collard & collard - action replacement
Moderators: Feg, Gill the Piano, Melodytune
collard & collard - action replacement
I have a small Collard & Collard grand from the 1930's. It is a nice little piano and i very much like the clear if somewhat dry English sound it has. Being small it does not have the resonant bass that a bigger piano has, but neither does it just go 'thunk' like many more modern smaller (and perhaps less expensive) grands seem to do. But the size fits my house and my wife is happy.... It is a very pretty little piano. The main drawback with it really seems to be the spring and loop action it has. While it plays well (within its limits - the action is in good working order) the action is a limitation. I am wondering if anyone is aware if it is possible to fit a more modern full grand action into the space available. I know that this is probably not a commercial proposition... but any thoughts would be welcome.
Not easily.
Langer Piano Actions (or whatever they are called this week) of Long Eaton, Nottingham are probably your best bet. You'd need to send them the action/key assembly and they may be able to fit a proper roller action in the space provided, but bear in mind that the foreshortened "Schwander D" or "Simplex" action fitted to your piano was fitted due to space restrictions. I doubt that the fall will clear a roller, so you might have to improvise by cutting it back and fixing it in the raised position. If Langer can do the work, you'll still need the services of a good local technician to regulate and voice it, and the process won't exactly be inexpensive.
Personally I'd change the piano because by and large I think they're horrible. Even the unloved turkeys of the Yamaha range, the late unlamented GH1, GP1 or GA1 (which are of a similar size and suffer unpleasant scale problems) are miles ahead of the old Collard in design and playability, and a second-hand one should now be dirt cheap. The GH1 is likely to be cheapest because it's the oldest of the bunch. I picked one up for an impecunious friend who couldn't afford better for a princely 2.5k .
Langer Piano Actions (or whatever they are called this week) of Long Eaton, Nottingham are probably your best bet. You'd need to send them the action/key assembly and they may be able to fit a proper roller action in the space provided, but bear in mind that the foreshortened "Schwander D" or "Simplex" action fitted to your piano was fitted due to space restrictions. I doubt that the fall will clear a roller, so you might have to improvise by cutting it back and fixing it in the raised position. If Langer can do the work, you'll still need the services of a good local technician to regulate and voice it, and the process won't exactly be inexpensive.
Personally I'd change the piano because by and large I think they're horrible. Even the unloved turkeys of the Yamaha range, the late unlamented GH1, GP1 or GA1 (which are of a similar size and suffer unpleasant scale problems) are miles ahead of the old Collard in design and playability, and a second-hand one should now be dirt cheap. The GH1 is likely to be cheapest because it's the oldest of the bunch. I picked one up for an impecunious friend who couldn't afford better for a princely 2.5k .
Thanks for the advice. Langer as I understand it are the latest incarnation of Herrberger-Brookes who made the original spring and loop action. Yes I agree that the Collard is not a masterpiece of pianos. But I have it now and I actually quite like it for all its faults.
My Mother had a very nice Bechstein upright when I was a boy and my piano teacher had a Steinway grand. Both nice pianos. That ws in the Uk we moved to Australia and after trying lots of pianos (including some Bechstein's) I bought a new Yamaha in 1973 I think it was an M1A. A smallish upright but I liked it. I sold it years later when I moved to the tropics. I had a couple of digital pianos then.
Now back in more moderate climes I have the Collard. It is a piano on my path to improvement in the long run. But I still quite like it. The piano I have liked best over the years was a smallish Bluthner grand, which at the time I could not afford or house. Though I had a friend with a larger older Bluthner which he liked but I did not. I found the action odd and the sound sort of indisticnt, it got even more wooly after the hammers were replaced.
My brother in law has a Yamaha C3. Very nice inmany ways but I'm not that fond of it though I'm not sure why. I played Kawai the other day (not that I ever liked themin the past i must admit) and while the action was pretty slick the sound was so bland I might as well have been playing a digital.
My main repetoire is Bach and Schubert songs but I played the first Liszt consolation the other day and I can get a ringing bell liek tone from the B's floatign above the stacatto chords. Not perfect but the whole thing sounded hardly worth playing on the Kawai.
If money or space were no object I don't kno what I wd get. But I do seem to prefer a more intimate soundign piano in the home.
My Mother had a very nice Bechstein upright when I was a boy and my piano teacher had a Steinway grand. Both nice pianos. That ws in the Uk we moved to Australia and after trying lots of pianos (including some Bechstein's) I bought a new Yamaha in 1973 I think it was an M1A. A smallish upright but I liked it. I sold it years later when I moved to the tropics. I had a couple of digital pianos then.
Now back in more moderate climes I have the Collard. It is a piano on my path to improvement in the long run. But I still quite like it. The piano I have liked best over the years was a smallish Bluthner grand, which at the time I could not afford or house. Though I had a friend with a larger older Bluthner which he liked but I did not. I found the action odd and the sound sort of indisticnt, it got even more wooly after the hammers were replaced.
My brother in law has a Yamaha C3. Very nice inmany ways but I'm not that fond of it though I'm not sure why. I played Kawai the other day (not that I ever liked themin the past i must admit) and while the action was pretty slick the sound was so bland I might as well have been playing a digital.
My main repetoire is Bach and Schubert songs but I played the first Liszt consolation the other day and I can get a ringing bell liek tone from the B's floatign above the stacatto chords. Not perfect but the whole thing sounded hardly worth playing on the Kawai.
If money or space were no object I don't kno what I wd get. But I do seem to prefer a more intimate soundign piano in the home.
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Barrie Heaton
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3651
- Joined: 30 May 2003, 20:42
- Location: Lanc's
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-
Barrie Heaton
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3651
- Joined: 30 May 2003, 20:42
- Location: Lanc's
- Contact:
David Martin is still in the trade. He, along with a colleague, has set up a company making bespoke piano actions/keyboards and can be contacted via email at
pianoforte.mwood@btconnect.com
Hope this is of some help.
Fiona
pianoforte.mwood@btconnect.com
Hope this is of some help.
Fiona