J&J Hopkinson

[nmidavies]

Hello, to start I know nothing about piano's - sorry. I've just inherited a piano from my late grandmother and was hoping for some info before getting it repaired/restored. When I take the front off the piano it has J&J Hopkinson branded on the part with the strings and the number 1941 branded in the same fashion in the left hand corner. A cabinet maker friend told me it is made of rosewood, a lady we know who's a piano teacher told us it was quite unusual because it has 6 1/2 octave's??(sorry again for ignorance). It looks really nice as a piece of furniture anyway but we would like to know more about it i.e. How old is it and is it worth us getting it repaired(few strings missing and broken hammers etc. Anyway thanks in advance for any help and I enjoyed reading the bit about Hopkinson's on the history part of your site.

[Bill Kibby]

The number you give is much too small to be a serial number, which should be 5 digits. Six-and-a-half octave would be unusual, how many black and white notes altogether? The other advice you seek would depend on on-the-spot inspection by a tuner-technician. See
http://www.uk-piano.org/piano-gen/valua ... ianos.html

[nmidavies]

Hi Bill, thanks for your reply. There are 48 white keys and 34 black ones? does that help at all.

Do you have any idea where a serial number might appear on this type of piano please? just before I dismantle the whole thing!!, thanks for the link by the way.

[Bill Kibby]

83 notes is a bit odd, surely it's 85, the normal 7 octaves? It's difficult to generalise about numbers, but usually you can see the number as soon as you open the top. See
http://www.uk-piano.org/piano-gen/datem ... ianos.html

[nmidavies]

Hi Bill,

Just recounted the notes - definitely 48 white keys and 34 black ones - does that mean 6 & 1/2 Octaves? also the piano is 49 1/2 inches wide and 46 1/4 inches high if that helps you tell me anymore about it. I can't find any other number as yet apart from the 1941?

Many thanks in advance for anything else you can tell me

[Bill Kibby]

IF one starts counting from a white note, an octave has 8 white notes and 5 black notes, a total of 13 notes, but for more than one octave, you must multiply the number of octaves by 12 then add 1 to get the total number of notes, so 7 octaves is (7x12) + 1 = 85 notes. 82 notes doesn't fit conveniently into a musical description, but would probably be described mathematically as six-and-three-quarter octaves. Probably, the bottom note would be C and the top note A. Have you looked at
http://www.uk-piano.org/piano-gen/datem ... ianos.html