This is a little late on the Weber thread, but I thought I'd put in
my two cents worth. I have a Weber 5' 8" Duo-Art, serial number 76171.
When I bought the piano, I was told that the piano was made in 1920
and the Duo-Art mechanism was made in 1925. Apparently the piano was
warehoused for five years before they put the Duo-Art in it and sold it.
I don't know if this is one of the pianos that others have spoken
about (as being really well built), but I can tell you from first-hand
experience that this particular unit is pretty stout. I had the piano
sitting on its side in my garage shortly after delivery to me in 1984,
awaiting restoration.
It was all complete, sitting there with the stack box poking out of the
bottom, when the 1984 Morgan Hill earthquake hit. Not a particularly
large quake, magnitude 5.9 I think, but we were sitting right on top of
it. The piano fell over, onto its belly -- on the pneumatic stack box,
to be more accurate. Good thing my car wasn't there.
The only damage to the piano was dents in the corners of the stack box.
The wife was in the house at the time, and said that it was "pretty
loud" when it went.
Ray Fairfield
Morgan Hill, California
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