While Overs Pianos' transition from rebuilding to grand piano manufacturer has taken place over the past two years, Ron Overs has been carrying the idea of producing his own Australian made grand pianos since 1985. Many design innovations were tested and proven via the various modified rebuilt grand pianos put through his Sydney workshop over the years. While the majority of these innovations was focussed on tonal quality, the latest development was that of a new grand piano action.

The new action was designed over six months during 1999, and completed by March 2000 when the patent application was lodged. This new action has half of the friction of a standard contemporary grand piano action. The manufacture of piano no. 001 commenced in February 2000, and it was launched at the Australasian Piano Technicians Convention in Sydney July 2000. In July 2001, piano no. 003 was exhibited at the US Piano Technicians Guild National Convention in Reno Nevada, receiving very enthusiastic reviews. Pianos 004 and 005 are currently in production. Both are 225 cm (7'4") semi concert grand pianos.

Below are links which will take you to specific information pages on the new Overs 225 grand piano.

1) A full-screen overhead image of piano no. 003 (the instrument exhibited in the US, July 2001) can be seen at;

Full overhead image of Overs grand piano no. 003

2) The next full screen image is taken overhead from the rear of the piano. It shows the special trenching of the sound board adjacent to the bass bridge, which lowers the sound board impedance, allowing for a fuller tone in the extreme bass.

Rear overhead image - sound board bass section close-up

This image shows the detailed finishing work in No. 003. It features a hand polished clear finish over the iron plate gilding, with custom in-house-manufactured fittings. All Overs pianos are finished to this non-compromising standard.

3) All OVERS production pianos feature the new OVERS ACTION, which has just half of the friction of a conventional modern action. The new action was designed by Ron Overs using a Computer Aided Drawing (CAD) programme from July to December 1999 - it was conceived completely on CAD prior to building the first accurate model. A 2D line drawing of the action can be seen at;

Line drawing of the Overs action (patent pend.)

Ron was asked to present a class, on the design and function of the OVERS action, at the July 2001 US convention. His lecture notes can be found online at;

(Since these class notes were written for piano technicians they are, by necessity of, a technical nature)
Reno Convention class notes on the design and function of the Overs Action

The US PTG convention was a very successful international debute for the Overs grand piano. A selection of unsolicited comments posted to internet discussion on the 'Pianotech list' following the convention, including a testimonial by Dr Leslie Howard AM following his trial of no. 003 in August 2001, can be found at;

Testimonials - Overs grand piano no. 003

As it continues to feature in various musical events and selected recording sessions in the Sydney region, piano no. 003 consolidates the growing reputation of Ron Overs as a designer and builder of world class grand pianos. Information on coming concert and recording events featuring this piano can be found at;

Coming concerts/events featuring Overs' pianos

Recently included on this website is a larger image showing the new action of piano no. 003, half withdrawn from the instrument (photo taken by Aaron Brown for The Inner Western Suburbs Courier). This image, which takes about a minute to download with a 56K modem, illustrates the compact and orderly layout of the new action (additional to its outstanding performance, it has been designed to be easy to service). The url for the image is;

Close quarter view of piano no. 003, shown with its action half withdrawn

That's all for this web tour of our 225 pilot production grand piano at present. Overs Pianos are currently building another two of these quality 225 cm instruments, and look forward to your further enquiry.

Overs Pianos
June 12, 2002