W. H. Barnes piano

[solhaywood]

Hello. I am originally from Spain and the social history of the piano in England fascinates me. I have just been given an upright W. H. Barnes, and I am greatly surprised by its beautiful sound and how well the keys and pedals work. I am very interested in the history of the brand: I have learnt from this forum that Barnes did not make their own pianos, so I am not concerned with tracing the actual manufacturer of my instrument (which may be impossible). All I would like to know, if anyone could help me, is when the brand W. H. Barnes actually closed down. I haven't been able to find this on the internet; all I see is that they still operated in the 40s in Peckham (is that right?).
In other words, the question that interests me is, not how old, but how new could my piano be? Economic value is totally unimportant: I love the instrument for what it is.

Many thanks!

[Bill Kibby]

The Barnes firm was still around in London when I was a lad in the fifties, but disappeared by the sixties. The name, on its own, does not tell us how old or young it is. Although, wworking in the trade, I was repeatedly told they didn't make any of them, it seems strange that they had a factory.

[solhaywood]

Dear Mr Kibby,

Thanks ever so much for your reply. My piano is not in my house yet, as I have just been given it and I need to arrange for transportation. It is a straight-strung instrument; would that mean it is an 'oldish' piano? Could you please tell me roughtly when the straight-strung design fell out of fashion? It sounds great, anyway. I was actually thinking of buying a Danemann, as I understand those were really high-quality pianos, but since I have been given the W. H. Barnes for free and it seems to have been well looked after, I have adopted it. I currently take two piano classes, and one of my teaches says that W. H. Barnes pianos were 'middle of the road'; however, since they have different manufacturers working for them, is it possible that some of the instruments were actually of decent quality? Many thanks!

[Colin Nicholson]

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly, there is nothing wrong with a straight-strung piano to a novice musician - as long as its tuned & serviced regularly, every 6 months, they can out-last many pianos. In the early 1900's, many piano companies used "trick wording" / advertising logos in the form of gold decals, and various terms were used during the innovation of a piano design.... but regrettably, "straight-strung" was not one of them!

Even though many English makes were lagging behind in these designs, they still had their penneth on pianos with wording like "Full tri-chord".... "Full iron frame" "The Upright Grand".... and so on. On the other hand - German pianos were one step ahead, so whilst the UK were still producing SS pianos, many German pianos - (one I tuned recently dated 1903) - had "Overstrung" decalled in gold on the key rail.

Over-strung therefore was the in-thing, and although there is no cut-off date, generally speaking, overstrung became more popular around the 1920's. Its a bit like seeing the words "Fuel Injection" on a modern car!!.... the wording was popular around the 1980's.... but nowadays, most cars are fuel injected.... and the logo becomes corny & unnecessary.... same really applies to pianos.

There was no cut-off date from the end of straight-strung to the beginning of over-strung - some piano companies (eg Bechstein) continued to produce both, and I believe that there are still SS out there produced in the 40's and 50's... but not seen any!

The other things which determine the quality of any piano (whether its German, UK, Japanese etc) is also the construction & design of the dampers which are part of the internal mechanism (along with the hammers & levers)...., the design of the cast iron frame combined with its wrest plank, and whether the mechanism has a "bridle tape" action or "spring & loop" action.

Nowadays there are no straight -strung pianos made, and they are sometimes referred to as one of the deadly sins.... compared to OS pianos.

If you are buying a piano as a serious musician, or say, for your child who is keen to start piano lessons, then generally speaking, these are five deadly sins to be avoided in a piano. (The wording in brackets is the preferred design): >>>

1. Straight-strung (Over-strung)
2. Over-damped system - looks likes a bird cage (under-damped)
3. 3/4 cast iron or wooden frame (full cast iron frame)
4. Fully exposed wrest plank (fully protected wrest plank)
5. Spring & Loop action. (Bridle tape mechanism)

Of course, there are some of these out there that work fine, but it all depends on the condition of the piano, and how it has been previously kept.

Oh.. one last thing.... There is no such thing as a free piano !!

Hope that helps

[Bill Kibby]

"Oldish" is difficult to define. Overstringing has been around for nearly two centuries, but apart from a Lindner model of the seventies, the last straight-strung pianos I am aware of were in 1956. Yes, Barnes were fairly average pianos, or "middle of the road" although made by several different factories. Average is not a bad thing. I'd love to have an average income. If we could attain an average standard in our lives, life would be better, whereas it is often below average! In most instances, it all comes down to the condition of the instrument, something we can't judge from here. Ask your tuner.

Danemann pianos were quite well-made, but many were destroyed in schools, either by children, or by radiators, and their condition far outweighs their quality of manufacture.

[solhaywood]

Thank you very much for the two replies above; I have learnt a lot!