Grand Piano Lab is a team of piano restorers who turn rare grand pianos into works of art. We find rare instruments with distinctive sounds and restore them to their unique timbre. We give new life to grand pianos.
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GRAND PIANO LAB
Grand Piano Blüthner, 1894
Specifications
Type:
Aliquot piano
Brand:
Blüthner
Model:
9
Serial number:
40002
Date of manufacturing:
1894
Country of manufacturing:
Germany
Length:
210 cm
Number of keys:
88
Number of pedals:
2
Frame sandblasted and painted gold
Bass strings: Roslau core, Degen copper
Smooth strings. Roslau
Agraphs are polished
Soundboard repaired and covered with shellac
Pins Diamant
New semitones and white key veneers
New damper. Abel production
The lid of the oldest grand piano in our current collection features Glenn Gould. He is known for his interpretations of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His unusual and outstanding technique of Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) is truly remarkable. Playing the grand piano was a spiritual and intellectual quest for the musician. The same piece of music he would play, took on a different form and sound every time.
Glenn Gould (1932-1982)
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ART PAINTING
"I believe that the justification of art is the internal combustion it ignites in the hearts of men and not its shallow, externalized, public manifestations"
—Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist, organist and composer
Work process
To repair the soundboard, we used high-quality resonant spruce slats, which we bought in the homeland of the piano in Germany. There are about 10 meters of repaired rails in this grand piano. The soundboard was covered with Borma shellac sealer (Italy), and the adhesive joints of the braces were re-glued.
We sandblasted and repainted the cast-iron plate, but didn’t coat it with putty, which gave the piano an interesting surface texture.
All original screws have been polished and restored, some have been replaced with the equivalent ones. The brass elements have also been polished. The surface was treated with polyester varnish.
We’ve replaced the lid and the music desk with the new handmade ones. Piano strings were supplied by the world's leading manufacturer, ROSLAU. These strings are used by the world's best piano manufacturers.
The pinblock was repaired and glued, the tuning pins were supplied by Diamant (Germany).
The mechanics of the grand piano were completely rebuilt, all fabric and felt elements were replaced with similar ones made from high-quality materials. We replaced all the hammer-shanks and installed modern ABEL hammers with natural felt.
Also, a set of spacers and similar parts was made for the grand piano, allowing the owner to adjust the instrument to fit his height.
In addition, the grand piano comes with an exclusive slipcover.