We have over a hundred Hidrau benches, models BM44HP and BM45HP with genuine leather at Juilliard. They are well liked and are holding up as one would expect. Don't expect them to last like jansen benches, but you also won't need to repair and rebuild them. They tend to last 10-15 years. Either use lock washers on the foot bolts and the bolts that attach the seat to the base or retighten those once a year. Hidrau sells replacement seats, and we've had to replace those but mainly the ones with vinyl upholstery. Maybe the leather ones will hold as long as the pneumatic mechanisms. Order extra toe inserts and lubricate the height adjustment lever periodically (when it stops turning freely). I use tfl50 dry. I've also used tfl50 dry inside the base columns to get the seat to go up when it seems to be stuck. Eventually, the pneumatic cartridges stop returning the seat up. When that happens, you will need a new bench (or a new base if the seat is good) because the cartridges are not serviceable.
Original Message:
Sent: 10-20-2024 11:48
From: Alan Eder
Subject: adjustable benches for practice rooms
We have 10 Hidrau Modela benches here at CalArts. They were originally purchased with vinyl coverings, as a cost saving measure. The vinyl has worn through, in some cases leaving none left at all.
We have recently purchased new benchtops from the manufacturer, this time in leather (which was only slightly more expensive than the quotes we got for recovering our original benchtops in leather).
Pianists immediately commented about how much more comfortable the new leather benchtops are than the old vinyl ones. I suspect that the foam inside the new ones may be denser, in addition to the covering being superior, durability-wise. Time will tell on that count.
As is so often the case, purchasing the higher quality, more expensive item in the first place would have been the better value per dollar than the low-ball approach. "Penny wise, pound foolish," as the saying goes.
Best,
Alan
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Alan Eder, RPT
Herb Alpert School of Music
California Institute of the Arts
Valencia, CA
661.904.6483
Original Message:
Sent: 10-20-2024 11:24
From: Jim Moy
Subject: adjustable benches for practice rooms
"Genuine black leather" vs. "Artificial black leather" ?
Dunno. I went for the cheap one.
-Jim
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Jim Moy
Moy Piano Service, LLC
http://www.moypiano.com
Original Message:
Sent: 10-19-2024 22:28
From: Delwin Fandrich
Subject: adjustable benches for practice rooms
There appear to be several versions of this bench. One of which is about $125 more expensive. Do you have any idea what the difference is?
ddf
-- Delwin D Fandrich
Fandrich Piano Company
Piano Design and Manufacturing Consulting Services -- Worldwide
6939 Foothill Ct SW -- Olympia, WA 98512 -- USA
Phone 360.515.0119 -- Mobile 360.388.6525
Original Message:
Sent: 10/19/2024 3:52:00 PM
From: Jim Moy
Subject: RE: adjustable benches for practice rooms
I just got an Andexinger 484 Lift-o-matic bench for a personal piano:
https://youtu.be/y6PuJZPMIkc?si=SZyNJWzmaMontvez
Great price, great build quality, solid feel when set up. The pneumatic operation is smooth. Yet to see how it performs over time but seems to be a great value for the price. One downside is that the only distributors are in Germany so it takes longer to obtain. But it's still a great deal even after shipping costs. I went with musicstore.de but there are others, like this:
https://www.thomannmusic.com/andexinger_klavierbank_lift_o_matic_484.htm
It's a feature that it comes all assembled, but it's also a bit of downside because that means there are "empty" spaces in the box that are easily mangled, which DHL did to my package. Fortunately the bench was not touched.
Image attached.
-Jim
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Jim Moy
Moy Piano Service, LLC
http://www.moypiano.com
Original Message:
Sent: 10-19-2024 09:07
From: Paul Williams
Subject: adjustable benches for practice rooms
Hi all,
We need to replace 10 broken or missing adjustable benches for the piano practice rooms here.
The Jansen's are really expensive and wondered if any of y'all have any other options more affordable?
Thanks,
Paul