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What do you think of these from Takealot


Greglsh

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4 hours ago, Greglsh said:

have not heard of the make so not sure?

Osaka batteries are from Pakistan. But that is if you assume this is actually an official Osaka battery. It is quite common for Chinese companies to slap a name on a product to make it sound cool. Many many German sounding pianos (another passion of mine) are made in China. They will spend money to buy the brand name, so some companies actually make money by allowing Chinese companies to use their brand. Telefunken? China. Philips? China.

So I think we can safely assume we don't know where that battery is from. You can probably expect around 700 cycles to 50%.

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10 hours ago, plonkster said:

Osaka batteries are from Pakistan. But that is if you assume this is actually an official Osaka battery. It is quite common for Chinese companies to slap a name on a product to make it sound cool. Many many German sounding pianos (another passion of mine) are made in China. They will spend money to buy the brand name, so some companies actually make money by allowing Chinese companies to use their brand. Telefunken? China. Philips? China.

So I think we can safely assume we don't know where that battery is from. You can probably expect around 700 cycles to 50%.

Thanks @plonkster, had never heard of them so wanted to get some advice.

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3 hours ago, introverter said:

in the key of G having a slightly guttural quality to

Vely vely funny..

There are over a thousand brands of Pianos and most of them are just cheap knock-offs. You want something neat, then look at a Kawai or a Yamaha. And man do they cost. I was looking at a Yamaha GB1 last week (baby grand). 165k. Car money. Can't really justify that...

Oh and the naming. Bernard Steiner. Sounds Germanish? It's the higher end Pianos formerly made in Welington by Dietman. Dietman also made heaps of pianos branded under his own name, which were essentially German "Otto bach" pianos (similar components). But the one I really want is a Yamaha G2. There is one in Plet for sale right now for 80k. Still a bit much...

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1 hour ago, plonkster said:

I was looking at a Yamaha GB1 last week (baby grand). 165k. Car money. Can't really justify that...

I bought myself a Clavinova CVP-401 second hand for about R10k when I started working. Yeah, it doesn't have the same character as an actual upright (not even considering a baby grand, let alone actual grand). However, having moved a lot, the Clavinova is a much better travel partner, no going out of tuning! It has a pretty natural feel due to the weighted keys and a good sound. And then there is the added fun you can have with it - Although I rarely did as I'm pretty much happy with just classic piano music. Recently, I started playing much more up beat stuff... Whatever seems to make my baby daughter happy, more Old McDonald, less Chopin or Debussy!

When my mom moves to a smaller place, I'll see if I can convince my siblings that I should get the upright. Really nice, ivory caps on the notes and rose wood inlays (though two caps flew off after a few bouts of glissandos - which also put a to such abusive playstyles). But it needs A LOT of work. My mom hasn't been keeping it tuned or serviced...

Edited by jykenmynie
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3 hours ago, jykenmynie said:

My mom hasn't been keeping it tuned or serviced...

That's the thing about an acoustic. if it is no played and tuned, the strings rust, the wood dries out, everything just goes out of wack.

Whenever I see an ad saying the Piano is in perfect shape, it just needs a tune... I snigger a bit. If it hasn't been tuned, it has been neglected, and if it has been neglected, you have no way of knowing that it is in perfect shape.

Presently I own a fairly plain piano. Officially it's a Carl Otto, which was the cheaper of two options (the other one was the Carol Otto), but it was rebranded as a Müller, who I believe imported these around the turn of the (previous) century. This one is estimated around 1915. It has a 3/4 steel frame (full length is better) and some pretty extensive damage to the plate was repaired somewhere in its life. But somehow it still holds a tune... at concert pitch no less. Having purchased it for 5k, I intend on playing it until it dies... which will likely be in the next 5-10 years. Hence me looking around at other options... especially with all these people emigrating...

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7 hours ago, plonkster said:

That's the thing about an acoustic. if it is no played and tuned, the strings rust, the wood dries out, everything just goes out of wack.

Okay, I’m talking to my mom this weekend about the maintenance of that piano! Jeez, can’t let an heirloom go to waste. It was the piano on which the four generations since my great grandmother was taught.

If I recall correctly it is also a Müller, but I have never tried to trace its origin. I remember that the old blind German tuned that came to house to tune it always wanted to buy it afterwards, doubt he will still want to do that now...

7 hours ago, plonkster said:

especially with all these people emigrating...

Ah, a good way to start my day with positivity! 😅

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2 hours ago, jykenmynie said:

also a Müller

Müller was a bit like a furniture store back in the 1900s in Cape Town. If my google-fu has not left me, the remains of that company is still around via Allen and Fisher pianos, who still have premises in Wynberg today. They imported pianos from Germany and sold them under their "house brand". That is why many of these pianos are basically either an Otto Bach or a Carl/Carol Otto under the skin. Some of them are quite good. Others (like mine) look the part but are basically workhorses underneath. After buying such a piano without doing any of the required research (and almost ending up with a dud, but we saved it), I did the work afterwards. That's when you discover how the styling changed over the years. Simply things like "stalactites" (pretty hanging wood carvings under the keyboard) died out in the early 1900s, so if you see that, you know it is very old. Until the 1930s, you usually didn't have legs under the keyboard. Fluting (you'll have to look that up I think) was common from 1900 to around 1925. Overdamper (where the damper is above the hammer) was more common in the late 1800s, but by 1910 pretty much everyone is making underdamper pianos. And so on and so forth...

The you get to the interesting time when better materials get into it. Using an aluminium rail in the action (the action is the part with the hammers) was a significant improvement from what came before.

Of course things also went the other way. Good pianos have a Sound board made of spruce. Cheap ones... use a cheaper wood, but then they laminate it with spruce to make it look good... 🙂

So... yeah there was this story about a guy who went to a fight and then a hockey game broke out... well, we started with batteries, and then I went completely OT. I hope everyone had a good read 🙂

 

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15 hours ago, plonkster said:

 There is one in Plet for sale right now 

Road trip!

Piano_Trip.jpg.e4916b8b2763ac29babe3bf77c3f8ee0.jpg

 

2 minutes ago, plonkster said:

So... yeah there was this story about a guy who went to a fight and then a hockey game broke out... well, we started with batteries, and then I went completely OT. I hope everyone had a good read 🙂

 

15 hours ago, plonkster said:

I was looking at a Yamaha GB1 last week (baby grand). 165k. Car Going off-Grid Victron money. Can't Can easily justify that...

Best I can do to almost head back on topic...

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On 2020/09/14 at 5:16 PM, Greglsh said:

Looking to setup my Mecer 2400va inverter with 2 of these if they are of decent quality, have not heard of the make so not sure?

I used four Osaka’s in series for about 16 months until one battery became faulty. I overload them and ran them to their outer limits sometimes drawing 80A or more, so I cannot say they are bad because of my abuse. They are currently quite scarce and you will pay more now than what they were beginning of 2019. I paid R2100each at the time they were quite cheap but are now about R2700each. I could not find the 120AH again so am now using Pylontech.

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