Pianoforte Restoration and Conservation
- Bespoke Casework -
One of the most lamentable aspects of the modern piano is that in the last sixty years or so, it has moved away from being a manufactured product with a strong emphasis on individual craftsmanship, to almost entirely an industrial one.
This fact is no more starkly reflected than in an almost universal absence on the part of manufacturers of any sense of a visual aesthetic to complement and mirror musical and mechanical excellence. This is something that volume production did not preclude in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
A 1920's model "O" Steinway veneered with Jacaranda , Bird's eye maple and Macassar ebony
Generally speaking, the only alternative to the standard polyester black/white or office desk 'stained to look like......' veneers, are various ranges of retrospective reproduction cabinet styles that are totally inappropriate to the age in which we live and hardly likely to be cherished by a clientele with artistic sensibilities.
Most buyers of expensive grand pianos are highly cultivated individuals. Being connoisseurs (and not just of music) they are usually highly sensitive to the artifacts with which they live.
To this end we are now promoting a specialist custom finishing service using secondhand Kawai & Yamaha pianos supplied to us directly from Japan with all polyester removed and ready for veneering with choice timbers.
We can redesign the legs & pedal lyre etc., thus providing the client with not only a first-rate reconditioned piano, but also with a piece of furniture to co-ordinate with an original modern interior.
See 'Background'