The Erard of 1818 that we have started working on now has been in the Colt-Collection in England for at least 4 decades. 

It is a very rare instrument with the beautiful ‘méchanique a étrier’,

an Erard invention and the predecessor of the later repetition action.

Only a few Erard instruments of the 1810’s survived until the present day.

There is no choice, this instrument needs a thorough restoration.

 

The restoration seems more complicated compared to other instruments. The piano is extremely warped, and thus needs to be taken apart to remedy this, – but it is no simple task. Especially removing the hitch pin liners takes some doing.
The soundboard needs to come out in order to enable straightening the construction of the piano. A bit of luck: many glueing joints of the inner construction have come loose by themselves!