Ernst Wittig Berlin piano

[hispetdog]

Hi I have an 85 key Ernst wittig piano. I have no idea of the age or history of these as I have found very little information on the internet. Does anybody know anything about these? I have attached a couple of pictures. Thanks.

[Bill Kibby]

Firstly, 85 notes is the normal arrangement in old pianos, and as late as the sixties, I was selling lots of 85-note new pianos. Sadly I have no detailed information about Wittig, but I have just moved my collection from Norfolk to Lincolnshire, so it will be a while before I can search through books and paperwork properly. It would help if we could see what the WHOLE piano looks like, unobscured by dogs, stools, vases etc.. I am guessing by the non-original columns supporting the keyboard, and the rounded top corners, that the case has been modernised, as described near the bottom of the page at
http://www.pianohistory.info/edwardian.html

The best hope of dating an old German piano is to get your tuner to remove the action (the working parts of the notes) and look for the action makers' name and number on the back of it. My Names page
http://www.pianohistory.info/names.html
mentions what seem to be bogus German names on genuinely German pianos sold in Scotland, and I wonder if this one from Machell is another example. Certainly, Wittig pianos were sold by Thomson, Glasgow but also Harston, Liverpool.