Articles
The History of a Bechstein Piano
By Colin McCann
This photo shows one of the great pieces of history I have the privilege to work on in my job.
This little Bechstein was built in 1895 at one of the three Bechstein factories operating in Berlin Germany at the time. It was then shipped to their London showroom. A wealthy Canadian family bought it and it started it's 120 years plus journey.
First it was shipped by steamer to Montreal. Then by steamtrain across Canada to Revelstoke. Somehow the family (probably by small boat or improvised barge) got the piano down the Columbia river to their large ranch.
It spent the next 100 years in different parts of Canada before ending up in the hands of the great granddaughter of the original owner. At that point the hands of time had left the piano in such poor shape it was no longer playable. The piano was then sent to a rebuilder in Calgary who spent a year completely rebuilding it, including replacing the sound board and the pin bock.
The piano looks and sounds as good as I would imagine it did as a new piano on the floor of the Bechstein showroom in London England over 120 years ago and is still loved and played every day.