I own an old Ivers & Pond upright with a serial number stamped on it of 97xx. I've had it for 20+ years, and had it tuned when I bought it. However, I moved to a different town a year later, and then no one would come tune it - even without seeing it, they said it would break the soundboard to tune it. (Didn't make sense to me, but I know/knew nothing about pianos - I'm a reed player.)

Having a piano around that was so badly out of tune that it couldn't be played was rather annoying to me, so every few years, I called around the various piano tuners and asked, and always received the same answer. So, I quit trying. Ten years or so have gone by, and I decided to try again - to my amazement, the very first recommend piano tuner told me that he would come take a look at it!! Woot!

So, my questions are:

1. Where can I find a reference sheet to tell me how old the piano is? (I am NOT interested in knowing its value).

2. When I opened the top of the piano, I counted no fewer than 11 strings missing (not just broke - but missing entirely - no string parts can be found in the cabinet at all - most of the missing strings are above "middle" C) Will this be a problem/huge cost?

The piano has been housed in a relatively stable 65 degree (F) temperature with low-humidity for the past 15 years, and due to a few small penciled "autographs" inside the piano, I am guessing the piano has spent most of its life in a very similar environment. Is there anything I should do prior to my February 7th appointment with the piano tuner?

While the piano tuner comes highly recommended from my city's best piano restorer, what (if anything) should make me wary if he says x, y, or z? (I wouldn't know a good tuner from a bad tuner...I'd basically be taking whatever he tells me at face value).

Is there anything I can do in preparation to help the piano tuner or make his job easier?

Thank you for any answers you might provide - I'm really ignorant about pianos right now, and I'm trying to change that.

Thanks,
Fuzzy

EDIT: I somehow missed the "Piano Tuning" section, and apologize for posting this in the wrong area.

Your going to need a fresh pot of coffee and your check book.

Hi Fuzzy, and welcome to the Piano World Forums!

There is a piano technician’s forum on Piano World, but a lot of the technicians visit this forum too… we are all like one big happy family! (And, we fight amongst ourselves like siblings sometimes )

Anyway, chances are, your broken/missing strings probably occurred over the years… since most notes from the tenor bass section on up have three strings per note, if one breaks, unlike a guitar or other stringed instrument, you still have one or two strings left for the hammer to strike; so, the note will still sound/play with the missing string(s), though weaker and quieter than it should be.

In terms of how much it will cost, it depends on the tuner… some technicians have a flat rate per string, and others charge by the hour. I have a feeling the cost to have your piano tuned, and the strings replaced is not going to be cheap because of the time and effort involved… probably more than the piano is worth (but maybe not).

Either way, it is nice to see you taking an interest in the old upright and want it made playable again.

Good luck!

Rick

P.S. You can go to the BluebookofPianos web site and possible find the age with the serial # or post it here and someone with a Pierce Piano Atlas may be able to help you...

Yikes! 11 broken/missing strings is a lot.

Pierce Piano Atlas lists Ivers & Pond #97xx as being made at some point between 1890 and 1895. I'm not sure where you're located, but in my area, most Ivers & Pond uprights of that vintage are in poor condition. Yes, they were great when new, and had some beautiful case work, but that was 120 years ago. I usually find the actions to be worn out, felt coming unglued (if the moths haven't eaten everything yet), bass bridge problems...and yes, broken strings.

With that many missing strings, it is a good bet that others will break if someone tries to tune it. The piano really is at the point where all the strings need to be replaced. You are looking at thousands of dollars to get this piano functional and reliable.

To everyone:

Thanks for the quick, informative responses! It appears you have a wonderful forum here!

The "end use" for this piano is intended to be 1910s-1930s jazz (maybe 1940s at times). I believe the missing strings were missing 20+ years ago when it was originally tuned, and the decision was to leave the strings out at that time - though I had no idea the number was so high (11). I did take basic piano lessons in that year prior to moving, and it sounded great...I never noticed anything audibly wrong. I'd be happy to get it back to that level of playability - I don't expect it to ever be a classical concert piano, but I do want whomever plays it to feel it is adequate for the purpose.

To my untrained eye - the felts look really good and balanced...but when I say, "untrained" - that's a HUGE understatement! :^)>>>

While I don't mind putting more into the piano than it is worth, I do have limits as to what I want to put into the piano at this time. "Thousands" would be too much, $0-$1999 is probably okay.

I live in a very arid (roughly 6% humidity year round) environment...and we don't get moths or anything like that. So the piano is probably in better overall condition than would otherwise be the case. Scribblings in the piano from 70 years ago indicate that the piano spent most of its life within 100 mile radius of where I originally bought it...so I know it doesn't look good right now...but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!! I've read that Ivers & Pond used cheap wood...but I must say I'm impressed by the wood on this piano. Nice cabinetry too...and not composited woods, but real clean stock. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way someone put a ghastly finish of "antique" gold paint on it...so I see the wood and details of the joinery/cabinetry only from the back.

The piano tuner did mention that if the strings were too brittle, that he would try a "pitch raise" that would tune the piano relative to itself instead of to 440. What are your thoughts on this (given that it would be played with wind instruments which could be tuned down)?

At any rate, things sound less optimistic than I had hoped for, but I appreciate the honest picture of what to expect.

Keeping my fingers crossed,
Fuzzy

It would depend on just how far below 440 the pitch actually is.

On a "sort of" related note, I thought you might enjoy this thread from a few years ago. I posted pictures of an old Ivers & Pond brochure I have.

Old Ivers and Pond Brochure

Eric,

Thanks!! That brochure is amazing! I've been looking all over the web for an old ad or something that would help me identify age/model, etc (just to verify), and your brochure helped me a ton!

Mine looks just like the "Style W, Upright" - really cool to see it in the magazine. Thanks so much for pointing me to it!!

Fuzzy