Large cracks in Grotrian Steinweg

[steinberg09]

I discovered a beautiful Grotrian Steinweg (220cm) from the 1920's, however it does not stay in tune for long. The technician who tunes it tells me it is because of the floor heating which has turned the tuning pin holes oval - he say that they need to be changed then all will be well. However, it also has some rather large cracks in the soundboard - they go all the way through and one can see the day light through them (about 1 mm wide or less). He says this is not a problem and that one would only fix the cracks if they started to make buzzing sounds.
What do you think? I found the crack looked quite worrying - the piano is badly stored in a flat with floor heating, which he says is the cause of the misshapen pin holes. When would the soundboard cracks become truly detrimental? Would I be able to risk buying and restoring only the pins and expect that it then stays in tune? The tuning block is perfect - no cracks at all.
Thanks for your valued responses!

[hfmadopter]

Your technician is correct in one way about the cracks, you probably won't detect anything too strange from it unless it starts buzzing. Often that is caused because additional to the cracks, the board separates from the ribs. Still repairable, often by gluing and pinning back to the ribs again, at least to the state it was at with just the cracks. You might notice some sound changes in season changes to higher humidity levels when the cracks close up ( they actually can close right together in warm humid weather when the heat is off).

However, that said, it's up to you if you feel it's worth investing money into a piano with a cracked soundboard which if nothing else, diminishes the value of the instrument even though it sounds ok.

The damage is done but the question remains now, what and how much more damage will there be due to that heat source. It's probably too dry in there, you most likely can hold off to a large degree more damage by increasing the humidity level . Talk with your tech about that as well.

Re pinning is fairly common, they install over sized pins and it works very well as long as the pin block has resilience in it. It too is subject to cracking from low humidity. That you so far have avoided that is a good thing !

Just my thoughts, I'm not the pro though have done quite a bit of piano work over the years.

[steinberg09]

Thanks for the information. I don't own the piano as yet - but am considering buying it. Sadly the owner, who lives overseas, has left it with friends who over heat and, I am told, over the last 8 years have caused the damage I describe by not taking any measures to keep the climate moist enough. I just was not sure if it would be foolish of me to buy it. I actually feel like buying it in order to rescue it. Another technician told me that it doesn't stay in tune because of the cracks. But, I now expect that he had a motive (ie trying to sell me an instrument he owns) and that it probably not the case at all. The action was also making a couple of clicking noises and the regulation was not that good. I wonder how much the floor heating would have damaged smaller parts in the action or if this is simple to adjust.

[hfmadopter]

Get all your quotes in up front before purchasing something like this. Then decide if that sounds worth while to you. I can't say that I would purchase it with your intentions in mind. I might if this very piano had special meaning to me ( it was my family air loom piano that Grand Ma such and such wanted me to have or it was the very piano that 50 years ago I played a recital on and always wanted to own it) and I had the funds to have all the work done before delivery. To piece meal something like that can get very tiring.

Consider that there are a lot of pianos in the world without these faults.

[steinberg09]

Yes, that is right. Good advice, thank you.

[perfectlygrand]

I don't believe that this piano would be a candidate for repining.  If you went through that expense and it didn't hold you'd be out several $1000s.  Rather, this piano needs its pinblock replaced - and because the plate has to be pulled during this procedure, that would be the time to shim/repair any cracks and rib separations.  When completed you'd be assured have the piano being structurally sound and you'd have a new pinblock good for 30+ years.

Charles
perfectlygrand.com