NOPD 1965 Grinnell Bros Spinet piano

Col Mustard

Col Mustard

Ambassador of Perseverance
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I never learned how to play the piano, but always thought I had the
aptitude, though not the skill.

My girlfriend's parents bought her this 1964 or 1965 Grinnell Bros "Spinet" piano
when she was about 12. We think it was made in Detroit about then. Don't know
for sure. Recently she's been trying to get her mom to move out of her long time
home, and into a better place. We thought it would help if we started moving her
stuff out, including Cindy's old piano.

A Spinet piano isn't too heavy, four hundred pounds maybe. I hired a strong
guy and we borrowed a van and moved this puppy. Here it is at my house, in my
practice corner. It isn't too badly out of tune. *laughs
Piano corner@100.jpg
Now I'm taking lessons, and at my age... Funny, the old entry level piano learning books were still in the wooden piano bench. My piano teacher is maybe ten years older than my grand daughter. She doesn't know what to make of me, really... but her normal students are air head
pre-schoolers or surly grade schoolers. So she is enjoying teaching me, I believe. If she gives
me an assignment, I do it. So that's got to be worth something.

I told her I didn't mind starting from ZERO because I never learned to sight read, and have
always felt the lack. I understand a lot about music, but I really want to learn it in a systematic
way from someone who knows what they are doing. This ought to fill in gaps in my musical
knowledge that I didn't know were there. *grins

Anyway, that's my attitude, and I'm looking at this piano as an adventure. I look at this piano
as music theory in three dimensional form. Everything's right there and I'm looking forward to
my next lesson.
 
Anybody know anything about Grinnell Bros. Spinet pianos? I think it's a lovely
piece, and am looking for a good piano tuner guy. It's got one wonky key, that
goes clank instead of making a note. Maybe it broke a string... (guitar player talking)
 
Col Mustard said:
I never learned how to play the piano, but always thought I had the
aptitude, though not the skill.

My girlfriend's parents bought her this 1964 or 1965 Grinnell Bros "Spinet" piano
when she was about 12. We think it was made in Detroit about then. Don't know
for sure. Recently she's been trying to get her mom to move out of her long time
home, and into a better place. We thought it would help if we started moving her
stuff out, including Cindy's old piano.

A Spinet piano isn't too heavy, four hundred pounds maybe. I hired a strong
guy and we borrowed a van and moved this puppy. Here it is at my house, in my
practice corner. It isn't too badly out of tune. *laughs
View attachment 8856
Now I'm taking lessons, and at my age... Funny, the old entry level piano learning books were still in the wooden piano bench. My piano teacher is maybe ten years older than my grand daughter. She doesn't know what to make of me, really... but her normal students are air head
pre-schoolers or surly grade schoolers. So she is enjoying teaching me, I believe. If she gives
me an assignment, I do it. So that's got to be worth something.

I told her I didn't mind starting from ZERO because I never learned to sight read, and have
always felt the lack. I understand a lot about music, but I really want to learn it in a systematic
way from someone who knows what they are doing. This ought to fill in gaps in my musical
knowledge that I didn't know were there. *grins

Anyway, that's my attitude, and I'm looking at this piano as an adventure. I look at this piano
as music theory in three dimensional form. Everything's right there and I'm looking forward to
my next lesson.
Click to expand...

Awesome! All the best in your quest!
 
Col Mustard said:
Anybody know anything about Grinnell Bros. Spinet pianos? I think it's a lovely
piece, and am looking for a good piano tuner guy. It's got one wonky key, that
goes clank instead of making a note. Maybe it broke a string... (guitar player talking)
Click to expand...

See below and click here for the page I got the content from. It has a list of models.

Grinnell was originally established in 1882 as "Grinnell Brothers", an organ manufacturer. Their factories were located at 1515 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. Grinnell built their first pianos in 1902, starting with traditional upright and baby grand pianos. During the first quarter of the 20th Century, Grinnell increased their line of pianos to incorporate several models of upright, baby grand and player pianos, while at the same time slowly phasing out their organ production. In addition to building pianos under the names of "Grinnell" and "Grinnell Brothers", the firm built pianos under the brand names of "Lenard", "Clayton", "Playtona Player Pianos", "Holly", and "Uxbridge". During the Great Depression when most American piano manufacturers were closing and merging with larger conglomerates, Grinnell remained a strong leader in American Piano Manufacturing. The company introduced a very successful line of spinet, console and apartment size baby grand pianos during the 1930's and 1940's, and the firm continued to flourish until the early 1960's. In the 1990's, the Grinnell name was revived in a limited number of pianos built by Samick International, a large Korean musical instrument manufacturing firm.
 
Many congratulations, Col!

And, that's a really good move you're taking with getting the piano lessons. New challenges like this keep the brain fresh.

I gotta say, there's something really cool and nostalgic about those old pianos. That one looks really nice.

If I could offer one small tidbit of advice, get a good piano tech to come in and give that beauty a proper tune-up. Your piano teacher may know of a good tech. Just like it's always good advice to get a good setup on a new guitar, the same applies to this piano. You may want to give it a couple of weeks to let the wood and all the piano parts to acclimate to their new surroundings. Of course, it sounds like you may have already had it that long.

Anyhoo, that really is a fine piece and it will open up a new way of thinking about guitar, too.
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Looks nice, and now you can learn to play - probably an interesting new way for you to write songs too?
Click to expand...

Yes! Being a song writer on guitar will limit you in many ways.
Thinking of the piano as "music theory in three dimensions"
means that if I can master some technique, I can add to my style
and go in directions not possible for guitar only.

That's the quest. But I just turned 69, and I actually don't need a new obsession.
So maybe it will be a hobby. And it's my girlfriend's piano, so she gets to play it too
now that we've got it out of her mom's house.
 
smitty_p said:
...there's something really cool and nostalgic about those old pianos.

... get a good piano tech to come in and give that beauty a proper tune-up.
Just like it's always good advice to get a good setup on a new guitar, the same applies to this piano.

You may want to give it a couple of weeks to let the wood and all the piano parts to acclimate to their new surroundings.
Of course, it sounds like you may have already had it that long.

... and it will open up a new way of thinking about guitar, too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion... I had sort of intuition about letting the piano settle in, but
had not articulated it at all. I've found a person who is both a piano tuner and a technician.
And it's been long enough for sure now.
 
Nice looking piano and too cool on the piano lessons. I've wanted to learn keys for many years. Someone gave me an organ once, many years ago, I started learning from a series of books. The organ blew up and I haven't got another set of keys sense.
 
Cool old piece, Col. Your never too old for new adventures.
At 89 my dad is teaching himself keyboards. Has a Yamaha electric keyboard, does piano and organ sounds.
He's been dinking around with it for the last few years.
He just buys a bunch of books and has at it in his spare time. He's often playing when I come over to visit.
I can recognize many of the tunes he's playing when I walk in. So he's definitely getting the hang of it.
 
The piano tech is here for her second visit. The old beast was a whole step flat, which shows
how long it had gone with no maintenance or love, or music. It has two broken strings, which
may have happened during the move, but I'm not surprised. She cranked it up to about a half
step low, and didn't want to stress it too much all at once. She says it's not a "Spinet" piano
but a "Console" piano, intended for apartment use. To me it's a perfect size.

She's got the action out of it and in the middle of the living room floor, and is cranking on
it with tools and implements of destruction. My piano lessons have been going well though
I haven't had my break through yet. I still have to think too much, which makes me crazy.

But I'm coming along. And I've already learned some things I never knew, which is the point
of the exercise. I'm happy to pay the technician to put this old beast right. And my breakthrough
will come when I can just look at a musical score and put my hands down in the right place
and begin.
 
Just thinking of that Elkie Brooks song's first line "Pearl's a singer. She stands up when she plays the piano". That stool has to go!

Good luck with this adventure, and keep us posted.
 
It is an adventure... because I play other instruments, I might have a head start on other beginners.
But I don't want to act like that. I don't want to figure things out by ear. I already know how to do
that. I want to keep at the lessons until I feel totally natural with the keyboard, like I do on the neck
of my bass. And I want to keep at the lessons until I can look at a music score and understand it all,
and then play it. That will take some time to get to those points, but I can feel it coming.

The other day I sat down on the bench and started playing a song I had written, without writing
the music out. I just wanted to use what I'd been practicing. I was able to orient myself on the keyboard a
and figure out chords with my left hand while figuring out the melody with my right hand. I chose one in
the key of C, so I was playing all on the white keys. I work in sharps and flats later. Bb is a good key for
me vocally, so I'll be working in that key, using white and black keys as needed. I can feel it coming.

Anyway, it's slow and a little frustrating, because I want to be better than I am. I feel like a monster
in a freeway tunnel under a mountain, with all these cars colliding with me and getting in my way
while I'm trying to find my way out.
Mantis 3.jpg
but it's coming along anyway.
 
VERY cool Piano and DAMN COOL new adventure you have begun upon............makes me think perhaps ----I should take up saxophone.......I ALWAYS wanted to play Saxophone----but I got to band trials late---and got stuck with a trumpet......nasty things those....stuck it out for 2 years......still can taste the cleaning oil .......ugh
 
Broken strings have been replaced... a new piano tech has come to work on the beast.
He's got the instrument tuned pretty well, so it's at least tuned to itself. It's funny how this
seems like a piano rescue thread. The instrument just sat for about fifty years... with no
maintenance or love. It seems like an extravagance on the part of my girlfriend's father,
but she was his firstborn, and so it also seems like a proud father kind of gift. I believe he'd
be glad to see someone taking care of it now.

It still isn't in concert pitch. But it's much more fun to play when the intonation is correct.
I've made some progress. The fact that I know something about music has helped to speed
me along... but I'm still learning things I never knew. *rolls eyes

I don't have perfect pitch, so the instrument sounds close enough right now. I've got my left hand and
right hand going... that's a partial breakthrough. But I haven't had my real breakthrough yet. I still
have to think too much, which means I'm forming new grooves in my aulde brain, and they ain't deep
enough yet.

I've been a bass player for a long time without ever learning to sight read on the bass clef. *shrugs
...I mean, I can do it but I'm so slow and clumsy that I just don't have the patience. I go, let me hear
it, and as soon as I hear it I can perceive the structure, and I practice and I'm there. This works, but it ain't
right. So that's also one of my goals... to correct this deficit. I already know how to work by ear,
and that's a fine skill and all. But filling in gaps in my knowledge and gaining depth in the theory department
just feels right. Once I can do it on the piano, I'll move the skill right over to my electric bass playing.

I should have done this years ago. I've picked up bits of it as I went along, so I'm filling in blank spots
now. And this old piano is a pleasure to work with. Funny, I always thought I'd buy myself a spiffy new
compact keyboard thingie, that has lots of bells and whistles concealed in the circuit board. I never
anticipated that I'd own a wooden acoustic that weighs more than 200 kilos. (440 lb)

That's a lotta kilos. Heavy music, heavy music.... heavy music... there are NO stops to pull out.
It has three pedals... and they work. So I don't have any recordings to play for you yet. I won't be
up to speed for a while, I can tell. But the breakthrough is just under the surface in me.
I can feel it. When it comes, I'll know.
 
Congrats on the New Piano and the lessons!! It will help with memory, learning is always a good thing.
 
That is really cool !! I never saw a piano on a gear site....i started doing something a few years back.. dont read music & am way into making originals. Got my kids a yamaha keyboard..one day started fingering roots...4th..5ths..on a piano..it was amazing what you could do..but also..it made the guitar fretboard dif to me now...i sometimes go over to it & listen to weird notes & how they can blend in..so wish i would of stayed with those piano lessons mom & dad forced me into ..things would be so dif now.. would have had years of usable chords & theory to apply to the guitar..i think you made a great move there !! Congrats !!
 
Well seeing this old thread revived, I can say good luck to ya Col.

I can then add my story of a piano crossing my path. Back in 2008 we were doing some home remodeling and we went to a home show/expo at Angel stadium in Anaheim. After walking the show we were leaving and out in the parking lot was this big white circus tent. SOO, being curious we go inside. It was a big auction setup. My wife, being adventurous, signs up and gets one of those paddles with a number on it. She’s bids on a few items while I’m walking around to see if there is anything that sparks my interest.

I run across this blue collar, nothing special, road worn piano. Lots of scars, keys well worn, and just ozzed mojo. I thought, if this this thing could talk, it would have great stories to tell. When it comes up for auction I raise the paddle at opening bid. Turns out nobody else was interested, so we bought a piano on the cheap.

$75 for delivery and its home next weekend. I do some homework on it and it turns out it was made in THE 1890s !!! Dang, what stories could it tell!
I couldn’t figure out what the intricate wood slide out trays were for, as there were one on each side of the sheet music stand. I was thinking cup holders (beer glass) but why one on each side? More homework and think 1890s, no lights. They are candle holders for playing in dimly lit shows or bars! How friging cool !

8534165F-6FA5-477E-91B6-167C35843DA9.jpeg8A725880-9201-49F5-B9F8-0EDE17B20B25.jpeg4B12D68A-1645-4A7F-8DDC-91423298BBF9.jpeg9A5BFDAD-5E5D-48CE-8E72-711D4839E5FE.jpeg
 
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Don O said:
Well seeing this old thread revived, I can say good luck to ya Col.

I can then add my story of a piano crossing my path. Back in 2008 we were doing some home remodeling and we went to a home show/expo at Angel stadium in Anaheim. After walking the show we were leaving and out in the parking lot was this big white circus tent. SOO, being curious we go inside. It was a bit auction setup. My wife, being adventurous, signs up and gets one of those paddles with a number on it. She’s bids on a few items while I’m walking around to see if there is anything that sparks my interest.

I run across this blue collar, nothing special, road worn piano. Lots of scars, keys well worn, and just ozzed mojo. I thought, if this this thing could talk, it would have great stories to tell. When it comes up for auction I raise the paddle at opening bid. Turns out nobody else was interested, so we bought a piano on the cheap.

$75 for delivery and its home next weekend. I do some homework on it and it turns out it was made in THE 1890s !!! Dang, what stories could it tell!
I couldn’t figure out what the intricate wood slide out trays were for, as there were one on each side of the sheet music stand. I was thinking cup holders (beer glass) but why one on each side? More homework and think 1890s, no lights. They are candle holders for playing in dimly lit shows or bars! How friging cool !

View attachment 26034View attachment 26035View attachment 26036View attachment 26037
Click to expand...
OH man that is nice !! What a piece of history !! The stories it could tell....this thread seriously has me thinking its piano time.. see them sometimes in CL .for ..haul away and its your type post
 
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