Cavendish Pianos short film

[A440]

Short film about Cavendish the British piano manufacturer.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pebybHGx ... ata_player

[joseph]

Good show!

The film says there are three manufacturers in the UK? Who are the other two?

[Colin Nicholson]

Although we nearly cancelled our visit to Cavendish pianos because of bad weather, I'm glad we didn't in the end.

On Saturday 26th January, I managed to fight through the slush & snow in Addingham, and meet up with a tuning customer of mine (and good colleague) at the shop - who drove for over 2.5 hours from the North Lake District to get there. Adam was there to meet us.... and I was very impressed indeed. At this stage, my customer was just "kicking tyres" and having a look at the range of pianos in stock. Arriving with his 3 kids & another friend (from Manchester) - we were shown the full workshop area at the back of the shop and upstairs.

Upstairs we were shown around the keyboard & keyframe area, about 6 keyboards were carefully situated ready to have their key capstans fitted and to be located. Further along the line, we were shown some of the cabinet parts, including some very good quality walnut "top door" panels & beading.

Downstairs, at the back of the shop (and almost in full view of the showroom) - were around 4 - 6 pianos being worked on. Some of them just had the back-frame, cast iron frame and soundboard laid onto various bench trucks, and being strung up - showing all the detail of the bass & treble strings, wrest pins etc. - at this stage, the "strung back" pianos didnt have their cabinet sides or cheeks glued and clamped on just yet. We were also shown a Cavendish piano near completion, and one being partly regulated - having the keybed aligned and dampers being installed. Everything was neat and tidy - tools perfectly laid out in a line (and no coffee cups lying around!)

We also saw the workshop chart - a huge 'dry wipe' board with all the team member's names on, and the jobs they were going.... including the final stages called "magic dust" ! ...... one of the pianos had various jig blocks located for the damper installation - and one of the kids accidentally touched one of them - oops! - the ruler fell off, but no damage was done.

In the showroom were several Cavendish uprights and a grand - very nice tone, the walnut one (not sure of the model name - could be "Traditional"?) - had a softer tone than the one in black polyester. I was also very impressed by the replicated concertina music rest (of the 1920's) - and the fine attention to detail of the wood/brass inlay, PROPER domes brass screws for the music rest (not rivetted), and Adam's ability to present the pianos in a "non-pushy" way. Everyone was very impressed. I even left with half a dozen eggs!! - from the local farm.

My tuning customer is still undecided yet what to do - he has an old 1907 Bechstein Model 10, and he also enjoyed playing on a new Bechstein in the shop.

Most definitely worth a visit, and we all wish Adam and his team the very best of success.

Colin

[vernon]

Looks very encouraging.
I was intrigued that you reported the dampers about to fitted and the keys being aligned..
In Finishing, the dampers are the first job and the key alignment last-7 hours later.
Just wondering.

[Colin Nicholson]

I was just 'generalising' ...... not the same piano. (even though I said 'and'!)
One was having the pencil markings done etc to align the action standard sockets/ other things/ levelling etc, and another one was had no keyboard in - just the keybed, but the action was partly being assembled.... hammer butts were in with the occasional shank & paper shims - and dampers just 'dry' fitted I think for alignment first - against a wooden block..... I think just the bass dampers were in at this stage.

[vernon]

I was wondering if there is a whole new technology that has passed me by. Just checking. Thanks for all your detailed posts.