RONALD WARE i was looking at a mini royal, are they good pianos?

I remember my classical guitar teacher saying a guitar got old like a car... not like violins.

Russell Gibson I

Guys I found the best website that will help you to learn piano that is PianoLessons99.blogspot.com Hope this will help…

Back Country Pastimes thanks for that. Just bought a 150 year old piano. And noticed it doesn't like being opposite a radiator. So turned it off. Never even played one before. Guitars are the same. Don't like temperature changes.

i hope thats the case for my piano because it hasnt been tuned for about 6 or 7 years

My piano tuner recommends ever two years. It's played regularly and never moved. Some instruments hold the tuning.

If it's a rebuild then new pins are mandatory. But on pianos with loose pins (not a rebuild) it is very often possible to tighten them without having to replace them, by tapping them further into the pin block. To do this there must be space (approx 1/4 inch) between the coiled string/s (around the pin) and the bushing/s around the hole the pins are driven into. This tightens the pin/s. But solving this problem creates another one: as soon as you tap a pin, all tension is released from the string/s...if it's just a couple of pins then an amateur can rectify this. If there are many loose pins, it is definitely a skilled technician's job. Once the tension on the whole piano (or a large part of it) gets released, it requires several tunings and a lot of skill...and extra follow-up tunings.

Maybe it has to do with the hand oils/dirt, picking, slapping and bending on guitar strings.

Hi Eric, I play guitar and there's no doubt they sound a lot better with new strings. Noticeably after 2 weeks of average use. I also tune and rebuild pianos New strings on a piano take about 1 year to stabilize. Manufacturers recommend at least 5 tunings the first year, and twice a year thereafter. It has already been chipped and tuned dozens of times at the factory and showroom. If money is no object, the time it takes to replace the strings more often than every 5 years or so for a stage instrument is alone prohibitive. All that said, there is also no doubt that new strings on a piano sound great , just like a guitar. It is easier to replace the wrapped bass and tenor strings than to do the whole thing. Also once piano wire has been pulled past 85% of its break point tension, the wire begins to flatten and deform, ruining that note. So keep an ear on your tuner

piano hammers are made of compressed wool, which contains lanolin, a naturally occurring oil in the wool. You are correct about it affecting sound faster on guitars because of the constant sliding, It is the wrapped strings that collect the oily grime, not so much the plain wire. Same thing on a piano. Bass strings become tubby with very little sustain, fast 5 yrs or so.

Briefly, not correct. You can get cracks across the grain.

Soundboards are 5/8 thick? You really believe soundboards are over a half of an inch thick? I seriously doubt that.

yes justaviewer they are.. look up Bolduc soundboards. they are the leading provider of raw material for rebuilders ( like myself ). the boards are rough cut and aged in a hot box for months, or years. the moisture content is lowered to 5 1/2 %. they are then fit and tapered where necessary. today they are crowned in several different methods but crowned nonetheless. today ribs are attached to the board and it is tightly inserted into the case of the instrument. 5/8ths of an inch is minimal in the center of a decent sized piano.You may be confused with guitars, violins, and the like. Before you make ignorant comments, do some actual research.

Hey, you don't have to be a touchy, snotty, jackass. Oh and you forgot how they are planed down to 3/8 inch OR LESS so no, they are nowhere near 5/8 thick. You're talking about when they're building a soundboard OUTSIDE of the piano which has nothing to do with your original statement of them being that thick. If you want to be technical then say they start at the diameter of the spruce tree. I guess that makes them a foot or three thick? There was nothing ignorant about my comments. I don't need to do the research, I rebuild pianos.

you surely don't replace soundboards or we wouldn't be having this conversation. I've done dozens and none were less than a 1/2 " in the piano

justaviewer111 ...I suppose because they are worth any necessary restoration due to their initial quality and high value. And he said “most pianos”...

Because they are Steinways. However, they have to be taken care of as well. They are usually reworked after so long.

If you watch a few more videos on KZfaq by dealers (e.g. Roberts in the UK) then you'll see they're prepared to completely rebuild a Steinway - pinblock, soundboard, pins, strings, hammers, bodywork - especially it it's a grand piano. So you're effectively getting a new Steinway in the orginal wooden frame, for about £30,000 instead of paying £90,000 for a new one. Sure, Steinways are build from good quality materials but wood is wood and it all depends on how the piano was looked after. You can rebuild a Steinway and still make a profit (maybe £10,000). But that's because everyone wants a Steinway. Could you do that for a Weber piano? Probably not. Not many people crave for a restored Weber enough to pay tens of thousands of pounds - especially when you can buy a new Weber grand for £9000. Let's say you bought a new Steinway grand for £100,000 and after fifty years you sold it for £20,000 then you've lost £80,000 (80% of the original price). But if you bought a fully restored Steinway for £30,000 and sold it for £15,000 after fifty years then you've only lost £15,000 (50% of what you paid originally) and you've also saved £70,000 on buying a new one. A fully restored piano looks like it did when it was new.

Modern ones are generally from China - They are mass made to a price by piano assemblers.

Depends on your level of ability. Digital pianos are essentially just a recording of a piano played back . They don't really have soul. OK for someone learning up to the middle grades as they are relatively cheap, and you never know whether the learner will continue.