Collard and Collard

[rainbird]

Hi, I have recently acquired this Collard and Collard piano. I realise it is "worthless"; however, my wife and I love it. It has clearly been well used and abused, in some cases, but I'd like to have it tuned up (if that is possible) and restore some of the cabinet. Could you please give me some idea as to its age etc. I know nothing about pianos, so any technical details would be most welcome. I see that one of the hammer things is missing - I'm guessing that these can't be bought or are very difficult to source second hand.

I'll try to work out how to post a picture. But here's a link to my Flickr account there are some pics there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18101237@N07/4742860603/

Cheers, Mark

[rainbird]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/474 ... 5c2a62.jpg[/img]

I hope these work.

[rainbird]

[rainbird]

If you look at this picure part of the far left mechanism is missing.


I'm wondering if the left mechanism has been swapped with the right because as you can see in the photo below the hammer thing is different to the ones next to it...plus it sounds a bit strange.



Hope these picture help. Sorry for the total lack of technical knowledge.
Cheers, Mark

[Bill Kibby]

Is that number 125415? And are there any other numbers inside? It could be 1889, but the published information about Collard numbers is not reliable, so have a look at pianogen.org

[rainbird]

There is another number 724 which is stamped into the large timber back plate (not sure what it is called) - maybe a model number?

[Bill Kibby]

Collard pianos usually have a 3-digit number which is presumed to be a model number, but they don't run in order, so they help in dating the piano. I have a Collard & Collard of similar date, but it is quite different, and doesn't tell me anything about yours. If you look at Oval Road, London on Google Earth, you can see Collards' round factory buulding at the junction with Gloucester Crescent. There is a virtual camera right outside it.

[rainbird]

Thanks for that Bill. Is it possible to get hold of the mechanism that is missing? Or is that just way too difficult? Alternatively, I was thinking about trying to copy one.

Cheers, Mark

[Bill Kibby]

There is virtually no chance at all of finding spare parts for these actions, so someone would have to make parts. If you are talking about the hammer head and its felt covering, this is applied under great pressure, not a job anyone can do alone. Otherwise, it depends on your carpentry skills. Often, the only other way is to swap parts about to get the middle area working.

[Gill the Piano]

If you get a tuner who's been in the business a long while, we tend to accumulate lots of bits and bods...one of which might fit your piano if you're lucky. We often have to cannibalise the ends of the pianos to make the middles work!

[Bill Kibby]

Yes, and another point is that even if the parts are not the same, it is often easier to adapt, rather than make them from scratch. It depends whether there are any tuner-repairers in your part of the world.

[rainbird]

Bill,
many thanks for your help and advice. I have a piano tuner coming over when I get back from the UK to have a look. I had a closer look inside the piano and found an inscription next to a repair on one of the hammers that had the date, name and address of the repairer - 1966.Plus we found a 1 penny from 1921. We really hope the tuner finds the piano tuneable because we have become really attached to it. I was talking to some work colleagues today about the disposability of computers - we generally agreed that after 3 years and they are basically obsolete and throw them away. I mentioned that piano I had just acquired was possibly over 100 years old, still worked (pretty much) was not reliant on electricity and looked great...so much for technology!
Anyway, gain many thank for your help.
Cheers, Mark

[vernon]

any respectable piano tuner/tech will spare parts which can fit or be adapted to virtually anything--even Lindners!

[Bill Kibby]

I suspect that Vernon is judging other tuners by himself, and many simply won't bother with repairing antique pianos at all. That's even assuming that there are any tuners in the place where the piano is.