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Conserve or Restore?

Thanks to Graham Walker for these opening thoughts to the debate:

Conservation or Restoration?

Although many square pianos have survived, it is increasing difficult to find good examples as many are either in a very poor state of preservation or have been subjected to poor restoration. This can be expected as they were disregarded as a musical instrument from the late Victorian period and had little value until about 30 years ago when interest in their historical merit started to increase auction prices.

I would suggest that the best examples should be considered as “works of art” and good principles of conservation applied whether an instrument is to be returned to playing condition or conserved in an un-restored state.

If an instrument has survived substantially in original condition, there is a good argument to conserve only and not to put back into playing condition. It is important that we are able to show instruments in an original state with all materials as used by their makers for current and future research and provide a benchmark for those that are restored.

There is also merit for the restoration of some instruments to demonstrate their musical character and quality. They can be a delight to hear as an instrument in their own right if not compared with a modern piano. However, if an instrument is to be put back into playing condition, one of the golden rules of conservation has to be broken as some of the original material inevitably will need to be replaced. Materials should only be replaced if it is absolutely essential to bring the instrument back into playing condition. Replacement materials such as leather, cloth and music wire should be as close as possible in composition to the original material. The case should not be re-polished even if it is faded and marked but unfortunately this often happens for people who wish to have a square piano as a furnishing piece in their home. It is inappropriate to over clean internal parts. All conservation and restoration work undertaken should be fully documented.

The approach that is taken to restore an early piano will be very different to that taken by the piano technician for the modern piano. If you have a square piano you wish to have restored to playing condition, I would recommend that you contact a specialist early keyboard instrument or square piano restorer who should undertake appropriate treatment. Some restorers are mentioned on this website. (see 'Friends and Suppliers' button) There is no doubt that the best examples of square pianos will increase in relative value particularly where high standards of maintenance have been carried out.

Graham Walker

Dorset, England, UK

What do you think? All comments and ideas will be gratefully received, and added to this page as far as possible. Please e-mail.

David (The Webmaster) offers another point of view:

Two More Options

It falls to me to place a darker note: we are not facing a simple choice between conservation and restoration. There are two less cheerful options: conversion and scrapping (or ‘recycling’, as we call it these days).
How many square pianos are there? How many ‘Friends’? How many Friends will there be in twenty years’ time?
I am happy to say that I have rescued at least five lovely pianos from almost certain destruction – in one case (my lovely Houston) from conversion into a cigar box. I still have the Houston (to be featured on this site soon) and the Ganer (awaiting Restoration!). The other three have happily found good homes. But I cannot take them all in; it’s not just about money – where could I put them?
Countless upright pianos have been broken up, and I myself have ‘recycled’ a few. Ivory keys have always been salvaged for restoration work, and a certain amount of good-quality mahogany can usually be reclaimed, but otherwise very little survives. So are squares really any different? If I have a square piano which is beyond realistic restoration, should it go to make room for a more deserving case? And who is to decide?
I may risk upsetting the Professionals by suggesting that their rules avoid the moral dilemma. They have to survive, and can only afford to buy instruments which can be economically restored and then re-sold at a working margin. This tends to favour older instruments in good sound condition. In contrast, an amateur such as myself can afford to buy a piano in poor condition, spend a lot of time working on it, and then re-sell (when the space is needed) at ‘break-even’.
But we reach the point where time and space influence our choices. So when may it be right to consider conversion or recycling?
Conversion has a 'bad name' - but is it really so bad? Most of us are familiar with the rather unsatisfactory 'desk' conversions (first picture) but the second and third pictures are more imaginative:

Are these really so bad? Perhaps better than the other option of 'Recycling'?
But if recycling is the choice, ivory keytops must be salvaged, as they are happily irreplaceable. Restorers need a good stock of these for repairs, to allow for variations in colour and width. The usual 'sharp-free' top note is particularly valuable, and rarely found on scrap uprights. Another use for ivory is by harpsichord or clavichord makers who prefer recycled ivory to plastic.
All square pianos have a beautiful piece of mahogany for the lid. The post-1830 style two-piece lids are best; the cross-cut joint in earlier pianos reduces the options. Some, with French stands, still have the big flat shelf between the legs. Mahogny of this quality is unobtainable today Solid cases offer some smaller pieces, but separating these from the structure could be a problem!
With luck, turned legs may match a restoration project to restore missing legs, especially the pedal. Castors are even more likely to be useful, although it would be rare to find a complete set on a piano which is in poor condition. And paterae, of course; again, a full set is unlikely, but how many different designs were there?
Even action parts, hammers, and tuning pins may be useful; I have had to make all of these, and real replacements will usually match better. Are these areas where 'friends' could help with a sort of exchange?
If a piano really is unique - or historically particularly valuable - perhaps it 'must' be saved: another chance for 'Friends' to help? Anyone got a nice dry barn?
But it all else fails, and the decision to 'recycle' is take, there is one thing that we must do: record the data. Please see the 'Register your Piano' button. This is free, takes only a few minutes, and we have the promise that the database will be available for future scholars.
By the way, this is not a hypothetical argument - I am agonising over the fate of my c.1805 Rolfe :

David Hackett, Chelveston.

A view from America - thanks to Tom Strange for this:

I thought it might be helpful to share a few thoughts on the subject of conserve or restore from a friend in the States. We encounter squares from the bulk of the 19th century fairly often, though the early English cousins are far rarer. The later squares are burdened with a reputation that they are un-restorable when in need, and un-musical when brought back to life. Of course this is mostly myth, generated by a sensibility that a restored piano should sound like a Steinway grand, with no character at all. These large squares have a really big sound of their own, richer in the bass than treble to be sure, and more delicate overall. The biggest problem to the potential restorer is that some piano technician with limited time and materials has almost always been there first, and the results usually have to be undone before real work can start. Lesser models used lesser materials, and a restoration that approaches correct is tremendously time consuming, both in research time and touch time on the repair. Should the cast iron plate be cracked, a salvage job for parts is usually the best that is left, unless the instrument is too rare to lose.

A far greater challenge is the early English or American square, from the last quarter of the 18th century until about 1845, which shows up from time to time and begs to be heard again. I have personally been through a transformation regarding these, starting with a perspective of strict conservation with no visible alterations allowed. However, as delightful as people find the sound of these, and as infrequently as this sound is now encountered, it seems a shame to leave them sitting mute. Most of the repairs that need to be done involve materials that are now available, and in any case enough scholarship has gone into the early square that it seems there is little left to discover anew about how the leathers were attached, the thickness, the surface exposed, type, etc. If you photographically document and write down what you see, keeping bits that were removed to add to the appendix in clear acetate pockets, it seems that enough history is preserved to allow room for restoration. With digital cameras, thousands of photographs can be made of every detail at almost no cost.

The real problem facing the enthusiast in the States is simple lack of examples and experience. No one becomes competent in this field without starting someplace, but there are few resources in the US to learn the details. However, I have found the staff at Colonial Williamsburg and particularly John Watson to be amenable to reaching out, and several well known restorers in the UK will at least return email. The fortepiano forum on Yahoo can be of material assistance, and enough past threads are now in the archives to answer many of the first questions someone may have. So, armed with information (the books by Cole and Pollens are indispensable), a resolve to use only the correct materials so far as they can be known, digital camera and note pad at the side, and a light touch at all times, the chances of a success with a restoration outweigh the slight loss to history of the original materials in their tattered remains. It was designed to make music, and that is a noble calling. We would not hesitate to recover a worn but valuable book, replace the runners in a highboy, or reset the neck of a violin that had bent. If we want to keep the desk makers away from our squares, nothing will stop them faster than a working piano that still sings.

Tom Strange

Easley, USA