Dear Jonathan
Thanks so much for expression of appreciation.
The original Broadwood stringing did have felt washers at the bases of the tuning pins.
Upon restringing of the cottage grand, a number of pins were loose. I started marking loose pins putting numbers of washers above the coils identifying mild and two for severe. We tipped the instrument upside down and put three drops of CA through the bottom of the tuning plank holes and this made many better. The instrument is now tunable but I need to repeat the process. However one needs a sensitive tuning technique where friction of the tuning pin in the threaded hole is just enough for the pin to stick, but a feather-weight pressure on the tuning lever will cause the pin to slip catastrophically and one has to go for another run at it. If in extremis, one can use a microdrop of CA in the screw thread but this can lock the pin solid if too much and cause a broken pin. In this case a succession of drops of acetone will release it.
Pitch - these instruments weren't designed for low pitch.
" On the bass end of their grand soundboards of this period is inscribed: "Notice toTuners. Patent pin piece screw pins. Pins being screwed into the metal and wood must not be struck with the hammer. Should a string break take the coils off without drawing the pin then turn the pin one eighth and one sixteenth, cut the new length of wire of three inches behind the pin and insert the end in the drilled hole." From1849 to 1854 their medium pitch was A-445.9."
apparently in 1880 Brinsmead, Broadwood, Erard, and Steinway useda pitch of A-455, although a New York tuning fork of Steinwayis said to have a pitch of 458. So I'm afraid if we really must have authenticity in all things, then before Liszt, Brahms, etc. can be performed on pianos of the age, there are going to be a lot more broken strings. During his London visit of 1886 Liszt was persuaded to write to Broadwood commending the tone of one of their instruments that he heard at Grosvenor Gallery: "No pianofortes last so well as Broadwood's." "
Allowing the instrument to be tuned below 440 will not give proper tone and really does the instrument and the reputation of these instruments a disservice.
In the top registers I've had troubles with false beats on the treble strings but as the top end after restringing is coming up to 440 pitch reliably, the trouble is abating. I thought it could also be on account of the crown being lost in the soundboard in the top octave.
https://youtu.be/AHAZjcPmtrs?t=2808 is the Cottage grand as currently tuned in Meantone. On account of one or two tuning pin difficulties total perfection of unisons on all notes isn't capable of being perfect but not so bad as to cause me to spend time on the issue currently.
It's shortly going to be retuned to Kirnberger III. In comparison with pianos with which we're more familiar I rudely say that the Broadwood is tonally deficient and as a result can tolerate a really stronger flavour of unequal temperament than can be tolerated easily on other instruments.
I was called in to look at the Arthur Sullivan Broadwood (a Boudoir grand) as another tuner had come in and dismissed it out of hand saying the pins were too loose. Well actually only three pins are and only one untunable. The challenge was very rusty strings and being more than a tone down. I warned the owner accordingly that it was useless unless brought up to 440 or near - 436 being near enough in my opinion for their purposes - and that there was a risk of needing a total restring. There might possibly be an opportunity to do just the octave above the treble break but I need to do a tension analysis to see if excess tension there is responsible for the strings having broken in that region. The owners are wholly unmusical and won't appreciate spending £XXXXs on a total restring unless they can be persuaded that the instrument brings enthusiasm to their project which is entirely visual at the moment rather than aural.
https://www.doylycarteisland.com/
Old pianos are out of fashion and possibly because they're so often so badly presented but I hope that these videos demonstrate what's possible.
Here's the sort of bad presentation of a historic instrument of which I complain
https://youtu.be/PCbNs1YbAj8?t=2393 Why, for heavens sake, should an instrument be out of tune and tolerated as such just because it's historic?
Likewise,
https://youtu.be/xwh4Xb1waC0?t=2271 is an instrument of 1854. No doubt people here have heard YouTube demonstrations of 19th century instruments and Broadwoods in particular sounding really terrible - and they shouldn't.
So I hope that this thread might encourage more to embrace the 19th century instrument appropriately professionally.
Best wishes
David P
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David Pinnegar, B.Sc., A.R.C.S.
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+44 1342 850594