I have an Armand piano, which I know little about, except that it's a stencil. I'm told that it's a Heintzman stencil, but the info on the subject is convoluted, incomplete, and tends to run you around in circles.

Anyway, the serial # is 979, and it's a rather ornate old leviathan. Anyone have any idea how old it is?

The action is different from my old 1910 Heintzman, which is why I'm not entirely convinced it's a Heintzman stencil. The tone is different, too- more like an old Dominion or Bell piano, which is to say a bit thuddy and gutless in the low range, whereas the Heintzman is clear and loud. The action is very nice, though. More pleasurable than the Heintzman, which I've always found a bit hard, with the spacing a bit too tight for my taste.

The Pierce Piano Atlas only says that it was made in Toronto. Heintzmann was using serial numbers around 1,000 in 1867! The fact that the serial number is only three digits usually means it was made before 1900, especially if it only has 85 keys (top note is an "A"). Tone is not a good indicator, with century-old hammers.

You can ask Pierce for more info: http://www.pianoatlas.com.

--Cy--

It has the full 88 keys. It was rebuilt a number of years ago, and it would have been helpful to see it in its original condition.

It has real carving, as opposed to assembly-line pieces that were glued on in order to get that carved look more cheaply. The carved sections aren't exactly identical, which means they were done free-hand.

I was recently given a cast-iron harp from I have no idea what instrument. It had been sitting in a shed since the early 1970's, and was an ancient discard back then. I'm going to clean it up and try to figure out what it's out of. It's too small to be out of a piano, so I'm thinking it may be out of a harpsichord.