|
Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
|
|
64 members (accordeur, BWV846, Animisha, benkeys, Anglagard44, brdwyguy, 15 invisible),
2,292
guests, and
409
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,202
3000 Post Club Member
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,202 |
I chanced upon a very unusual thing the other week: a Lindner upright piano that was in full working order! Many will be familiar with these little upright pianos made in a purpose-built factory in Shannon, Ireland, owned by the Dutch parent company Rippen. Plastic action parts and metal leaf springs break. I've finally got round to putting a page about them on my website, havving ewncountered two within a week and been able to take some photos. It's at http://www.davidboyce.co.uk/lindner-pianos.php
Last edited by David Boyce; 12/11/13 10:38 AM.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 337
Full Member
|
Full Member
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 337 |
I have met a few of them and in my opinion, they are the worst uprights ever. Plastic keys, soundboard made of some strange material, very, very strange objects.
Bojan Babic piano technician and tuner Sid, Vojvodina, Serbia _____________________________ bojanbabic@yahoo.com www.klaviri.blogspot.com
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,202
3000 Post Club Member
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,202 |
The soundboards of Lindners were spruce. The scale design was quite good and they sound OK. They also have good tuning stability. The problems with them stem from failure of pltastic action parts and leaf springs.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060 |
It is the same thing with Betsy Ross spinets, pretty good pianos done in by the plastics industry.
I tuned a Lindner grand years ago. Clever design, and an inexpensive way to build a moderate quality 6 foot grand. You can take a panel off it, and the body will flip up and one leg fold back so you can roll it through single doors on its stand without any special training. They would have been nice for institutions that might want to have a grand that can go from room to room. The biggest weakness was that seasonal changes can loosen the soundboard so it rattles against the plate, but that is also easy to take care of.
Semipro Tech
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 6,714
6000 Post Club Member
|
6000 Post Club Member
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 6,714 |
I seem to remember them as having a reverse crowned, solid spruce soundboard and ribs. I do find them a rather clever overall design. The weak points being the leaf-spring balance and the clip-in flanges.
I wonder if a longitudinal carbon fiber autoclave processed balance spring would wear longer. It would have to be very thin to flex properly. But I suspect it would hold up considerably longer.
In a seemingly infinite universe-infinite human creativity is-seemingly possible. According to NASA, 93% of the earth like planets possible in the known universe have yet to be formed. Contact: toneman1@me.com
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713
3000 Post Club Member
|
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713 |
It is the same thing with Betsy Ross spinets, pretty good pianos done in by the plastics industry.
Something have not seen or heard on the forum DashanDad.Perhaps I missed something. What lives his Betsy Ross now?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,571
2000 Post Club Member
|
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,571 |
Big difference; Betsy Ross had readily available replacement parts available from several different external manufacturers at the.time. Nobody but Lindner made the non standard parts that would fit their pianos.
Amanda Reckonwith Concert & Recording tuner-tech, London, England. "in theory, practice and theory are the same thing. In practice, they're not." - Lawrence P. 'Yogi' Berra.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713
3000 Post Club Member
|
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713 |
Nobody but Lindner made the non standard parts that would fit their pianos. Good day,rxd Were Irish people innovators in creating piano or they did not have much wood? How works plastmass parts in an action of a piano. Is it right? Regards,yours Max
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,571
2000 Post Club Member
|
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,571 |
Nobody but Lindner made the non standard parts that would fit their pianos. Good day,rxd Were Irish people innovators in creating piano or they did not have much wood? How works plastmass parts in an action of a piano. Is it right? Regards,yours Max Hi. Max. Lindner parts didn't seem strong enough on the first place but they tell me that the Betsy Ross plastic parts were made with a hardener that just kept on hardening until it became brittle over time. Price and speed of assembly by a semi skilled workforce were possibly the prime motivators. Others may know more.
Amanda Reckonwith Concert & Recording tuner-tech, London, England. "in theory, practice and theory are the same thing. In practice, they're not." - Lawrence P. 'Yogi' Berra.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713
3000 Post Club Member
|
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713 |
Nobody but Lindner made the non standard parts that would fit their pianos. Good day,rxd Were Irish people innovators in creating piano or they did not have much wood? How works plastmass parts in an action of a piano. Is it right? Regards,yours Max Price and speed of assembly by a semi skilled workforce were possibly the prime motivators. Others may know more. Thanks, rxd, for this useful information both the pianos about . But I think it is not good, if as a result to set of cheaper part quality suffers Regards,
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082
2000 Post Club Member
|
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082 |
Nobody but Lindner made the non standard parts that would fit their pianos. Good day,rxd Were Irish people innovators in creating piano or they did not have much wood? How works plastmass parts in an action of a piano. Is it right? Regards,yours Max Hi. Max. Lindner parts didn't seem strong enough on the first place but they tell me that the Betsy Ross plastic parts were made with a hardener that just kept on hardening until it became brittle over time. Price and speed of assembly by a semi skilled workforce were possibly the prime motivators. Others may know more. True. Plastic elbows to be precise. Lester must have recognized the problem and by 1960 had gone back to wood - the year also that the company closed its doors. (I learned piano on a new 1960 BR with wood elbows.) Schaff carries a replacement "snap on" elbow set that is easy install. Regulating the metal pickup fingers can be very tricky.
Last edited by bkw58; 12/12/13 12:01 PM. Reason: typos
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,202
3000 Post Club Member
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,202 |
Maximillyan, the pianos were not designed by the Irish, but by the RIppen family, owners of the parent company in Holland. They set up a factory in Ireland because the Irish government at that time were offering financial incentives to attract new employers there. Shortage of wood was not an issue - the idea was to make the pianos weigh less.
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,202
3000 Post Club Member
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,202 |
I do find them a rather clever overall design. The weak points being the leaf-spring balance and the clip-in flanges. Exactly, Ed. Those are the parts I always find to have broken.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060 |
Also, molded parts were cheaper to make than carving them out of wood. In some cases, like the Pratt Read elbows in the Betsy Ross (Lester) spinets, the grain of the wood made them prone to breakage. Unfortunately, in time, the plastic proved even more prone than the wood.
It is not the only industry that had problems with early plastics. Many homes were built with early plastic pipes that failed, which was a far greater disaster. Problems have often arisen in products that were not anticipated after some time had passed. Aluminum wiring failed when the techniques that worked with copper was used with it. The steel bolts in the new Bay Bridge failed when they were tightened, so these problems still crop up.
That is why I am skeptical of some of the claims made about new materials for piano parts. They seem good now, but only time will tell.
Semipro Tech
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 5,218
5000 Post Club Member
|
5000 Post Club Member
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 5,218 |
"...Many homes were built with early plastic pipes that failed, which was a far greater disaster..."
My home... and every other in my condo village. We learned of the problem when the kitchen ceiling fell down on us.
Clef
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 6,714
6000 Post Club Member
|
6000 Post Club Member
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 6,714 |
The big difference in whether a new material is appropriate for something with the expected life as a piano-IS the material new to any application?-OR is it new to pianos?, and has a long track record in other applications.
The AcetyL copolymer I use for duplex string rests in my Fully Tempered Duplex Scale has been around for 40 or more years. The carbon fiber reinforced nylon of the W,N&G actions has been used in many things for over 40years. Epoxy reinforced carbon fiber materials have proven to have a longer lifetime for pressurized aircraft than aluminum. The aircraft industry proved this to the FAA by doing A to B lifecycle testing.
The stainless wound piano strings newly available from Mapes have been used in guitars for decades.
Skepticism should be tempered by knowledge.
In a seemingly infinite universe-infinite human creativity is-seemingly possible. According to NASA, 93% of the earth like planets possible in the known universe have yet to be formed. Contact: toneman1@me.com
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060 |
Yes, well, if you want piano strings that last as long as guitar strings...
Semipro Tech
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,326
2000 Post Club Member
|
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,326 |
That is why I am skeptical of some of the claims made about new materials for piano parts. They seem good now, but only time will tell.
Time has told. Of course, the first generation plastic was no good. However . . . We know why it failed. It didn't fail because it was used in pianos -- it failed because the plasticizer evaporated over time. This phenomenon occurs with any application of that plastic formula for any use. That kind of plastic was susceptible to failure in other settings, as well -- most notably kids toys. Plastics are very much a known quantity nowadays. We don't hear of material failure in any plastics application -- that is, where the failure was due to the material and not to inadequate design. We can be confident of their reliability because the materials have been established in tens of thousands of applications for millions of usage cycles over decades. There are good-as-new plastic parts in pianos that are 45 years old. (I'm thinking specifically of a Yamaha studio I tuned recently). I'm not aware of a single failure in those, are you? Ever heard of a failure with any of Kawai's parts? Even Steinway's debacle with hard teflon bushings was a not a material failure but a failure in corporate culture and management. Have you ever seen wood parts fail? I have. Why is there not a hue and cry every time a wood part warps, sticks or breaks? I am unaware of any design/application parameter where wood excels over modern synthetic parts. Can you name one? My assessment, after 50 years of experience in piano technology is that the latest synthetic components are superior in every parameter and that continuing to use wood components where modern ones are available is simply inferior practice. Whether anyone agrees with that assessment is up to each individual's evaluation. However, I believe that at this late date to imply that wood is superior or that modern synthetics are inferior is simply not responsible.
Keith Akins, RPT Piano Technologist USA Distributor for Isaac Cadenza hammers and Profundo Bass Strings Supporting Piano Owners D-I-Y piano tuning and repair editor emeritus of Piano Technicians Journal
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060 |
That is fine, you can take your word for it. You are the one making the claims. I am only explaining why the claims are not necessarily reliable. It has nothing to do with whether one material is better than another.
Semipro Tech
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082
2000 Post Club Member
|
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082 |
... Have you ever seen wood parts fail? I have. Why is there not a hue and cry every time a wood part warps, sticks or breaks?
I am unaware of any design/application parameter where wood excels over modern synthetic parts. Can you name one? ...
One of the best (if not the best) succinct apologias with respect to modern usage of synthetic component parts that I've read. Thank you for this. My only problem with synthetics may be more about the annoyance of inconvenience than anything. Certain of the wood parts seem more amenable to a glue repair or temporary fix than the synthetics. The latter just didn't seem to hold as well. It is virtually impossible to stock every part for every make and model, and it takes time to order and install. Perhaps it's a small thing. But such keeps me inclined to favor wood.
Last edited by bkw58; 12/12/13 09:54 PM. Reason: typo
|
|
|
Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:23 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
Forums43
Topics223,403
Posts3,349,419
Members111,636
|
Most Online15,252 Mar 21st, 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|