1885 Hallet, Davis & Co. Upright:
Evaluation Pictures
taken in our shop

1 – The "Agraffe Bridge" construction, unique to this piano, was protected by patent. . .

2 – Agraffes hold the strings in place at both ends. They stay in place perfectly. Their disadvantage is that any hammers that shift because of warping shanks need to be re-aligned to the strings so they will strike "true."

3 – Agraffes are located even on the bass bridge.

4 – One of the steel-wound bass strings has been replaced with a brass-wound string. The original strings sound "tubby" due to age.

5 – The open-face pinblock appears to be in good shape. Tuning pins are original size. Torque varies between 25 and 40 lbs. Some are too lose to "hold pitch." The simplest repair would be to replace the loosest pins with larger size; the best repair would be to completely restring and repin.

6 – Careful inspection of the frame, soundboard, and ribs shows that the board is well attached all around to the ribs and also to the frame. There are no soundboard cracks. If we restring, we will heat the board and repair any cracks that appear, and refinish the board and bridges.

9 – Two tests of hammer wear suggest that they should be replaced. First, the felt is worn almost to the wood core at the top treble end. . .

10 – Second, the hammer felts show deep grooves where they strike the strings. We recommend installing new hammers.

11 – Due to warpage of the shanks, the hammers are poorly aligned to the strings. The cheapest repair is to apply heat and bend the shanks. The best repair is to replace the shanks.

12 – A number of center pins in the action are moving out of position, indicating that they are loose and should be replaced with larger size pins.

13 – The butts are unique to this piano. Fortunately, the leather and felt on them is still in good condition. Replacement is not necessary.

14 – We measured the hammer blow distance--it's over 2" whereas this should be 1/4" shorter. This will be corrected with regulation.

15 – "Key dip"--the distance the keys travel downwards when depressed--should be about 13/32". This is about 1/2" on most keys, and will be corrected when the underkey punchings are replaced and the piano is regulated.

16 – Underkey punchings are hard and thin. These will be replaced when the piano is regulated.

17 – About a dozen ivory keytops in the middle of the keyboard are badly worn. These should be replaced. Another option would be to install a new set of plastic keytops.

18 – The nickel plating on the pedals and face plate has worn. This can be improved with replating.

19 – This piano has a unique type of pedal mechanism that works very well and is almost soundless. Rubbing parts need to be lubricated and screws should be tightened.

20 – The piano looks great even in its current condition. Complete refinishing will give it additional lustre. This would involve dismantling, stripping, sanding, repairs, filler, stain, lacquer. We would also install new colored velveteen behind the top and bottom panels, rubber buttons, and a genuine Hallet, Davis & Co. decal. Although the accompanying bench doesn't match the piano, we can refinish it the same color. (The final decision of the owner was to have us restring the bass section, recondition the action and the pedal mechanisms, conduct a regulation, and tune the piano. We can refinish the piano sometime in the future.)

1885 Hallet, Davis & Co. Upright:
PICTURES OF THE IMPROVEMENT PROCESS
taken in our shop

21 – With the piano on its back, we tightened the caster screws and removed the "bottom board" on which the pedals are attached. With this board and the pedal mechanisms removed, we can reach the bass strings and we can rebuild the pedal mechanisms before re-installing the board.

22 – We removed the bass strings and pins. We will send the strings to the string-maker for a new set matching the originals. We also sent a few sample hammers to the hammer supplier with instructions to match them when sending us a set of new hammers.

23 – With the action on the workbench, we removed all the damper levers and the hammer spring rail. This will provide access to the hammers and enable us to install a new set.

24 – We numbered the dampers so we would be able to re-install them in the correct order, and put them aside.

25 – We replaced about 25 worn backcheck felts and about 25 catcher leathers.

26 – With the bass strings removed, we cleaned the agraffes, replaced the understring felt, and reamed the the tuning pin holes with a #1 reamer.

27 – The bass bridge agraffes on this piano are of unique design--the strings fit through two slots on the sides.

28 – We installed new bass strings using 2/0 x 2 1/2" tuning pins. These pins will be much tighter than the original 1/0 x 1 1/8" pins.

29 – We installed new stringing braid on the bass strings near the bass bridge. This braid will reduce discordant tones from the lower portion of the strings when they vibrate.

30 – We dismantled the pedal mechanisms for cleaning, lubrication, and reconditioning.

31 – We re-installed the pedal board after installing new felt in the pedal openings.

32 – We cleaned and polished the balance rail pins and front keypins.

33 – We cleaned the keys, replaced badly worn ivories and buffed tops and fronts.

34 – After re-installing all the keys, we shaped the replaced ivories and spaced the keys by turning the front keypins.

35 – With the action on the workbench, we tightened all action screws.

36 – We cleaned and lubricated the damper rod and damper spoons. We rebushed the damper rod supports.

37 – After spacing the butts-and-shanks, we removed the even-numbered hammer heads and installed new hammers, ensuring that the striking points would be in precisely the same spot as before.

38 – We removed old hammer heads with a specially desinged tool.

39 – Before installing replacement hammers, we cleaned the old glue from the shanks with special tools.

40 – We installed the second half of the hammers to fit precisely between the first half.

41 – We cleaned the damper levers and wires, bent the damper springs for increased strength, and re-installed the dampers.

42 – We cut away all original bridle tapes and glued new bridle tapes onto the tops of the butts, after inserting them through the catcher holes. For evenness, we cut the bridle tapes to equal length before installing them.

43 – After the glue had dried, we installed the bridle tapes into the bridle wires.

44 – With the action bolted in place, we aligned the hammers and dampers to the strings. This required bending damper wires and moving the position of hammers because it's impossible to move strings due to the agraffes throughout the piano.

45 – Ready for regulating! An overview of our tools for this, clockwise from left: screwdriver for adjusting capsans, wire-bending pliers for aligning backchecks to the catchers, tweezers and punchings for regulating key height and dip, regulating tool for adjusting letoff, keydip block and sharps regulator. After regulating, the tuned the piano. Several re-tunings of the bass section will be required in coming weeks to establish tuning stability.

46 – After complete regulation, we tuned the piano several times. Our budget included an allowance to replace very loose pins and strings that break during tuning. Unfortunately, several strings broke. This is understandable, because being about 120 years old they have reached the end of their tensile strength. We decided to restring and repin the top 2 1/2 octaves and four strings that broke in the middle section.

47 – We installed new velveteen material provided by the owner in the front decorative panels.

48 – Project finished! This is an elegant piano, looks very good for its age. It has a loud, rich musical tone. Improvements remaining to be done include restringing the middle section and refinishing, but that can be done sometime in the future.

49 – Close-up of music rest.

50 – Close-up of fallboard decal and keys.