Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum August Förster project piano

I've sold my Petrof, as I am in financial troubles. But I bought an August Förster at 1/5th of the price I sold the Petrof.

Here are the pictures: August Förster

It has a very nice picture of Lobau, Germany and the piano factory on the sound board, where almost no-one can see it!

It has a very nice tone, despite the bad shape of the hammer heads, and a very deep bass for such a small piano, 1.16 mts tall (45 and a half inches).

It tunes nice clean unisons in the tenor and bass, but it has some false beats in the treble.

At first I bought it to rebuild it and sell it, but now that I've played this fine instrument I just can not sell it. So I am going to restore it and keep it with me for my own pleasure! Both pleasures: restoring it and playing it.

I am curious about the action. Can someone tell me if it is a Renner action?

All comments will be greatly appreciated.

Looks possible. Renner sometimes stamped on the action rail. Some German makers put their own actions together from Renner parts.

Ian

I've seen some Renner hammers that have stamped the words "LOUIS RENNER" on the moldings.

But in this case there is no stamping.

That would be a Renner hammer set. Looks like a Schwander or Schwander type action from here.

Renner made a Schwander style action for grand’s; most likely they had one for uprights too.

Most Renner actions I have come across have a label of some sort.

I doubt that's a Renner. Maybe Langer or one of the many other action makers from the good old days.

Steve

What year is the piano? You took pictures of eery small detail except for one important one - the serial number.

The action is a very typical example of upright actions built by a number of companies in Germany throughout the decades. If the action rail or hammers do not have a Renner stamp, it is highly unlikely they are made by Renner. The whole thing looks very much like an East German product to me.

Now there are more detailed pictures on Picasa, I am not so sure about Renner. The screws (though they could have been changed) and various details differ from the actions I had in mind.

Ian

My fault, in fact I didn't forget the serial number, the picture is there, but I ommited to explain it is the serial number, which is 84188. It is stamped in several places of the piano and this one is the most visible of all, though in an unusual place!

That puts the manufacture year of this piano between 1948 and 1952.

A friend of mine told me also that it looks like a Langer.


I don't know the Langer brand. It is the first time I hear about it.

From what I understand it is not produced anymore, was it a good action?

As good as any other.

It could very well be an action from Flemming.

I have googled Langer piano action, and all I can read is that it is a British company formed by Herburger & Brooks and Schwander and is currently out of bussines.

As good as any other?

I have heard often that Renner makes top quality products. That indirectly implies there are other brands with less quality. So, how about Langer?

If your piano is build 1945 - 1989 the action is a Flemming.
That is what they used in the DDR - there was no import from the west side.
In later years Förster reconstructed the instruments and now use Renner actions.

Even C.Bechstein made a baby grand Mod K with a Flemming action.

Herrburger Schwander made good piano actions; as good as any other action maker. In reality an action is an action. It is how the action is set up and by whom which makes it perform correctly. I have come across good actions that have been set up poorly and poorly made actions set up properly that play well……..


Lots of companies used the Flemming action; Zimmerman, Bechstein, Forster, Calisia, Blüthner for example. In the case of Blüthner, the instruments that were shipped to the west had a Renner action installed.

Dan,

Have you seen DDR Blüthner grands with Renner actions? If so that is really interesting!
I serve some Blüthner 6 from 69-73 and all of them have Flemming actions.

Here is a post in German about Flemming mechanics in an August Förster grand piano.

Ian

There were a number of DDR Blüthner grand’s that came here during the late 70’s early 80’s when one of the dealerships here was representing the Blüthner line.

One of the problems encountered here was the fact that practically nobody knew who or what these instruments were, so they were a difficult sell for the dealer who never attempted to bring in any more.

All of the Blüthner models scheduled to come over to the west had the Renner action installed; at least the ones that made it to N. America did; this is my understanding when I asked.

I have read the same posted on the Piano Forum (UK); could have been a posting by Barry Heaton or Bill Kibby-Johnson……

One of my colleagues here, Rod Verhnjak at Verhnjak Pianos had one a while back; it was a 1982 Mod 6’ with the Renner action and Renner hammer set.

The one I have here is a 1979 Mod 6’ with the Renner action but the hammer set is from somebody else. I would have to pull the action to recall the name stamped on the side, but it is a name I have not come across.

Here is a photo set of the Blüthner I have here.

BluthnerAliqoutTour

Anyways we should get back to the Forster discussion so as not to destroy Raphaels' thread

Oh Dan, you can continue to speak about actions from around the world! I am enjoying it and learning and I think my thread is not being destroyed but enriched.

Not only Flemming. There was an action (at least in uprights) called Pianic.

Gregor

The piano is now refinished. It is not perfect, but it looks nice now.

August Förster refinished


I ve also installed the missing strings. But I'am no very happy with them. The unisons can not be tuned absolutely clean like their neighbors.

I am thinking to replace both strings of each unison, in order to guarant the quality of the unisons, but I fear the new strings will stick out from the rest, sounding too brilliant.