Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Dating of a Bluthner grand

It is interesting that the felt on this piano is blue. While blue is the standard Bluthner felt colour, this came in later. On these early Bluthners the felt was usually red. I would be surprised if this blue felt is original. Maybe the piano was restrung at some time?

David,
Thank you for all the clarity. Bluthner really does seem to be right there at the heart of the development of the modern grand, as witnessed by your plate photos.

This Hilltown Bluthner, the ribs, board, and bridge are set up in pretty much the standard modern configuration. Was Bluthner early to this, or was this common practice in Europe by then. Was this piano groundbreaking for its time?

I'm crushed by the felt. I thought I had actual 1860's German wire in its original context. Do you think that the blue felt rules them out as original?

Craig

I think this piano should be saved for historical interest. If you don't want to spend the money on it yourself, why don't you contact Bluthner (or a Bluthner dealer who has contact with the factory) and see if they want to buy it for their collection? I feel, that even though the piano is in terrible condition just now, it would be a shame to allow it to go to the dump and it could be hugely useful for determining what kind of sound pallette was available in the later-mid 19th Century.

Dan I wonder if you mean the D-Type Spring and Loop action? I have a pic on my Faceboom Page at http://www.facebook.com/DavidBoycePiano#!/photo.php?fbid=470016356397030&set=a.470016316397034.1073741828.244714395593895&type=1&theater

I didn't know these were used as late as the 1960s. They were fitted to a lot of the very short and cheaper English grands around the 1930s. Cheaper actions, fewer parts, and shorter, so easier to incorporate into a short piano. It might have been that there was a pre-war stock of thes actions still lying around in the 1960s and Challen bought them cheap and used them up! I doubt if Herrburger Brooks manufactured any after the second world war. But you never know....

Hi David,

Nice to find a fellow Scot on here, although I'm no tech, I'm a pianist, so take what I say with a pinch of salt!

I read somewhere that Brookes made the spring and loop action up until 1967? So I guess pianos made for a couple of years after that may still feature the mechanism?

Hi Joe,

That's very interesting. I didn't realise those cut-down actions were made as late as that, but it kinda makes sense. If there was a demand, Herrburger Brooks would make them. And by that time the UK piano industry would probably be making more smaller rather than larger grands.

Yeah I think they made lots of baby grands for people to put in the bay window of terraced houses and small flats. Musically they were pretty useless but they looked nice with a lace throw over them and a vase on top (most of them seem to have the veneer peeling off in the middle where someone has obviously spilled the flower vase....)