Eshelby Pianos

29/05/2023

New to stock...Yamaha GB1 and GC1.

Why choose one over the other?
The GB1 is made in Yamahas Indonesian factory whereas the GC1 is Japanese.

The GC1 is significantly more expensive than the GB1. Whether it's worth the difference would be a personal choice.
Both are very scarce on the second hand market.

Please call us or messages should you be interested in finding out more.

18/06/2022

Thoughts on piano hire...

Many people desire or require a really high quality piano but are not in a position to acquire one, either due to financial constraints or being in a position such as being on a work contract with time limitations, renting a home not knowing whether their next one will house a piano, perhaps awaiting a work transfer or relocation, so can't commit to the investment right now.

What has become very apparent is that buyers are hesitant to make the substantial investment of a piano without knowing the piano in question.
How can one feasibly play an instrument in a store for minutes or even an hour and actually know its potential or lack thereof?

A hire, then buy situation offers huge clarity, as well as taking the pressure off making a purchase immediately.

In South Africa one is very limited by a range option of different pianos and brands, so many people buy pianos that actually they wouldn't have if they had been given a window of opportunity to think it through and make real comparisons.
The option to play many pianos in any one showroom is extremely limited.

It's worth then considering a rental piano. The rental market is often just not something people realise is an option, or considered something in which one can only get an entry-level instrument not sufficient for their needs.

It's worth knowing that this is a highly feasible option and one can hire pianos of top quality, such as the model L Bechstein shown in this post.
We have many of the best pianos available for rental or purchase or the option of purchase during the rental process.
Our stock thus includes a huge variety of brands, styles and aesthetically differing finishes.
Including uprights and grands.

Practically every well known brand is covered, we have Steinway, Bechstein, Blüthner, Bösendorfer, Grotrian Steinweg, Yamaha, Kawai and so many more currently out on hire or available to hire.
Stock varies constantly and so availability is dependant on what is currently on the floor.

Of course the intention of rental was always to give customers a foot in the door in terms of giving children the opportunity to test piano as a hobby without the concern of buying badly, buying a piano needing repair and service, being stuck with a piano when the child does not take to it...
The choice to move forward with purchase can then be made with greater clarity and be an informed decision as and when.

We include the service and tuning of our instruments as part of the deal, so that aspect is also taken care of.

To view some of our options please see Www.eshelbypianos.com or make contact.
We service the Johannesburg, Pretoria area in general as well as the greater north of Johannesburg around the Hartebeespoort.

Please note that the website changes frequently, is on occasion slightly out of date and that usually much of our stock is not listed, or has not yet been restored and so on.

We are a husband and wife business and so your query will always be dealt with personally and knowledgeably to the best of our ability.

25/05/2022

Two Steinway model K uprights, built in Hamburg, 1925 and 1928 respectively.

One restored, one original.

A case of preference, but it's always astonishing how well pianos age.

21/01/2022

A beautiful Steinway and Sons grand piano awaiting it's return to it's owner after extensive repair.
It's a wonderful feeling to be proud of one's work and know you have done the best job you are able to.

10/01/2022

Here's to a fantastic New Year.

I'd like to be more active on Social Media as far as our business is concerned.

Firstly, because the longer one remains in one's trade the more tiring the nonsense end becomes, the false and poor advice people get about pianos is astonishing and the perpetuation of long standing unfounded hearsay regarding pianos is sad.
I like to think we run a business based on good ethics and honest advice without the only concern being making a sale.
So for anyone interested I want to post short articles on the most commonly asked questions and misconceptions.

Secondly, we accumulate a selection of really beautiful stock which we don't make the market aware of, which is silly on my part.
I also find that one can lure in customers for viewing if we can offer the shiny and commonly sought pianos but then often find opportunity to perhaps advise people to look at often better examples which they wouldn't have considered otherwise.
This is not to undermine anyone, but very few people are exposed to a larger selection of pianos which can be tried in succession and be fairly compared.
Very few people are aware of the massive selection of wonderful older pianos with unrecognised maker's names or rebranded examples, the label being rather meaningless unless one can ascertain the factory it actually came from.
As such it often becomes a case of the customer's existing piano which may be traded in, being a better piano than the one they may have exchanged it for.

One should buy a piano in a broadminded way and be open to atleast trying a variety of options, preferably in a non brand-conscious way.
There are dozens of considerations and in all likelihood the piano purchased will be with the buyer for a great many years to come, so it's worth the effort of looking well and getting good advice. Even hiring the piano being considered initially (if the option exists) is a good way forward as one can only settle into a piano in time.

06/10/2021

We recently had opportunity to purchase a Yamaha model C7 Disklavier.
Dating from around 2008, it has a CD system attached to it, with MIDI capabilities, so can be connected to a computer for composition and so on.
It's usable silently through the use of earphones, can record your playing and play it back!

As electronics are not our field, we'll sell the piano as the wonderful instrument it is and not seek to guarantee the Disklavier system.

These are just remarkable instruments and any top quality grand of this sort of size is a great rarity.

It would suit any possible use requirement thrown at it, amazing for schools, halls, concert venues and the like.

Watching it play itself is something to amaze and entertain anyone.

So glad to have it!

23/04/2021

Piano "Gold"

Two very different uprights built roughly 100 years apart, both made to suit the tastes of their era and yet equally in demand in the modern age.
Does that speak of timeless elegance?
Quality? Attention to detail and pride in manufacture?

I find it fascinating that over a century and more, piano design is basically unchanged and that a 100- plus year old piano can sound and be used in a professional capacity without fearing fragility is just amazing.

Models shown are stock recently purchased.
A 2000s model U1 Yamaha and a 1901 model Steinway in Rosewood.

Www.eshelbypianos.com

10/04/2021

Acquired during 2020, currently languishing in our workshop awaiting restoration, is this remarkable Steinway and Sons full size concert grand piano.

The serial number 30972 dates it to 1874.
It would have been built in the Steinway factory in New York, the only manufacturing branch of the Company at that time.

In practically original condition without replacement parts, this is an incredible find from Pretoria.

Apart from a "Square" Steinway in our possession and one older upright I looked at purchasing but didn't because it lacked originality, this is the earliest Steinway I have seen in South Africa.

Cased in Rosewood (now a protected species), with the Steinway music desk, unbelievably heavily carved legs and pedal lyre.

It's truly a wonder to behold and is surely an important piece of history.
To think of who may have sat at this still all original ivory and ebony keyboard.
A piano like this would never have been anything ordinary.

To my surprise it has 88 keys, when I've seen later model Steinways with 85.
I presume this is so as it would have been built as a Concert instrument.

A very special thought for me personally is that my Great Great Grandfather, who had a job at Steinway, New York from 1865, may well have had a hand in producing this very instrument or may in the least have laid eyes on it when brand new. A connection spanning
147 years!

I'm loathe to over restore this piano and am currently weighing up exactly what should be done to make it a well playable, sound instrument.
The amazing benefit of an historic piano, within guidelines, is that one can use it as one would a modern instrument.
The action, even untouched is responsive and tight, the tone produced is even and of a wonderful quality.

How lucky we are to be able to have found, purchased and soon be working on something like this.
Very possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

29/12/2020

It's becoming more of a rarity to get excited about a purchase as items like this are simply not available on the market.

However this is one to note and I feel lucky to have become the new, temporary owner of this wonderful Bechstein Model A1 grand.

The serial number 123179 means it was manufactured in 1923, in Berlin, Germany.

Bechstein made what I feel to be the most elegant looking grands, their proportions are just fantastic, especially in the longer grand models like this.

Bechstein have been long lauded as "The" German piano, especially in this pre-second world war period. Many seem to appear in the original contents of early South African wealthy homes of the Colonial period as well.

Bechsteins are characteristically Bechstein, when in original or close-to original condition.
Their treble tends to be really clear and sweet, their bass strong but not brash.
They even have a distinctive smell, presumably because of the choice of timber used to build them, which oddly maintains it's subtle woody odour, even 100 years and more later.

We'll start a very sympathetic tidy-up and service in the new year with the view to offering it either for sale or hire.
It would be a special addition to our hire piano fleet should that be where it ends up.

16/11/2020