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AKA buying a piano sight unseen

So my Petrof was finally loaded up for shipment yesterday in So Cal. It will be put in storage for a few weeks with other pianos, then transported to Portland around the beginning of August. Below are some pics that the seller was kind enough to take for me. He also took some video I'll post later, for those fascinated (like me) with watching a piano being moved.

I'm excited for the piano to arrive, but it's a bit bittersweet as this means I only have a few weeks left to play my beloved little Kawai. Luckily it's only moving a few blocks down the street to my friend's house and yes, I think I will be one of those weird people that wants to "visit" his old piano every now and then. But you guys at PW feel me, right?

As for buying a piano sight unseen, I normally wouldn't do that. After joining PW, I should know even better as I've learned here that buying a piano without trying it is one of the 7 deadly sins. However, everything I have learned on PW (and tested on my faithful GL10) has taught me how much a piano's touch and sound can be altered. That has given me the confidence to buy this piano, knowing that I should be able to tweak things to my liking if they are not that way already. But enough of my rambling, here are some pics.

Since your Kawai still has a place in your heart, might suggest to sample 12-24 notes as per the procedure on Pianobook.co.uk so you can play it as a virtual instrument when it leaves?

I wish I had done this with my Kawai before I sold it earlier last year, but it took until the lockdown for me to learn how to do it. I realize that you may not have decent condenser mics or an audio interface, but there are definitely things you can try with a smartphone or camcorder. If you're interested, let me know and I'll give you a primer.

Congrats on the Petrof - I considered that model too, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

-Dore

Emery
Your piano looks beautiful! .It really is quite a large serious grand.I think you said it was a model 3 unless I am mistaken.The one I nearly bought was, I thought a model 4.Perhaps I am mistaken?
I cannot remember, but surely it was not larger than your piano?
As for visiting your GL10 of course we understand. I understand more than you can realise....
Congratulations, I think you are going to love this instrument more than you realise.
Best wishes LB

Ha ha, I missed that part about it moving the Kawai to your friend's house. Offer still stands anyway....

Thanks Dore. That is a very interesting idea. If I can't figure it out, I'll let you know.

Ladybird, the Petrof grand sizes are inversely proportional to their number size. So a model 3 is bigger than a model 4, a model 2 is bigger than a model 3, etc.

Great pics! Nice looking piano, Emery!

I know you are excited and can't wait!

Congratulations again!

Rick

OK I feel better about that, I was really confused !
What I remember was the model 4 in Roman numbers somewhere inside the piano.It had a truly
beautiful tone and when the action was pulled we saw it was Renner like yours.It was really responsive.The key resistance neither too light nor too much.If I was looking for a grand I would
really have bought it.

Congratulations, It looks like new from the photos! Was the seller the original owner? - I played a III in 2002 and loved it.

Thanks everyone. Yes Blueviewlaguna, seller is original owner. You'll hear in the moving video below that he's had it for 20 years (it's a 1999), and it hadn't been moved until now. You also learn in the video that a Petrof grand is a good place to hide under in the event of an earthquake

I think the movers did a good job. I wish I could have bought them a beer.

Congratulations! It's lovely. Post a recording soon.

Congratulations on your Petrof III!

A huge upgrade from your current piano.

Wow, it's beautiful.

Yes it is beautiful! Congratulations.

Congrats Emery - That’s a Pretty Piano!!

I enjoyed the Video, too


~Lucubrate

Alright guys, photos and video are finally up. Below are some shots of the piano, pics of some regulation/tweaking I've been doing, and finally, a recording. Thanks to everything I learned here at Pianoworld and a little luck, this site unseen purchase turned out well. Thanks to everyone who posts here, your insights and expertise have been invaluable.

Now, on to the photos:


Piano moving in the age of Covid.



















The piano sounded nice to begin with but the action was a little heavy, the dynamic range was narrow, and some of the notes sounded a little metallic. I don't know if the action had ever been regulated, so time to pull it and see what's going on.


Turns out the hammer line was low by several millimeters. Moving it back up to about 45mm lightened things up quite a bit.


Next easy fix was to lubricate the keypins. They were in pretty good shape, so I only needed to apply teflon powder to the key bushings. However, someone here on PW mentioned that tungsten disulfide powder (WS2) was more slippery, so I applied it to the key pins. Not sure there is any appreciable difference compared to teflon powder, and this stuff is black and pretty messy. I'll probably stick with teflon in the future.


Next easy fix is replacing the capstans with WNG aluminum ones, which are each about 3g lighter than their brass counterparts.


Final easy fix to reduce touchweight is to replace the balance rail punching with cut punchings. On a Petrof, however, this doesn't make much difference because there is already a sharp ledge at the front of the balance rail that essentially achieves the same effect with a normal punching.


The letoff and drop were pretty wide. Fixing those really helped the dynamics. Turns out a 14 gauge wire is almost exactly 1/16", and an 8 gauge is about 1/8". Yes, you can check your letoff and drop with supplies from Home Depot. Now the touch is lighter, and I have a better dynamic range. I was also able to get rid of the metallic edge on some of the notes by spraying the hammers with alcohol and fabric softener. I posted a video about it in the tech forum if you're interested.

So, that's the story so far. Here is a video I made today so you can hear how she sounds. Sorry about the sound of running feet halfway through the video, my son was running downstairs to ask for help with his Minecraft game. These are the hazards of recording at home with young kids



I really like my Petrof, and as you can see in the video, have become a big enough fanboy to have a Petrof shirt! If you're have any questions about the piano, feel free to ask. Now it's time to go practice!

A couple more photos, couldn't fit them into the prior post for some reason, maybe there is a photo limit.


I noticed there seemed to be a cover or something missing that left a fallboard hinge exposed. So I sent an email to Petrof from their website, asking if they still had this part available. Surprisingly, I got an email back from someone at the factory. He said that since this model had been discontinued for some time, he wasn't sure, but he'd look for me. Turns out he found some covers in a back warehouse, and said he'd put them in the mail to me free of charge. That's great customer service!


Yay, letter from the Petrof factory! How cool is that? Turns out the covers are these round black felt things. He sent two, so now I have an extra.


There are over 200 tuning pins on a piano, and nothing lets you enjoy each one individually like shining them up with metal polish. Make sure you have something to binge watch on Netflix.

Very nice, enjoy the piano.

Congratulations on your new-to-you Petrof III grand piano, Emery! It is a beauty!

The pics were great, and I watched your YT vid on the alcohol and fabric softener mix voicing procedure. I could not tell a difference between the before and after recordings, but it may just be the recordings, or my defective hearing.

I admire you for your willingness and courage to tune and service your own pianos. Although it has subsided a bit recently, over the years here on PW, anyone who attempts any sort of DIY piano service or repair was subject to scorn and ridicule by some. You're a brave man, Emery!

Also, you play very well. I don't think I've ever heard you play, and I was surprised at how well you play.

I wish you many years of enjoyment with your Petrof III grand piano, my friend!

Rick

Thank you Rick! I think you blazed the trail for us piano DIYers. The techs here have been very gracious and have taught me a lot. I guess I'm just too interested in pianos to not tinker with them!

Wow. That is a beauty and it sounds gorgeous!