Help with dating my Eavestaff Minipiano?

[AntManBee]

Hello,

I'd be grateful if anyone could help datemy Eavestaff "Pianette" Minipiano. I'm uncertain which model it is but it has "As used by H.R.H Princess Ingrid of Sweden" and "As used by T.R.H. Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose of York" printed on the panel above the keyboard and the serial number is 11718.

Thanks,
Matt

[Colin Nicholson]

If this is the mini piano I think it is, the date may be around 1930's
Can you confirm the following:
Are the tuning pins underneath the keyboard inside a trap door? (usually where serial number is)
Is the mechanism at the back of the piano, accessed by removing a clothed panel (about 10 screws)?
Does it look like a desk when the lid is closed?
Has it got 73 keys (6 octaves).

If not, your piano may be later, but the serial number suggests the 30's period
Some of these also had chrome banding & electric lights with chrome bulb holders & candle bulbs, and the pedals were hexagon shaped with a metal plate behind them.

Does this fit the description?

[Bill Kibby]

Colin describes the model introduced in 1934, but there were several later variations. The published dates of Eavestaff numbers do not work for most of their pianos, and there have been at least five separate sequences, including the original uprights, the 1934 Minipiano model, the two sets for later Mini models, and the modern imports. I have said on occasions that the Eavestaff Minipiano numbers seem to run at a thousand per year from 1934, so 11718 would be 1945, but this is not the case, because #10369 was sold secondhand in 1939, so some of my estimates will have to be revised. 10365 was donated to our Piano History Centre, and said to be 1944, but this cannot have been new then either! The two princesses seem to have been mentioned by 1938.

[AntManBee]

I suspect my piano is not as old as the 1930s - it's quite plain with only a little wooden detail on the sides.

It closes flat on top like a desk. The tuning pegs are facing the player, just underneath the lid. The hammers strike away from the player and it looks like a miniature upright inside. It has 6 octaves F-F. It also has a foldaway chrome music stand.

It looks exactly like the one in this link:

http://live.astutemerchant.com/catalogu ... oryID=1693

Thanks again,
Matt

[Bill Kibby]

This is looks almost identical to the plainer versions of the 1934 model, but has the "drop-action" inside, dropped down behind the very short keys. Is there another number inside the bottom, on the soundboard? M guess is 1945, but have a look at pianogen.org for ideas about actual datemarks.

[Gill the Piano]

I was going to say it sounds like the one with the 'diagonal' action from about 1950. Not bad pianos for their size; but a pig to do action work on!

[Colin Nicholson]

This one looks similar to a Eavestaff I tuned around 2 years ago, and the customer had the original bill of sale dating back to 1946 - can't remember what he paid for it. But I remember having to nip home for a 'shorter' curved tuning lever because most of the tuning pins were bang-on in line with keybed & a normal lever wouldn't fit in. Then grovelling around on the floor to put the papp's wedges in - tuned nicely though. (But yes Gill, hope & pray no repairs are needed!)

The one from the 1930's is a sod to tune! Strings were all bi and mono chords, then had to lean over the back of the piano to put wedges in - and reclining the action & keyboard was a task in itself!
Have some detailed pickys of a restoration I did about 7 years ago. The hammers come towards you, so everything is back to front, and as you look at it from the rear, the bass strings are on the right!

[vernon]

While not au fait with the minutiae of Eavestaffe numbers.I am so old that I can remember(POST WAR!) the various variations Eavestaffes imposed on us.
They remained a pain in the :oops: till they discontinued the one ( Miniroyal) with the large domed lid.
Most of the previous models required total dismantling to replace a simple tape end.The action was held on two large machine screws that needed two people to locate.. Later a simple "V" slot solved that and if there is anyone listening who has to service one--cut a "V" slot!
Bear in mind,that,to my knowledge there were no pianos built during WW11, as the craftsmen were all re-located to Radlett Herts to build Mosquito fighter bombers which were largely wood and that newly acquired knowledge and new materials ( resin glue) contributed to the improved pianos post war.
Doing my apprenticeship in Kentish Town in the 1950's there were old boys who had been employed thus. Indeed, the rafters were still decorated with wooden patterns of wing struts. As a footnote, George Page, the cabinet maker was in the RNAS in WW1 employed i as a riggerhand crafting beech wing members for ancient bi-planes.
Bernard Watt of Monington and Westons will verify this if anyone knows his whereabouts.
See what a simple enquiry can produce--- a trip down memory lane.

[Bill Kibby]

Bernard donated a large quantity of information to the Pian History Centre when the factory closed, but I haven't heard from him for years.