John Brinsmead & Sons London piano

[maryj]

I have an upright John Brinsmead & Sons, London piano. I'm trying to locate the plate which would have the serial number on it so I can ascertain its age. Would anyone know where this would be located? TIA

[Bill Kibby]

It's unlikely there will be a plate. If you just open the top and look inside, or on the edges, you may find several numbers, often imprinted into the wood.

A lot of the published dates for Brinsmead numbers are misleading anyway, so if you are able to take photos of the whole piano, and post them here, or email them to me, that may help us.

If you want to search inside the piano for clues, have a look at
http://pianohistory.info/datemarks.html

[maryj]

Hi Bill, thank you Bill for the information. Here are a couple of photos of my piano, hoping this may lead to more information on this piano. Oops, can't upload an image. Can you please help me on this one? I press the Img button, but it just copies this here:
Thank you

[Bill Kibby]

I'm sorry you can't email them to me at the moment, because my website is having problems, but there are instructions at the top of this forum. If the images are too large, you may have to reduce them, perhaps to 25% scale.

Also, have a look at my Victorian, Edwardian and Datemarks pages at pianohistory.info

[Tina Lembong]

I'm sorry I'm new to this forum, can't seem to find a place to post a new question. I have a John Brinsmead & Sons grand piano with a serial number 33553. I'm looking for the tuner that is shaped like a T. Anybody can help me? Please email me at clembong@hotmail.com.

[Bill Kibby]

It's called "New Topic" and it is at the top of the forum. Being a Brinsmead, the first question is whether it has the normal type of wrestpins (tuning pins) or the so-called Top Tuner, which is a geared system of tuning. The shape of the tool is not important, it's the shape it fits onto that matters. Have a look at the start of
http://www.pianohistory.info/central.html

[Colin Nicholson]

I think the tool you are referring to is a T hammer.... a combined tuning lever & hammer, but for tuning it's best to use a tuning lever. (Often used as a hammer to neaten the string coils around a tuning pin/ tap down hitch)

If you search "T hammer piano tuning" - various options come up.... like this one
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-piano ... 4897.l4275

However, the one above has a square socket, so check that your tuning pins are not oblong, otherwise look for an oblong socket.... as Bill says, the shape of the tool is not important, but the socket size & shape is.

Colin

[Gill the Piano]

If it's a Brinsmead patent then it will need the special hammer that was supplied with the piano...and usually got lost. I've never seen one in real life. Have you any pics of the tuning hammer, Bill? Do you think an engineer could turn one up?

[Bill Kibby]

I have yer actule gizmo itself, kindly donated by someone on the forum. If only I had the piano here, I could decide whether there are any mass-produced modern tools that would do the job. Of course, engraving it with my website name proved to be the death knell for the old site!

[Gill the Piano]

Blimey, doesn't look very easy to use!

[Bill Kibby]

You haven't tried tuning a Top-Tuner then? It turns as easily as a guitar machine head, there is very little resistance because it has a low-geared thread. They are bliss to tune when in good condition, but not very convenient for restringing.

Diagrams at
http://www.pianohistory.info/central.html

[Gill the Piano]

No, the only one I ever came across was a grand which didn't have the tuning key so that was that...

[Bill Kibby]

Here's my drawing of one of the tuning screws, you can see that the cap on the right holds the string in place, and the tuning key slides over that to turn the hexagonal nut. The nut rests on a thin brass collar, which in turn rests against the iron frame.