Spencer of London Upright

[Bill Kibby]

Although I can often deduce a lot from an email, it doesn't give me any way of telling what wood the piano is made from! The Musicians' Piano Atlas, for which I wrote the appendix, suggests that your piano was made in 1928.

[Barrie Heaton]

Would I also be correct in believing it to be made out of oak?
Thomas

They did make case parts out of solid oak on some I have seen you would not get that today.

Barrie,

[Philtastic]

Hi,
You must get tired of the same question over and over...

I have a Spencer of London piano with the serial number 12213. Interestingly it has a number 12 directly above the five digit serial number. Is this number 12 significant in any way? Would you mind dating this piano for me please?

I'm also trying to figure out if the keys are ivory or not. Am I right in thinking that if the shape of the key is cut off as it reaches the black key then its ivory? Alas some of my keys have fallen off. They appear to have discoloured too.

It's a lovely looking piece but is showing its age and a couple of the keys are 'quiet'.

Regards,
Phil

[Bill Kibby]

The number suggests that your piano was made in 1889. The shorter number is a model number, but no archives survive to tell us more about that. You are correct about the joins in ivory coverings.

There are many things that can go wrong with a piano of this age, and until you get a tuner to check it over, you will not know how much worked is required to fix it.