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I discovered a Lindner piano for sale in a Salvation Army store for $45.00. Lindner, the infamous "plastic piano" weighing in at 165 pounds, 88 keys, made in Shannon Ireland. I have heard of these nightmares, but have never had the misfortune of actually seeing and examining one. It is quite unbelievable and unrepairable. I wonder how many of these novelties are hanging around.

How many are around? Way too many! They do, however, have some fascinating features. Particularly in the area of key leveling and key dip adjustment. I kept one, in the Clearwater, FL area, going for several years thanks to a tech in MA with a salvaged action.

When I moved to MA, I passed the parts on to another tech in FL.

They are disasters waiting to happen...think rotting plastic combined with springs...everywhere. Still nifty contraptions, though.

Lindner, not Linder.

Let's add Lidner to the mix!

If anyone is curious, here's a link:

http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/200002/2000.02.11.09.html

Wow, I'm amazed the company stayed in business until 1987! A guy who lived in a house I shared in Toronto around 1977 had one of those pianos. The keys kept breaking....

Lindner made an interesting grand, without plastic parts. It can be folded to roll through a doorway without any special equipment.

I never came across one of the Lindner grand’s, but saw quite a few of the uprights. The key set did not present many problems; it was the hammer butt attachment to the rail that was the problem.

When they broke I epoxied them (permanently) to the rail as there were no parts available. The hammer butt had this unusual double ended spring.

I just wonder what they sounded like when they were brand new.

Steven,
I don't know what they were like in like new condition but I have dealt with several in the past. The plastic parts degrade over a short period of time and parts (I've heard) are available at a airport address in Ireland. There is probably a tire shop and hair care center there too. Might've been a good idea when plastics were considered a new age wonder product but longevity of the plastic suffered from natural elements in the environment. Attached is what one looks like. I also hated the consoles top lid hinge that would swing up and lock perpendicular to the cabinet. if there were pictures or anything else hanging on the wall over the instrument you would have to move the piano away from the wall. They're a waste of my time.

http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/msg/3478783600.html

I've come across a few Lindners over the years. In years past I have attempted the odd repair. But the pianos are all so much older now than when I started 27 years ago, and the minute you start trying to fix one thing, something else breaks. So now I don't attempt repairs.

Curiously, it's not so much the plastic parts that break - it's usually the thin spring steel leaf springs used in rataining keys and flanges.

I vaguely recall that the very earliest ones used foam rubber instead of normal hammer rest baize, and that this very quicky became brittle and crumbly.

It's a pity about them, because the sound was good for the size.

I have a few comments about them on the Piano Questions page of my website.

A while ago there was a big load of spare parts for sale on Ebay UK and someone bought them. But the spares will be as old as the pianos so even if they were generally available there isn't much point in trying to fit them.

It's the end of the road now for Lindners.

I've recently acquired a supply of the Lindner action parts, an older technician who no longer works in the business bought out the company when they went under.

i have center rail clips, hammer clips in usable condition.
whippens, dampers, hammer buts, hammers and keys (and or an action assembly if you need it)

if you need a part or parts please email me at torgerbaland@papagenopianotuning.com and re: subject "Lindner piano parts" and let me know what you need.

thanks

Torger, it's good to know that you have some Lindner parts.

In the UK a year or two ago someone was selling a load of Lindner parts on ebay, and someone bought them. I did think about putting in a bid but decided not to in the end.

I guess it's worth keeping in mind that a) the spare parts are as old and presumably as brittle as the parts in the piano and b) if half a dozen parts have broken and get replaced, then more are probably going to go soon.

I've attampted repairs by various means in the past, but now (with the pianos being 20 years older) I am more inclined to tell clients that we've reached the end of the road with these pianos.

I came across my comment in this thread and realise that I've not been accurate and that I should apologise to Dan Silverwood. His comments above are correct - problems most frequently arise from the breaking of part of the plastic 'flange' that clips the hammer butt/flange assembly into the action rail. I added a page about these pianos to my website, and it has photos I took showing the broken part. It's at http://www.davidboyce.co.uk/lindner-pianos.php

Lindner pianos also appeared under the names Topic and Cameo.

I know this is an old thread, but recently with the aid of some reverse engineering and 3D printers, some new parts have been engineered for the little Lindner uprights. A guy in England is making a couple of the most frequently broken parts, to an improved design that doesn't, in the hammer butt/flange arrangement, require the little square leaf spring.

Came across one of the beauties yesterday.

Had never seen one of them before.

Don't ever want to again!

What a piece of un-repairable rubbish!

David, that's a great page you have assembled about Lindner, thanks for that.

With 3D printing slowly gaining ground, I'm really wondering whether we might be on the cusp of a reevaluation of the use of plastics in piano actions. When we come to a point where 3D models for parts are readily available and anyone has easy access to a 3D printer, we actually might come to prefer plastics over wood.

It is a shame that early plastics had longevity problems, because the injection molding process lent itself to some innovative designs, including the Lindner upright action. I wonder how stable 3D printed objects are, but they are clearly suitable for pattern making.

Yes, it's all very interesting.

If Lindner had managed to stay in business, no doubt they would have discovered more durable plastics in time, and they would still be supplying parts.

I think the problem at the moment is that, although Mr Grant Benton and one or two others are making parts, the whole actions are fragile. If you take the action out to replace say half a dozen parts, other parts are likely to break during the handling. So it's best to replace a whole set, of parts - flange/clips or whatever.

But unless owners are competent to do that themselves, the cost of paying a technician to do it is likely to exceed the value of the repaired piano.

topazkey, you are severe! The pianos sounded good for their size, and when all in working order, felt OK to play. They also had good tuning stability.

With the cost of 3D printers and CNC machines going ever lower, it might not be that far into the future that someone could measure the various parts and post free G-code (CNC "instructions") so that anyone could manufacture those parts out of a more stable polymer like delrin (or even wood) as they are needed.

That would be an interesting project!

When I had the action out of my own piano, I eyeballed it and thought I could probably make almost anything I saw that wasn't leather or felt on a mill out of either aluminum/wood/plastic. That got me to thinking why no companies are doing that. I'm assuming it's because of some magic sonic property of wood that would make the resulting tone unappealing. Or is it something else?

Best,