Older Upright Pianos

[chrisw]

I have looked at a couple of upright pianos in church halls this morning, both I guess at least 75 years old but with under damped actions. In both pianos the hammer and damper felts appeared relatively clean but the steel strings had darkened/oxidised. They were both in tune but I wonder if tuners are slightly disheartened when they come across pianos with oxidised strings ?

One of these pianos was a Marshall and Rose and it produced a nice full sound. The keys had some weight to them and they responded well to the touch. The other piano had a far eastern name which I didn't recognise so can't recall it. This piano was quietly spoken and had a light key weight/touch. It makes me wonder if the latter piano had always been like this or do parts in the action wear so that the key touch gets lighter and the sound generated reduced ?

[Michaelcip]

One of the loveliest sounding pianos I ever played was an 1890s Chappell upright. It was huge, it was beautiful and it sounded like a really good grand.