February 2010
Top pianos currently in stock: Grand pianos: Three Bluthner style 7 rosewood grand pianos and a black style 6, 2 Steinway grand pianos, a model A Bechstein grand piano in rosewood and a model M in Mahogany. Other Grand pianos by Kemble, Chappell, Challen, Lipp, new Wendl & Lung 161 and 178 models, and as-new Yamaha grand pianos (Including C7, G3 & G2 models). Upright traditional pianos include 4 Bechsteins, a Steinway, an overstung underdamped Gors and Kallmann, a top quality Cramer and 2 Challens. Modern upright pianos include 2 Knights, 1 Welmar, a Steinway and over 20 Yamahas. New uprights by Wendl and Lung and Yamaha. Please see the stocklist for more.
Over 100 top quality modern and traditional grand, baby grand and upright pianos always in stock.
OUR HISTORY AND STAFF:
The Roberts family have been in the trade for four generations, starting in about 1900 with David Roberts who worked as a piano and organ tuner and restorer in the Exeter area. David's son Brian helped with piano restoration but went into music teaching. His son Marcus started as a teacher but began piano tuning and restoration in 1980. After five years tuning and rstoring, with clients including Vladimir Ashkenazy and Alfred Brendel, he took up piano dealing in 1985.
Current staff include:
Marcus Roberts, piano tuner and technician Oxford
Stephen Venn, piano tuner and technician Portsmouth
Richard Roberts, piano tuner and technician London.
Manuel Miron, French polisher
Blain Downey, removals and storage manager
Evan Roberts, piano tuner and manager Oxford
Stephen Roberts, piano tuner and technician Oxford
Neil Thursby, operations manager
Norita Roberts, administration
Sergio Rodriguez, piano restorer and technician Oxford
David McCulloch, piano restorer and technician Oxford
Daniel Hodge, piano tuner and technician Oxford
OUR VISION:
We try to source inexpensive top quality grand and upright pianos based on touch, tone and appearance, having as much variety as possible in stock. We then either fully restore them or recondition them with an emphasis on touch and tone. We also restore clients' pianos and operate a removals and storage department.
MAIN STOCK
New upright and grand pianos by Yamaha and Wendl & Lung. Secondhand restored upright and grand pianos mainly by Bosendorfer, Bluthner, Bechstein, Grotrian Steinweg, Steinway, Yamaha and Knight.
We have piano shops and workshops in Oxford and Portsmouth, piano tuning and restoration in London, storage facilities and our own dedicated piano removers.
 Over 30 new and secondhand restored boudoir grand and baby grand pianos for sale. New grand pianos by Wendl and Lung and Yamaha. Restored grand pianos by Bluthner, Bechstein, Steinway, Yamaha, Lipp, Chappell, Challen, etc Please see stocklist for photos and details.  Over 70 new and secondhand restored upright pianos for sale. New pianos by Wendl & Lung and Yamaha. Modern pianos by top makes including Steinway, Knight, Welmar, Seiler, etc. Traditional restored upright pianos by the following makes: Bluthner, Bechstein, Lipp, Broadwood, Chappell, Challen, Gors & Kallmann, etc.
 Grand and upright pianos for sale can be divided into two main categories - traditional and modern style. The best traditional English and German pianos were made from about 1895 to 1940. (Some traditional style makes like Welmar and Bosendorfer were excellent through to 1959 and beyond.) The best modern style pianos were made from 1960 to 1980. After that the philosophy of cheap mass production gradually took over, and instead of making a piano to last, a huge quantity of new pianos are now produced, few of which can be successfuly reconditioned, and many of which soon develop problems. It follows that buying a top quality older restored piano from 1890 to 1940 or a little used modern piano from 1960 to 1980 is often the best choice, and certainly preferable to a cheap new one. With a budget, say, of £3000 it is much better to buy a top quality little used second hand upright piano than a new one, even if the new piano is heavily discounted, and with £7500 to spend on a grand piano, there are excellent second hand ones that are far superior to a heavily discounted new one which may officially retail at as much as £12,000. Please see our other web pages for more details information.  There are over 10,000 names of pianos. Our "further restoration" page has a list of the most common secondhand ones available in the UK , with a rating out of 100. Pianos are almost unique in that their mechanical design has hardly changed for over 120 years. Spare piano parts are in 99% of cases identical to the original. A top quality older grand piano, when new, would often have cost as much as a house! Expertise ran high until after the second world war when the piano trade began to thin out.
 As an example of the care taken in manufacture of a top quality European piano, Grotrian Steinweg today use the finest timber in the soundboard construction on their new pianos. Bavarian Alpine Spruce is felled when 200 to 350 years old and then dried and cured for ten years before use! This cannot be done cheaply. Mass produced cheap modern pianos vary but generally use relatively un-cured pine or plywood. The soundboard is the most important constituent, being the engine of the piano, but the same contrast in quality is reflected in the whole manufacturing process. There are a few European piano makers, such as Wendl and Lung, who are working in partnership with Chinese factories to produce good quality pianos. If you would like further information, please see the restoration and advice pages . |
