome,

Barely tuneable, since the metal-on-metal contact of the pin and frame is so high in friction that they are firmer to tune than an early Korean. Worse if rust has got a hold.

Tom Tuner · Post by **Tom Tuner** » 29 Jan 2007, 20:48

M & H sketch from Piano Parts & Functions. published by PTG

Tuning wrench and its more usual application

Tom Tuner

Post by **Bill Kibby** » 30 Jan 2007, 02:08

I'd love to see the images Tom, but they have not shown up, can you email me? I have to say that several people have tried and failed to show images on the forum, I wouldn't know where to start!

David B · Post by **David B** » 30 Jan 2007, 10:32

Gill the Piano wrote:Has anyone ever seen a Brinsmead tuning hammer/crank? How are they different, what do they look like...and where could I get one? I still come across these beasties now and then, but they NEVER have the hammer with them so I can't tune them.

The Brinsmead grand that I had, came with two tuning tools.

The thing consisted of a piece of pipe about 5ins long, one end of which was the "head", which was octagonal and fitted over the tuning nut. At the other end was a cross bar, to grip and turn the lever. So it was like a T shaped spanner. Not unlike this, in fact: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LATHE-TOOLPOST-SP ... dZViewItem

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