Grand Retrofit

Products:

The grand piano keyboard with its action stack is a complete unit that easily slides out of a grand piano. The piano keys are mounted on a frame. Also mounted on the frame is the Action Stack which comprises the piano’s hammers and their complicated actuating mechanism. When a pianist pushes on a key, the back of the key pushes on its wippen which in turn pushes on its hammer shank which then throws the hammer to strike its strings.

We will build a new smaller grand piano action in one of two ways:
1) On our new frame we will mount the piano’s Original Action Stack parts.
2) On our new frame we will build a completely New Action Stack with new hammers and wippens.

Our smaller keyboards have angled keys which reach out to the full width of the piano and Filler Blocks are placed at the bass and treble ends of the keyboard to produce a clean finished look.


		DS Keyboard with a New Action Stack

Smaller Grand Keyboard using the Original Action Stack

If your grand piano has hammers and wippens that are in good condition we may choose to use the Original Action Stack parts on the new keyboard. Your original keyboard and action stack is then shipped to Titusville PA in a box that we provide. We can then get the measurements we need, build the new keyboard and mount your original action stack parts on the new frame, a process that takes about 6 weeks. We send the new keyboard and the original keyboard back in two separate boxes. Installation will take just a few hours by your technician. Since we are using the original hammers, the piano will maintain its original sound with no need for voicing. Your technician can always easily reinstall the original keyboard. The price is $7.800 not including installation and shipping.

Smaller Grand Keyboard with a New Action Stack

If we build a smaller keyboard with a New Action Stack we will use new Renner wippens and hammer shanks. The new hammers will be chosen in consultation with your technician. The building process will take about 6 weeks once we have obtained the piano’s measurements. After the new keyboard has been installed, the piano will have two keyboards that can be interchanged in under 5 minutes. The new keyboard has adjustable features which allows your technician to install it without changing anything on the piano so that you will be able to simply pull one keyboard out and slide the second keyboard back in. The keyboard’s installation will include voicing the new hammers to obtain the desired sound. The price is $10,800 not including installation and shipping.

Getting the Piano’s Measurements

Over the decades piano manufacturers have made many changes to their piano’s design. Also, some manufacturers employ “hand made” techniques which produce small variations between pianos. Therefore, we always measure before we build a keyboard for a piano. This means the piano’s action must either be sent to us in Titusville PA in a box that we will provide, or we must send a technician who has been certified in the use of our Technician's Kit to the piano, to get these very precise measurements. Our idea is to have technicians around the world who are certified, but we are very much in the beginning stages of this process.