Aeolian Piano Blues

Piano Stories - Episode One: The 1917 Aeolian
There's an interesting trait that all piano technicians who rebuild pianos share. For reasons no one has ever been able to quite explain we all tend to accumulate pianos. It's almost like they were dust bunnies in the way they somehow manage to pile up. Most of these pianos are well past any form of the word functional. In other words, most of them are junk.
A piano rebuilding technician always knows when one of his rebuilding colleagues is in the process of moving their shop, because sooner or later a phone call is made asking if you would like a free piano or two. About four years ago, I received one of those phone calls from a friend and fellow rebuilder by the name of Roy. He asked me if I would like the "Aeolian".
I was familiar with the Aeolian he spoke of; it was a 1917 Baby Grand that was in horrible condition. The piano started life as a player piano, but over the decades since it was built it had long since lost its player unit, along with all of its finish ( and much of the wood beneath it ). Its strings were rusty, its hammers were shot; in fact, every moving part on it was shot. The keytops ,on the other hand, were in perfect conditon; I'll never figure out how they survived.
" Why would you want this train wreck of a piano ?" you might ask. Well, the story of the Aeolian Piano Company is one of the great rags-to-riches-to-rags stories in American piano lore. In 1913, the Aeolian Company introduced its Duo-Art player piano in America. Between then and 1925, the Aeolian Piano Company's Duo-Art system was as popular as Ipods are today. In the days before radios and record players were commonplace in the homes of America, pianos with player systems on them were a big deal.
If you wanted a Duo-Art player unit in those days, you had to do business with the Aeolian Piano Company. 1925 was Aeolian's peak year in sales. In that year they sold 192,000 pianos with players on them, for a total of $59 million. In today's dollars, no modern-day piano manufacturer has ever come close to those kind of sales. The following year, however, the management of Aeolian made a bold and sadly fatal decision. They decided to invest their mountain of profit back into their product.
The sad fact is that even though Aeolian was producing the highest quality piano and player unit available, the public's interest began to shift toward radios and record players that were becoming more and more affordable to the majority of the households that once used player pianos as their number one choice for home entertainment. Sales of Aeolian pianos began to slide; then came the Great Depression and Aeolian drifted into decline, never to recover. One of the banner years for Aeolian in terms of quality instruments produced was 1917. To me, this old piano had just too much history in it to let it end up in the dump.
I knew that rebuilding the old relic would be a huge challenge. I also knew that I'd be doing it for the love of saving the old gal because in today's world pianos sell by name recognition, and even in tip-top shape the market for a 1917 Aeolian would be sparse.
But, what the heck. I said " Sure I'll take it". Over the last four years I have brought her back to the best shape I could. I even did a few custom modifications that tickle me because they work. So, here are some pictures of the 1917 Aeolian that was pretty much a pile of firewood when I got it. It feels kind of neat to know this Aeolian has another shot at life. Hope you enjoy the pictures half as much as I enjoyed working on this piano.
FOR PICTURES CLICK THE LINK BELOW
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474976742263

Category:

Music

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• blues
• jazz
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• stories
• 1917
• baby
• grand
• duo-art
• manhatin
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• cincinnati
• tuner
• technician
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[drewmb]

I love the woody sound of the piano. It looks brand new!

[manhatin]

Speaking of wood, the wood on this piano was a joy to refinish. It's really nice,

[PianoWorksAtlanta]

That is a true labor of love with excellent results. Thanks for sharing.

[manhatin]

Thanks, so many old pianos are waiting to be reawakened. I'm convinced they show their appreciation every time one is brought back.

[PeterMayer]

You rebuilt that puppy?

[manhatin]

Yep, every square inch of her. The old gal was in the firewood category when I got her.

[manhatin]

Earl The Pearl !

[spannerworks1]

Great playing I love Errol Garner and his style of playing.

Thanks

Richard

[manhatin]

Thanks, I often wonder where this piano has traveled over the decades.