Hopkinson upright player piano

[Tinaya]

I'm trying to find a little history on this upright player piano I just bought my son for Christmas. I bought it from my neighbor and she has about 4 grocery bags of music rolls she's going to show me how to use tonight, but she isn't sure of its age.

[Bill Kibby]

The number preceded by C&S is a stock number for the retailer Crane & Sons. If you open the top again and have a look around, there should be other numbers. I can only guess this might be 1930s, the C&S number suggests it was sold in the late thirties, but we don't know if it was new. The medals only tell us that it is after 1909.

[Tinaya]

Thank you! I will get in there and dig around some more when we have someone come out to tune it!

[Colin Nicholson]

Depending on the condition of the player unit/ tube connections/ fixtures etc.... there are some risks when tuning player pianos. If the stack, spool bar and various rubber tubes/ hoses have to be removed, the odd suction tube may need to be replaced..... also weakening or breaking a perished stack gasket is possible.

Many piano tuners still tune players, but some may not carry spare parts.

When you make an appointment to tune your piano, it's best to ask for an estimated quote for a "player piano tuning" .... (not a standard piano tuning).... the tuning procedure is the same, but you need to make sure the tuner is comfortable with tuning a player piano first, as there is quite a bit of dismantling/ re-assembly prior to a tuning. If the player unit is still working fine.... that's great.... but please be aware this may change after a tuning, as "inadvertent" wear to certain parts may be caused by the tuner dismantling parts (to gain access to the tuning pins/ insertion of wedges between hammers) - not knowing of any suspected air leaks hanging in the balance.

It is often the case that a tuning has to be sacrificed to allow the player unit to still play well 80 years on, and the fascination of watching all the keys move, bellows and the music roll moving with all the tracker chains a sprockets.... a wonderful bit of engineering.... but the piano sounding wildly out of tune! I hope everything goes OK for the tuning

Hope that helps

Colin

[Tinaya]

Oh boy! Thank you so much for the advice!