Combing Craig’s List is one of my weekly activities where I delve through listings of pianos with a keen eye for off- the-beaten-path musical treasures. Such expeditions have in the past produced a “Haddy” Haddorff console, and an Aoelian Table Style piano. These gems were warmly welcomed into my piano family as time-honored companions to my Steinway M grand until I moved to the Bay area. With sparser living space, I had to donate these singing beauties to adoptive piano teachers who became faithful caretakers.
A few months ago, I spotted a Schimmel 48 inch vertical, model 118T (1987 manuf.) that turned up on Next Door.com. Hardly noticed by locals, the posting acquired ONE recorded hit- from me! Not surprising! Most neighborhood piano seekers preferred a used Yamaha or Baldwin with a zero to 100 dollar price tag while my lowdown on the Schimmel, with its impeccable workmanship and European heritage was blissful ignorance for most. Connoisseurs of pianos were a shrinking minority, as digital sales grew.
Despite my modest living quarters, I couldn’t resist making an appointment to play the Schimmel. I needed a small second piano for duet playing that would keep my partner more than an arm’s length from me. Four-hands at one piano would pose a health risk during the pandemic.
After meeting the Schimmel, disappointment came hard and fast. Even with its golden resonance and immaculate voicing, the piano had a very stiff action and heavy down weight that put undo strain on my aging hands. Its touch being impossible to reconcile with its heavenly projection, so regretfully, I passed on it.
Some weeks later another FIND drew my attention. I’d spotted a Charles Walter console (1998 manuf.) on Craig’s List that was housed in Santa Cruz, CA. Not within easy reach, I decided to arrange a Face Time get together with the seller to get a sense of the piano’s tuning. (I always warned my students and others never to buy a piano without sitting on the bench and playing it, so I was beginning to betray my own recommendations, and caveat emptor warnings about selecting a piano.)
American made Walter pianos (made in Elkhart, Indiana) were few and far between–at least the used ones manufactured in 1998 and prior years, when a British action H-B was installed and then discontinued in favor of the Renner. I’d met a resonant Charles Walter full size upright Online when I mentored a student from the South while Larry Fine (The Piano Book) raved about Charles Walter as one of 3 remaining reputable American builders alongside Steinway & Sons, and Mason & Hamlin.
Walter pianos were praised as hand-made and autographed by Charles Walter or one of the family members. (The paternal founder Charles, passed away in 2019.)
Given my own inside knowledge of Walter pianos, the Face Time arranged visit with the Charles Walter console, should have produced a positive outcome. Instead, it was a shattering disappointment!
As I sat by my Steinway instructing the seller on the screen, to depress each and every note up and down the keyboard, I noticed a nearly a half-pitch LOWER discrepancy from my recently tuned grand. If the owner played a G on the Walter, my Steinway produced a G#. (same key played) While I discerned decent resonance and good decay from note to note, I was gravely discouraged by the nearly 1/2 tone pitch drop, which related to the piano’s 18 year tuning gap.
I wanted to scream at the seller! “Why did you neglect this piano!”
After I signed off with great relief, I decided to hire a capable certified technician in the Santa Rosa, California area to check out the piano for me. Maybe there was a slim chance this frog of a piano could become a prince.
Michael Hagen, RPT fit the bill to provide an honest rundown of what I would describe as a disastrously ill-maintained piano. He’d racked up 32 years as Sonoma State University’s technician while he tuned and maintained pianos for the Santa Rosa Symphony. In all, Hagen had 45 years of piano service under his belt and was percolating around pianos into the present- doting on a particular vintage Steinway restoration. He shared an impressive video diary of his JC Fisher Grand restoration with his own composed music running through the track. To add to his CV, he played the piano quite well!
Hagen’s generated report on the Walter turned out to be a ray of hope. While the piano technician acknowledged the pitch issues, he believed the Walter console could be brought into good overall playing condition. Still, without my having touched its keys, I had growing reservations about buying it. With a rush of doubts, I phoned the seller and declined the piano.
Faced with my resolute rejection, the owner persisted —She urged me to take the piano at a much lower than advertised price–quoting a figure that I could not refuse.
After the Paypal transaction was made, I hired Michael Hagen to drive over to the Bay and work on the piano after its arrival. The following day, on a Sunday, Gilbert Meraz performed a one man move at a nice bargain rate thanks to Michael’s referral. Things were moving briskly along.
As the piano crossed my threshold on a dolly, I was forced into an immediate showdown with it!
It was not a happy event! Not only was the pitch disparity more glaring in person, but the piano’s uneven action and bumpy transit from note to note, were intolerable. I didn’t know what to say to Michael after having received his largely positive report.
To check on my own inclinations about the piano, I invited an adult student over who doubled on my doubts. He nitpicked the piano for its deficits as I had done minutes earlier. It was a situation that verged on a complete rejection of the piano, and a reconsideration about keeping it.
Could there be a slim hope that perhaps all the issues surrounding this neglected piano could be addressed successfully?
Hagen rose to the task, enlisting 6 uninterrupted hours of work–He did a pitch raise with a few passes, eased the keys, pulling each one by one, and assiduously adjusted the damper timing in repeated efforts. By afternoon’s end, the piano was remarkably smoothed out and brought up to pitch! It was like night and day!
What a miraculous transformation! All buyer’s remorse inklings quickly evaporated as the Charles Walter console became a permanent family member. No sooner than Michael hit the road for Santa Rosa, I posted some videos of the singing nightingale, sending links to the seller and to Michael! Here’s the most recent one.
Contact information for Michael Hagen, RPT: mchagen88@hotmail.com
https://michael-hagen-piano-tuning-and-service.business.site/
from Arioso7's Blog (Shirley Kirsten)
https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2022/02/17/a-piano-finding-adventure-with-twists-and-turns/
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