Hi! I promised to blog a bit so here it goes...
Today I started a fun project. Vienna is famous for producing not only the stars of the western classical music canon, but many of the world's finest musical instruments. If Steinway is the most famous piano company in the world then Vienna's Bösendorfer is not far behind. A new Bösendorfer concert grand costs about $150,000 - probably the most expensive stock production (by hand) piano in the world. Turns out I live close to two piano retail/restoration shops which regularly tease me on my morning commutes. This got me thinking... surely a used piano could be found on local classified websites from time to time? I could make use of the local expertise to restore one to original Viennese glory at a somewhat minimal cost.
A thorough review of the local versions of craigslist yielded an ideal candidate, a 240cm Bösendorfer semi-concert from 1875, listed for only 250 Euro. Slick deal!! I called up Gert Hecher to talk about it and what he might be able to do with my budget and he was very curious. He agreed that no matter what it costs to fix it up, it's likely that it can be restored into a gorgeous looking and sounding piano, and at worst, should be a smart investment (particularly if I can transport it back to the States where Bosendorfers are harder to find.)
This afternoon I met Gert at his shop - which is actually his house, at least 3 floors of pianos wall to wall - and we went to the 21st District to see the listing. Gert is awesome - he's one of the only people in Europe that specializes in restoring original Viennese-action antique pianos and has been doing it for museums, government institutions and private folks for around 30 years. Apparently Austria regulates piano technicians too and he's got that certification as well as a master's in piano manufacture. And he's also a concert pianist and educator and standup guy for coming out with me all afternoon 40 minutes away from his shop to see the piano in the 21st district by the wine vineyards. So here he is checking it out:
As you can see, it's quite old and dusty. Sad to think that someone just let this piano decay. It has a parallel string structure, Vienna action (different hammer mechanism) and a unique 'wing' shape that is simple yet stunning. Gert opened it all up determining that it was 'healthy' wood in the soundboard but mechanically hurting - much of it it would need to be replaced. Also it was originally a walnut finish, painted over black at some point. And there's been mice calling it home for a long time. He added, 'it's going to take a lot of work'. As in, one month's salary isn't gonna cut it. That's not necessarily a problem, but most likely it would take him 4-6 months to get it into playing shape, which isn't so desireable.
So that was disappointing. Fortunately, there are options. Gert has a whole room full of un-restored pianos at his workshop, including some Bosendorfers, which he said could be restored more easily and had for a similar price to restoring the pictured piano in much less time and with more original hardware. We discussed some more as we rode back to Thaliastrasse on the U6 line and he recommended some music and venues and fun things to do along the way.
Trying out the pianos in Gert's shop is quite fun. I played about a dozen of them and each had a unique sonic signature. The un-restored Bosendorfer was on its side in his workshop, so it was not possible to play, but he is going to make room to set it up this week and then I'll come back to test it out. If I decide to go with this one, I could have it in my apartment in two weeks. YES! This week I'll be mulling over whether to jump in with the Bose or keep looking for another diamond in the classified roughage. I'm leaning toward buying it...
Auf Wiedersehen,
GD
