USA pianos?

[IrideA59Lambretta]

I'm in the market for an old upright.
But a nice one.

I've been looking at this Mason & Hamlin upright this bloke has for sale down the street from me.
It's an old screw stringer (very cool) It's all pretty original, but it still sounds wonderful in my opinion.
The board is flawless, but I'm not completely sure about this company.
The guy selling it says it's one of the best piano makers to ever come from the US...
Just never seen one before.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Michael.

[Pianomate]

Try asking on the pianoworld forum as they are US based and you are more likely to find someone who can help on there.

[IrideA59Lambretta]

From my research, all the Americans say that Mason & Hamlins are wonderful pianos.
I guess they were a big competitor with Steinway in their day.
I was just wondering if anyone had seen them across the pond, and had an opinion.


Cheers,
Michael

[Gill the Piano]

The american piano sound (wild generalisation coming up here) tends to be a little brash and harsh compared to the English ideal - most English people I tune for who have them got them because they were cheap/available/conveniently free (we have a lot of american service personnel around here who often jettison a lot of possessions before they go home!) tend to ask if they can be toned down. I'd certainly play it before you buy. They're sort of average as far as my experience can tell...reasonable quality, but nothing amazing. The casework is often very space inefficient for an English home, too - they favour the console piano look which costs at least 6" depth, which is a lot in a smaller house. How much are they asking?
O yes...what the hell is a screw stringer??

[Pianomate]

Glad you asked, I was wondering myself.

[NewAge]

Glad you asked, I was wondering myself.

The screw stringer was an innovation attributed to Mason and Hamlin. From what I gather it was a type of threaded tuning pin to assist in maintaining string tension.
It gets a brief mention in the Mason & Hamlin Story:-
http://www.masonhamlin.com/history/

To the original poster - what year is the Mason upright you are interested in?
I ask this because the quality of these pianos may have been compromised between 1983 and 1995
due to the turmoil the company was going through with several changes of ownership and then bankruptcy.

[vernon]

screw stringer like some of the broadwoods and Brindsmeads?

[IrideA59Lambretta]

The piano is a 1913.
In the "golden age" for this company.
Yes, screw stringer like the old John Brindsmeads.
It's a much more stable system however.
I'm totally sold on this thing. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow.
I have loads of pictures of it, and will post once I find the usb cord to my cam.

After these few days or research, I now have a great respect for some of these Yankee companies.
The quality seems top notch. I wish there were more of this stuff around.

Cheers,
Michael.

[NewAge]

The piano is a 1913.
In the "golden age" for this company.
Yes, screw stringer like the old John Brindsmeads.
It's a much more stable system however.
I'm totally sold on this thing. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow.
I have loads of pictures of it, and will post once I find the usb cord to my cam.


After these few days or research, I now have a great respect for some of these Yankee companies.
The quality seems top notch. I wish there were more of this stuff around.

Cheers,
Michael.

Michael,
You may be right (I hope you are), but regardless of the name, 1913 is a very old upright, and even some Steinways of this vintage are given a very wide berth, if needing much work to make them playable.
If you are happy with the performance of this M&H, if it's free or very cheap, and an independent tech has given the thumbs up, i.e, pin-block ok, soundboard crack free, can hold it's tune etc, then that's a different story. Good luck.
I wonder what the experts here think.
Like to see the photos by the way.

[joseph]

Incidentally, some American Steinway's tend to have a warmer sound than the European ones. I know that the teflon action in some of the older ones can make them feel like toys, and some of the work isn't quite as good quality as the Hamburg ones!

I feel like some of the US model Ds and Bs have a certain richness to them, I don't know why. In general I prefer European ones tho. I'm talking about the more modern ones btw...