Piano History

I am trying to establish the provenance of a C Bechstein Grand Serial Number 9324. All we know is that the current owner had it rebuilt after she bought a home with the piano in it. The builder/seller of the home had staged it with antiques and other furnishings . He told the piano owner the piano came from London through an antiques dealer. Does anyone know if there are any Bechstein production records or logs that show anything like completion date, buyer or dealer information, model info ?  Pierce Atlas dates the piano as 1877

The rebuild that was done was in the last 10 years and was done well. The case finish is excellent . The action is on the heavy side but acceptable , great soundboard, soundboard finishing and bridge work, all new strings, tuning pins, hammer and damper felt. 

At this point we have no idea how and when it got to London , how many owners it had, who played it. Any crumbs will help.

I can't see a way of finding out much about the history of this piano.  Bechstein will not have anything in the way of records.  So much was discarded or lost to wartime destruction.

Bechstein shipped thousands of instruments to the UK prior to WW 1, although I don't know how much of this trade was taking place prior to 1880.  The piano could have made its way to England later as well. Over the decades, countless containers of British antiques including pianos have been imported into N. America and the contents were distributed through the various  streams of antiques market. In other words, your Bechstein is one of very many undocumented immigrant pianos.

Concerning the heavy touch: I am curious: how much action work was done in the restoration? Was it originally a tied action which was replaced with modern wippens?  If so - the action geometry could very well be off

Are the hammers modern?  If so - they are certainly much heavier than what would have originally been in this piano 145 yeas ago. 

In other words, your client may have a Francken-Bechstein on their hands.  All solve-able problems, but re-doing a re-do is never straight forward or cheap.

I am trying to establish the provenance of a C Bechstein Grand Serial Number 9324. All we know is that the current owner had it rebuilt after she bought a home with the piano in it. The builder/seller of the home had staged it with antiques and other furnishings . He told the piano owner the piano came from London through an antiques dealer. Does anyone know if there are any Bechstein production records or logs that show anything like completion date, buyer or dealer information, model info ?  Pierce Atlas dates the piano as 1877

The rebuild that was done was in the last 10 years and was done well. The case finish is excellent . The action is on the heavy side but acceptable , great soundboard, soundboard finishing and bridge work, all new strings, tuning pins, hammer and damper felt. 

At this point we have no idea how and when it got to London , how many owners it had, who played it. Any crumbs will help.

Update on C Bechstein. I found out from Bechstein that the first owner in 1877 was a Lt in the Army. Also found handwritten on the keystrip in pencil that the piano was tuned in 1946. It looks like German handwriting for sure so probably the piano was still in Germany. 

I had to remove the huge brass casters so the piano could go on a spider stage truck. Bechstein sent me a video on how it is done on current grand legs. Guess what ? its the same way. I had to pound on each caster with a square steel rod and a dead blow hammer. I had the piano jacked up using 2 hydaulic lifts. After all was said and done the piano rides too low on the dolly. The pedals and pedal box are too close to the floor. So the plan is to create 3 spacers turned on a lathe with a dowel stem to go up into the leg We found a nice mahogany blank that will do the job. Cutting down the lyre is not a good solution. All has to be ready for a concert next Friday evening 

I can't see a way of finding out much about the history of this piano.  Bechstein will not have anything in the way of records.  So much was discarded or lost to wartime destruction.

Bechstein shipped thousands of instruments to the UK prior to WW 1, although I don't know how much of this trade was taking place prior to 1880.  The piano could have made its way to England later as well. Over the decades, countless containers of British antiques including pianos have been imported into N. America and the contents were distributed through the various  streams of antiques market. In other words, your Bechstein is one of very many undocumented immigrant pianos.

Concerning the heavy touch: I am curious: how much action work was done in the restoration? Was it originally a tied action which was replaced with modern wippens?  If so - the action geometry could very well be off

Are the hammers modern?  If so - they are certainly much heavier than what would have originally been in this piano 145 yeas ago. 

In other words, your client may have a Francken-Bechstein on their hands.  All solve-able problems, but re-doing a re-do is never straight forward or cheap.

I am trying to establish the provenance of a C Bechstein Grand Serial Number 9324. All we know is that the current owner had it rebuilt after she bought a home with the piano in it. The builder/seller of the home had staged it with antiques and other furnishings . He told the piano owner the piano came from London through an antiques dealer. Does anyone know if there are any Bechstein production records or logs that show anything like completion date, buyer or dealer information, model info ?  Pierce Atlas dates the piano as 1877

The rebuild that was done was in the last 10 years and was done well. The case finish is excellent . The action is on the heavy side but acceptable , great soundboard, soundboard finishing and bridge work, all new strings, tuning pins, hammer and damper felt. 

At this point we have no idea how and when it got to London , how many owners it had, who played it. Any crumbs will help.

Update on C Bechstein. I found out from Bechstein that the first owner in 1877 was a Lt in the Army. Also found handwritten on the keystrip in pencil that the piano was tuned in 1946. It looks like German handwriting for sure so probably the piano was still in Germany. 

I had to remove the huge brass casters so the piano could go on a spider stage truck. Bechstein sent me a video on how it is done on current grand legs. Guess what ? its the same way. I had to pound on each caster with a square steel rod and a dead blow hammer. I had the piano jacked up using 2 hydaulic lifts. After all was said and done the piano rides too low on the dolly. The pedals and pedal box are too close to the floor. So the plan is to create 3 spacers turned on a lathe with a dowel stem to go up into the leg We found a nice mahogany blank that will do the job. Cutting down the lyre is not a good solution. All has to be ready for a concert next Friday evening 

I can't see a way of finding out much about the history of this piano.  Bechstein will not have anything in the way of records.  So much was discarded or lost to wartime destruction.

Bechstein shipped thousands of instruments to the UK prior to WW 1, although I don't know how much of this trade was taking place prior to 1880.  The piano could have made its way to England later as well. Over the decades, countless containers of British antiques including pianos have been imported into N. America and the contents were distributed through the various  streams of antiques market. In other words, your Bechstein is one of very many undocumented immigrant pianos.

Concerning the heavy touch: I am curious: how much action work was done in the restoration? Was it originally a tied action which was replaced with modern wippens?  If so - the action geometry could very well be off

Are the hammers modern?  If so - they are certainly much heavier than what would have originally been in this piano 145 yeas ago. 

In other words, your client may have a Francken-Bechstein on their hands.  All solve-able problems, but re-doing a re-do is never straight forward or cheap.

I am trying to establish the provenance of a C Bechstein Grand Serial Number 9324. All we know is that the current owner had it rebuilt after she bought a home with the piano in it. The builder/seller of the home had staged it with antiques and other furnishings . He told the piano owner the piano came from London through an antiques dealer. Does anyone know if there are any Bechstein production records or logs that show anything like completion date, buyer or dealer information, model info ?  Pierce Atlas dates the piano as 1877

The rebuild that was done was in the last 10 years and was done well. The case finish is excellent . The action is on the heavy side but acceptable , great soundboard, soundboard finishing and bridge work, all new strings, tuning pins, hammer and damper felt. 

At this point we have no idea how and when it got to London , how many owners it had, who played it. Any crumbs will help.