Heat vents vs. pianos

Heat vents vs. pianos

by SJ Piano ServiceNo Comments
Quite often this time of year, I have conversations with customers about heat vents in their home. It has been a cold winter in New Jersey, and many home furnaces have been working overtime. Particularly in homes with forced air (blowing) heat sources, it's important to protect pianos and other musical instruments from the hot, dry air. The simplest and most effective way of accomplishing this is simply keeping the piano away from heat vents. If that's not an option, consider vent redirect options like the one pictured. Notice the air from the vent is being diverted away from the piano, without any significant loss to the amount of airflow into the room. Your piano will thank you for your attentiveness to this detail - pianos that are kept away from dry heat sources are far less likely to develop soundboard and bridge cracks, and remain much more stable in tuning and regulation. ...
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Stencil pianos – what are you actually getting?

Stencil pianos – what are you actually getting?

by SJ Piano Comment Closed
This is a great example of what is known as a "stencil" piano. The name "Brahms" appears on the front of the piano, but in fact the plate (visible in the background) is stamped with Winter & Company, the actual manufacturer of the piano. I couldn't find any background information on this particular customer's piano, but it was very common in the mid-1900's for piano stores, dealers, and others to have a run of pianos manufactured by an established company with the dealer's name stamped on the front. Winter & Co. was one of the larger piano manufacturers in the 1940's, when this piano was built, and had arrangements like this with dozens of companies over the years. If you own a piano with a name on the front that is unfamiliar and hard to find any information on, one possible explanation is that it's a stencil. They are not necessarily inferior pianos; it just depends, of course, on the company that...
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