Wilh. Rudolph, Giessen

[rodney]

Any history about this firm, please ? The firm, of Giessen,Germany seems to have had a good reputation
in the late 1850s, but I can not find
a)when was it established
b)when did it close down
c)any serial numbers
I am contemplating an-apparently-1920s or 1930s upright which produces a nice strong sound, despite
being well out of tune and in a somewhat tatty - externally-condition...
Thanks a lot for any information...

[Bill Kibby]

As you can read at my own website, the whole of concept of dating pianos by numbers is flawed, and most are simply not available. If you know how to remove the action safely, it may be marked with the action makers' name and number, and I may be able to date this. I will check our card and paper files to see if I can add anything about Rudolph, at the moment I only know of Max Rudolph, and very little about him.

[Colin Nicholson]

Rodney

Just to offer some kind advice. Removal of the mechanism is usually quite easy, but depending on the condition of the mechanism, if there are any broken tapes (red tipped).... the problem is getting the action back in!! - a curious customer of mine did this in Feb this year, just to see if there were extra numbers/ dates/ names, and it ended up needing quite a bit of work done due to various repairs & broken parts.
Here is an example below........

Top hammer butt is fine, but note the breakage (arrow) to the lower butt. Sometimes they repair, sometimes they dont!! (this one did luckily).

[rodney]

Many thanks to both Bill Kibby and Colin Nicholson--within the next few
days I'll have the piano thoroughly checked by my trusted and experienced
piano tuner\technician who is servicing my 1989 Schimmel-made PLEYEL
(and keping it in pristine condition)---see what he can find out and
will let you know...
Regards
rodney

[rodney]

Coming back to this particular upright-the detailed examination by the specialist
tuner\technician today resulted in the following findings:
--On the top right corner of the metal frame is inscribed" D.R.Patent 45535 "
--On the top left corner the number 8055 is stamped in bold black ink
--On the narrow top side of the front panel there is stuck an ornate paper
label of which the printed part reads WILH.RUDOLPH and ,after a gap
undernieth that, in which "No. 6314 " is handwritten, the printing says
"Piano- u. Harmonium-Lager"and underneath it,also printed "GIESSEN."
Now since it is known that the firm already existed in the late 1850s ,and
since the design is definitely 1915-1925 or even 1930, one can hardly believe
that the firm had produced only six thousand pianos in, say,sixty years--
perhaps the word "Lager", meaning (apart from beer!) stockhouse or warehouse
denotes the item number in the warehouse at a particular time--when? --and is
there any way of-approximately-dating it ,with the above information??
Well ,thanks again for the hospitality--this piano seems to require some
attention and I am discussing with the tuner\technician the extent of it--he
in any case believes that after a couple of tunings it will come up to
correct pitch--anyway I am still contemplating getting it....
Regards
rodney

[Bill Kibby]

A hundred pianos per year seems possible, but if you have a look at my Numbers page at http://www.pianogen.org you will see that although serial numbers should, by definition, run in a single series, they often do not. Add to this the fact that most pianos have several numbers inside. Shortage of funding prevents me from directing the Piano History Centre towards German research, so I am very much at the mercy of the few references I have to German firms, but I will look through our card and paper files. It is surprises me if they survived so long without ever popping up on my files of the past forty years.

I take it your tuner did not find any markings on the action?

Someone will be able to trace the DRP number, probably on the net. There is a site for European patents, I will try to find it for you.

Any chance of seeing the whole piano?

[rodney]

Thanks ,Bill,for your response--please feel free to discontinue the search as I shall not be buying that piano.
The reasons are a) there was rust on the strings to a worrying extent and b)-and most important- the soundboard had been clumsily repaired sometime in the past as on three of its corners the rusted staples were still there-in the remaining fourth lower left corner and for an area of about one square foot the
layers had come widely apart and ,of course, that might spread further on the soundboard. Since the intention was to use the piano rather than display it as an antique,its restoration would cost quite a lot.


I finally selected , and bought, another upright of more or less the same vintage---a G.WOLKENHAUER Stettin 136.5 centimeters high and in
very good condition, both inside and outside, serial no.52757 which
went straight to my tuner/technician's workshop for the necessary
maintenance and adjustments as this too was out of tune being unused
for nearly fifteen years.

Now,looking at your past posts on G.WOLKENHAUER I see you do not have
much information--may I suggest to you to look at--for piano history's
sake- a Polish (Stettin belonged to Germany and was ceded to Poland
in 1945, now called Szczecin) site - I of course do not know any Polish-
but even so I found a lot of information in Google's rather bad English
translation : http://muzyka.onet.pl/10180,16250,13401 ... l?drukuj=1
Kindest regards once again
rodney

[Bill Kibby]

This posting connects with another one that can be seen below.