Klavieratelier: Amazing youtube channel of piano technician Tobias J. Schmidt

eddiepiano

Del Vento You are never satisfied, @CyberGene are you? 🙂
You are probably spending too much time with @eddiepiano these days 🤣 (no offense intended Eddie, if anything that is actually a compliment for being a perfectionist -- as I am in fact myself)

None taken. 🙂

Yes, I am guilty of being a perfectionist and having high demands on the pianos I might purchase. That is one of the reasons I often doubt buying a very old restored german pianos that I like touch- and tonewise. To me the pianos between 1900 and 1940 from brands like Bechstein, Blüthner, August Förster and Grotrian-Steinweg often sound richer and more mature and offer a more sensitive touch compared to post-wwII pianos while being more affordable, taller and sometimes more beautiful with art cases. But I am often skeptical about the rebuilding process and the quality of the process and the materials used. Some piano builders/shops I asked about what has been done to the pianos answer defensive or vague, as if I am nosy rather than interested in what has been rebuilt by whom and what materials were used. It is no secret that many German piano builders send their pianos to Poland to let them rebuilt there. And while these pianos often look good on the outside, many aspects of the construction aren't taken carefully into consideration, like the geometry of the original action, the size and weight of the original hammers, the Stegdruck (bride pressure!?) the scale and many other things. And because the quality of the rebuilt piano largely depends on the skill and care of the rebuilder and the materials used I am very careful about buying a rebuilt piano especially on the private market, because often it is not even known what already had been done when and by whom.

When searching the internet for piano I discovered the Klavieratelier, a piano shop by piano technician Tobias J. Schmidt in Lychen, around 80 km north of Berlin. The restored upright and grand pianos look great, although I was a bit skeptical because he also restored many Danish pianos besides the famous german pianos like Bechstein, Steinway, Blüthner and so on. Then I discovered that he has an amazing youtube channel where he offers insight in his exemplary, very careful and perfectionist work and restoration process as well as in many little inventions he use to make the restoration process more efficient and consistent. Despite being in german, only having uploaded 27 videos and covering such a niche cover he has 18400 subscribers. I already watched many german and english piano rebuilders, but none of them impressed me so much like him with his incredible knowledge and craftmanship. The videos are very well made and got better in quality with the years. He has video series of rebuilding an Upright, a Steinway B, a Blüthner Model 6, a Yamaha SC (250cm Yamaha Grand from the 50s) and a short of an August Förster. I can't recommend these enough for anyone interested in pianos.

For the newer videos there are englisch subtitles. For the older unfortunately not, but maybe the auto translation works. It's really worth to watch all videos, because he often focuses on different aspects of his work and his equipment in the videos. The Yamaha SC videos are very interesting because it has been already rebuilt once and many things went wrong.

Steinway B

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT8IRf5pwwE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQxa_5qN2SU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGpOfm6cd84&t=1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfI8nXosyrI

Upright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndo2nyzbbQM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xCDfgHtorQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFnyv86dV-4

Blüthner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AymrY-cVHuA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccLgRTCBEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyVtYDpxneU

Yamaha SC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnkqhGEWTaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABUSOeM2yuw&t=4s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8IKlJRd7q8

August Förster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoMGJfoSkLg

This is the piano technician I would (and will) trust when buying or restoring a piano. I already contacted him and will visit him in the beginning of August. 🙂

CyberGene

Ohh, I know this guy, I think I may have watched all of his videos. His perfectionism and tooling are very calming to watch 😀 I would definitely trust him for a restoration. But I guess this quality has a price…

eddiepiano

CyberGene I would definitely trust him for a restoration. But I guess this quality has a price…

It's probably not cheap and that's a good thing due to his craftsmanship, but I am not sure if he is more expensive than for example the average piano dealer in Berlin. Unfortunately it is not possible to view the prices of the sold instruments, but the current three instruments are definitely affordable and seem to have a comparable price they would have in Berlin. He currently has two gorgeous art nouveau uprights from Ritmüller (unfortunately one thinks of the cheap made in china pianos today when hearing this name) and the Danish brand Andreas Christensen:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/jugendstil-klavier-fachwerkstatt-restauriert-mit-garantie/2136776158-74-19944

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/wunderschoenes-jugendstil-klavier-nussbaum-wurzelholz-garantie/2136772078-74-19944

They cost 1950 € respectively. Then he also has a beautiful grand from

QuasiUnaFantasia Danish Hornung & Møller

from 1923.

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/wunderschoener-jugendstil-fluegel-schellack-ueberholt-garantie/2136768189-74-19944

for 4500 €.

There is also a old ad for the August Förster grand (185 cm) he restored where the price seems also very affordable (6900 €): https://www.klaviano.com/de/pianos-for-sale/forster/forster-187881.html

So the prices seem not too high compared to other piano dealers. I think that could be for three reasons:

he lives and has his workshop in a small town in Germany where the rents are much, much cheaper than for example Berlin, Hamburg, Munich but also average sized German cities
it seems that he works on his own on the pianos, so he doesn't have to pay any employees
and due to his many creative tools he designed by himself the restoration process seems to be more quick and efficient compared to other stores

QuasiUnaFantasia These piano's are not second-rate to any of the German brands, but they have a quite unique sound, very different from contemporary grand's, and it's not just because they are old. Their rims were constructed quite differently to both the Steinway and Bösendorfer approaches (at least back in the 19 century; I don't know whether they changed later, but I have heard a much more recent H & M which had that same unique sound).

That sounds interesting! How would you describe the sound - how does it differ from e. g. German grands from this time?

QuasiUnaFantasia

I saw his first video quite some time ago (and again just now); in this he was re-stringing a Danish Hornung & Møller grand. It warms my heart to see piano's of this brand being given a full work-over; I grew up with a 19th century Hornung & Møller, and I still play it quite regularly. These piano's are not second-rate to any of the German brands, but they have a quite unique sound, very different from contemporary grand's, and it's not just because they are old. Their rims were constructed quite differently to both the Steinway and Bösendorfer approaches (at least back in the 19 century; I don't know whether they changed later, but I have heard a much more recent H & M which had that same unique sound).

QuasiUnaFantasia

eddiepiano That sounds interesting! How would you describe the sound - how does it differ from e. g. German grands from this time?

I find it really difficult to describe the sound, but to my ears I would say that the Hornung & Møller sound has much more going on in it than contemporary piano sounds. It's like it is more alive, with really prominent slow tonal variation going on while you sustain a tone. Most likely the frequency spectrum of a H & M sound has more sound outside of the exact multiples of the fundamental tone, than will be the case for the modern piano's. I would say it is a less focused, but more melodic tone. Strong sense of wood, only little sense of metal.

Actually, thinking more about it right now, I believe you would find much more variation in the frequency spectrum, as the tone is sustained (i.e. from moment to moment), than you would find in a modern piano, whose tone seems to me much more consistent from moment to moment.

eddiepiano

QuasiUnaFantasia Thank you for your answer. I know what you mean. That was my impression as well with older (German) pianos compared to newer pianos.

Just look at this video. This is not a special or rare piano - it's a nearly hundred year old Seiler Upright, there are plenty of them at piano dealers in Germany and there are not expensive, not as old Bechstein, Blüthner or Pfeifer pianos, maybe around 3000 €+-. But just listen how clear, rich and resonant the tone is, how singing the mid range is, and how soft and delicate you can play (without the soft pedal!) on this piano - you would have to pay at least >15.000 € for a new piano with such tone and touch today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic6kds33NPc