As some of you may remember from a couple of months ago, I recently purchased a 1926 Blüthner grand. Well, on October 28 it arrived! I promised some pictures. . . So here we go.

Here's a picture of our living room anxiously awaiting the new addition.

The Fragile Freight truck arrives.

Zo and Warren (I think) take it off the truck.
They lift it from the board.

After attaching the legs and pedals, they turned it over (scary).
Almost there...
and, Voila!
Needless to say, we love it.
On Saturday it will be three weeks since the delivery and we've got a tech coming over to tune and regulate the instrument. It's actually in pretty good tune, but the move definitely screwed up the dampers and I've got some annoying overtones in the middle registers.

For what it's worth, I really like the Blüthner Patent Action.

NIce piano. There is a thread on the Blüthner Patent action on right now over in the tech forum, including a diagram of the action, which may be of interest.
By the way, I believe the music desk is not original. This style was signature of Bechstein pianos. (Not bad heritage there as well)

I hate to ask this delicate question, but did your Bluthner get tipped on its lire?

Jurgen:

Yep. I'm certain you're correct about the music desk. It's Bechstein--although I doubt it's vintage.

Also take a look at the legs. I think they may be new as well. To my eyes at least they look closer to Bechstein than Blüthner. I suspect that new Bechstein replacement parts were used when the piano was rebuilt last year.

I'll take a look at that tech forum. Thanks for the heads up.

Yes. I've read that that's a no no, but the owner of Fragile Freight seemed to know what he was doing when he disassembled the beast.

Is there any damage I should be looking for as a result of them doing this? The lyre itself seems fine.

Great pictures and a beautiful piano! Thanks for posting them.

SHPiano -- Sorry, I was just being a smartass (well, maybe a dumbass -- I didn't even spell lYre right). That issue has gotten a few people all revved up around here before, and it can be amusing when that happens. Beautiful piano. Lucky (and good looking) kids)!

I had read about the issue of "lyre tipping" and was freaking out a little when they did it. At the same time, I wasn't sure what I'd tell them after I said "Stop you fools . . .". I was frankly amazed that two men could lift and maneuver a 1000 lb instrument.

The piano looks beautiful, I wish I could hear it, too.
May I drop in next time I'm in Texas?
Best wishes to you for years and years of joy, playing this magnificent instrument.

SHPiano -- Let's just say that I'm not a big enough man to call a piano mover a "fool".

I hate to turn this into another "lyre tipping" thread but the only way to avoid this is to make it clear when you schedule the move that you don't want it tipped on the lyre. If you wait until they show up they're basically going to set it up in the way they know how.

And that's still one beautiful piano!

What a gorgeous piano!

You mentioned damper problems. If you just had the piano re-strung and so forth, then of course it is going to have many of the "growing pains" that a new piano will have: perhaps a few sticking keys, some minor damper noise, and such.

Also the first year in the life of piano wire is spent stretching and going out of tune. But take heart. It's not all that bad, and, gradually, in about a year it will be pretty much broken-in.

Congratulations on a great instrument!

Congratulations on your beautiful
Blüthner!

On the burning question of 'Lyre tipping'... true this has been discussed at length in these forums and there are conflicting views. My own opinion is, if I were lucky enough to own a beautiful grand such as yours, I would NEVER allow the substantial weight of the piano to be born by the Lyre at such an acute angle. I would ensure before delivery that the delivery company - who should be piano delivery specialists - never did this . Over-the-top perhaps, but this would be my approach. Instruments like yours are too precious to take such risks with, imo.

Thanks Prospero. You're correct that it was rebuilt (including new strings) less than a year ago and has only had 2 or 3 tunings since then according to the seller. As I've posted elsewhere, I've got a tech coming tomorrow to work on it. I'm hopeful that she'll help bring back the lovely, singing tone I heard when I bought it.

The company, Fragile Freight, came with such glowing recommendations that I was a little surprised when they tipped it on the Lyre during disassembly. (On the other hand, this was the first time I've had a grand moved so I didn't really feel like I was in a position to criticize or direct them.) In every other respect they were so efficient and careful I really wasn't sure what to think.

That is a great looking piano! Congrats!

A couple of questions:
what is the length?
what is that finish?

I agree that lyre tipping is not desired but I've had 2 pianos delivered with that method and have no problems at all. These pianos are pretty tough.

It's 7'long (I think it was called a "Style 9" back in the day but would be a "Model 4" today).

The finish is Walnut (high-gloss polyester). The verticle orientation of the grain is different but very nice. Apparently they still offer pianos with that type of finish. Check out this Model 2 for sale in Florida: http://www.mgpiano.com/inventory.htm . It's rosewood, but has the verticle orientation of the grain.

Fantatsic looking piano - thank you for posting the pics.

I will have to check my own pics of the special day when my grand piano was delivered, but I'm pretty certain that it was at exactly the same angle... therefore "lyre tipping". How else should it be delivered and assembled, though? And if it's a serious matter, why would professional movers do it?

Lengthy discussion here.

I don't know.... judging from your pictures, the veneer doesn't look like walnut at all - looks like rosewood to me. Going to the link you give, your piano's wood looks exactly like the rosewood Model 2, only a bit lighter. I for one am convinced your piano has rosewood veneer.

Hmmm. I certainly can't disagree with Jurgen that my piano looks like the Model 2 Ambassador. On the other hand, the seller described the veneer as walnut (not determinative, but worth noting). And while I'm no expert in hardwoods, it looks more like black walnut than rosewood to me--more yellow/brown than red.

Also, take a look at the Bosendorfer website and you can see vertically oriented walnut and rosewood side by side. My Bluthner definitely looks more like the walnut to me. But I don't know for sure.

I wish I could find out more about my piano--e.g. who originally owned it; where it's lived, whether the legs are original, what the original music desk looked like, whether this is the origianl veneer, etc.. I've read that most if not all of the pre-war Bluthner records were destroyed during the war so I don't think I'll ever be able to know for sure.

Still, it's fun. Kind of like searching a family tree.

Wow, what a beautiful Bluthner!!!
That is one of the most beautiful pianos I have ever seen.

About tipping on the lyre I have started a new thread instead of hijacking yours.

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/20136.html

Kenny:
I like that. I've also seen the "piano horse" which I think is really cool with the curved shape to help roll the piano.

Although Fragile Freight did a nice job on the move and didn't harm the lyre on my Bluthner, I'm surprised they didn't use something like this just to avoid even a small chance of damage. They are so careful and efficient with everything else it seems almost silly they don't use this. I can't imagine it adds much time or cost.

double post

triple post.