Ford Piano's Art Council Video
America's
Oldest and Finest Piano Rebuilders
For 111
years, Ford Piano has been rebuilding
and refinishing
the finest pianos in the world, including Steinway
and Sons, Mason
and Hamlin, Knabe,
Baldwin,
Chickering,
as well as many other quality instruments.
Though we take just as much pride in rebuilding
Mrs. Jones' piano from around the corner, we have rebuilt
pianos for Duke
Ellington (two grands, one of which is in the Smithsonian), Stephen
Sondheim (two grands), John
Lennon, and a host of well known classical and jazz artists, music
schools and concert venues.
We sell rebuilt
pianos as well as new Baldwin, Weber, and Sohmer pianos. We are
now working on the 4th generation specializing in new Pin Blocks,
Sounding Boards, Actions, and Finishes.
MAJOR PIANO COMPONENTS
Piano
Tuning Pinblock
The "heart"
of the piano. It keeps the piano in tune
with a life span of about 1/2 to 3/4 of a century, after which time
replacement is usually needed. New tuning pinblocks come with new
tuning pins, strings,
understringing felts, iron
frame regilding, sounding board and bridge work, and the all important
resetting string downbearing.
Piano
Sounding Board
The
"speaker" of the piano. It picks up the vibration of the
strings (via the bridges), with a life span determined mostly by the
fluctuation and level of humidity over the decades. A lot of times
the board can be repaired by reglueing the
sounding board ribs and shimming, but sometimes sounding boards
need to be replaced.
Piano
Action
The "working mechanism" in the piano.
The action
transmits a touch of the keys to the hammer hitting the string. Life
span depends on the use it has had over the decades. There are many
parts and variables, but most times hammers need replacement when
rebuilding.
Piano
Finish
The "coating" on the furniture part of
the piano. The finish
preserves and protects the fine veneer covering the case parts. Life
span of about 1/2 century. Old varnish tends to "alligator"
(crack) and darken. Usually, refinishing
is done along with rebuilding, though "you can't play on the
finish". Lacquer is the material of choice, with "French
Polishing" a possibility.
At Ford
Piano, we don't indiscriminately install all new parts, as sometimes
certain original parts are actually better than new. We customize
the rebuilding process to achieve the optimal tonal response from
each piano.
Ford Piano Rebuilding,
located in Westchester, New York ( NY ). Providing Piano Restoration
/ Rebuilding in NY and across
the country. Visit our 20,000 square foot factory / showroom for
a tour or go to our Virtual Tour
section.
Ford
Piano Inc.
· 15 South
Division St. ·
Peekskill, NY 10566 · (914)
739-1224
