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Welcome to ‘Friends of Square Pianos’
Update 28th August
Four more pianos for sale - see below
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Meeting of Friends of Square Pianos
Wednesday September 8th
It's nearly time for Piano Auctions' September Sale (Sept 9th) and as
usual, there will be an informal gathering of Friends on the Wednesday
viewing day. Volcanoes permitting, we are hoping to welcome a
very special guest from Tasmania.
The Auction will be at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square (Holborn). There are no square pianos this time, but the Star of the Show will be a return appearance by the beautiful 1808 Broadwood Grand, the former property of Benjamin Britten.
This important piano is being offered with an estimate of £10,000 - £15,000.
I will aim to arrive at about 10.45. After a look at the pianos, and a chat, we will adjourn to the nearby Dolphin pub for beer and chips.
Thanks as ever to Richard Reason and his team for making us welcome at these important events.
See you there?
Items for SaleThe Auction will be at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square (Holborn). There are no square pianos this time, but the Star of the Show will be a return appearance by the beautiful 1808 Broadwood Grand, the former property of Benjamin Britten.
This important piano is being offered with an estimate of £10,000 - £15,000.
I will aim to arrive at about 10.45. After a look at the pianos, and a chat, we will adjourn to the nearby Dolphin pub for beer and chips.
Thanks as ever to Richard Reason and his team for making us welcome at these important events.
See you there?
*********************
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
Many of us will have noticed that (in the UK at least) ordinary
traditional steel, slotted, countersunk screws are just about
unobtainable. Apparently they are no longer being made, and
stocks are running out. Those of us who have raided country-town
ironmongers have been told: "Oh, we had an antique restorer in last
week, and he bought our entire stock."
Due to the great kindness of a Friend, I recently received a gift of a wide assortment of sizes (including the odd numbers which are so often used for hinges). We are happy to share the identity of the supplier in Oregon:
Due to the great kindness of a Friend, I recently received a gift of a wide assortment of sizes (including the odd numbers which are so often used for hinges). We are happy to share the identity of the supplier in Oregon:
www.blacksmithbolt.com
***************
As the picture indicates, they have an Aladdin's Cave of other bolts and fasteners, as well as woodscrews.
I have exchanged emails with Dick Naven, and can thoroughly recommend their commitment and service. They are well set-up to handle small international orders via PayPal (you don't need a PayPal account, just a credit/debit card).
'Efficient' as they might be for making chicken-runs and other rough work, the use of modern cross-headed hardened passivated screws would be a terrible offence on any antique, or reproduction. And please remember that brass screws, pretty as they are, are comparitively recent. All old pianos have steel screws to secure the brassware.
Buy them while you can! I have exchanged emails with Dick Naven, and can thoroughly recommend their commitment and service. They are well set-up to handle small international orders via PayPal (you don't need a PayPal account, just a credit/debit card).
'Efficient' as they might be for making chicken-runs and other rough work, the use of modern cross-headed hardened passivated screws would be a terrible offence on any antique, or reproduction. And please remember that brass screws, pretty as they are, are comparitively recent. All old pianos have steel screws to secure the brassware.
***************
A selection of four Square pianos, all in need of restoration - this one is by Goulding Phipps & D'Alamaine. Please see the Sale page for details.
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The complete pianos are always interesting, but the various bits and pieces that we can offer have been of great value to a number of Friends for their restoration projects. Please see a note about some newly-available action parts, and a new policy for strings and wrestpins, on the For Sale page.
And if you have any items for sale - or any bits you need - please drop me a line.
David, on
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A Summer Puzzle
Kindly contributed by Colm O'Leary
I came across this piano by Phillips of London recently via the internet which subsequently sold for £100 at Serrells in Malvern against an estimate of £150 - £225. It has, from what I can make out given the limited quality of the pictures, a very pretty name board painting of the type often seen on Rolfe or Clementi pianos.
As
part of the condition report they sent me photographs of the general state of
the instrument and ones, much to their puzzlement, that I requested of the
underside, suspecting that it should have originally had either a French stand
or 6 legs threaded into the base rather than the 4 much later legs it has
now.
Unfortunately, the photographs show that the later legs were not the only attempts at restoration it has suffered over the years and without better quality photographs I decided to pass on it. However, one of the interesting things which did show up in the pictures was that the underside has a large rebate running the length of the keyboard.
Whether
this goes the whole way through is impossible to tell from the pictures but
neither David nor I have seen anything like it before. David suggested that it may be for a pedal
pull down (but he did say that surely this would only be for the bottom half of the compass... DH) and I proffered a guess that it may have been a way to stop the usual
problem of baseboard shrinkage pulling the keyboard too close to the damper
guides but that is a solution to a problem which would only show up in the far
future of the instrument so may have no merit at all. Of course, we have no way of knowing if this
is an original feature or a later improvement.
Does anyone have any ideas to solve this
little puzzle? Or better still, if the
new owner is a friend, please get in touch.
Colm O’Leary
Thanks, Colm. Extra note from David: has anyone come across another piano by Phillips? Just a brief mention in Clinkscale. And these paintings look familiar, but how many actual designs were there? And who painted them? Any offers please to:
**********************
There is a new page - "David's Page" - which replaces "Piano of
the Month". This page will be about my own little collection,
plus anything else I fancy. Fairly soon, there will be another
page about Collections and Tours. The first contribution to this
will be from Tom Strange, with a diary of his recent trip to Britain.
Please note that navigation buttons to these new pages will only be found on this, the Home Page. Maintaining links from every page to every other page was just getting too complicated for me! Existing links will be left in place, but if in doubt, please return to the Home Page.
As these changes are implemented, it is quite likely that I will forget to delete obsolete links, or make other silly errors. If you find any, please let me know!
Please note that navigation buttons to these new pages will only be found on this, the Home Page. Maintaining links from every page to every other page was just getting too complicated for me! Existing links will be left in place, but if in doubt, please return to the Home Page.
As these changes are implemented, it is quite likely that I will forget to delete obsolete links, or make other silly errors. If you find any, please let me know!
*****************
Not strictly about Square Pianos (but see lower down this
page) is a truly magnificent study of the English Spinet. This is
the Doctorate Thesis of Peter Mole, who has already published a number
of articles in the Journal of the Galpin Society and elsewhere.
With its many illustrations and diagrams, this would make a
splendid (if possibly expensive) book, but in the meantime, almost
unbelievably, the thesis (all 700 pages of it!) is available free to
all, as two PDFsI believe passionately that knowledge and scholarship should be shared, and I have been known to get annoyed when access to journal articles is denied to me - even if I am prepared to pay! I therefore acknowledge that the freedom to share this important thesis is a privilege for which we should all be grateful. Our thanks to all involved, especially of course to Peter Mole, whose work it is.
*************
********************
In Praise of English Spinets
Yes, I know that English Spinets are neither square nor pianos, but
I've decided that they can share this website. That's partly
because I am very fond of them (and the music they can make) but also
to recognise that the square piano did replace them as the Domestic
Keyboard Instrument.
'Original' examples don't come up at auction very often, and they tend to be a bit expensive. But we have done (and will) feature them when they do. There's also the point that in view of their historical importance, many of us would be a bit nervous about attempting an heroic restoration to playing order. Perhaps it's better (and easier?) to make a nice one from scratch (see above).
In this context, I must mention the truly excellent little booklet by the late John Barnes.
'Original' examples don't come up at auction very often, and they tend to be a bit expensive. But we have done (and will) feature them when they do. There's also the point that in view of their historical importance, many of us would be a bit nervous about attempting an heroic restoration to playing order. Perhaps it's better (and easier?) to make a nice one from scratch (see above).
In this context, I must mention the truly excellent little booklet by the late John Barnes.
This is only short (52 pages) but every word counts. It is a
study of the way Stephen Keene actually made his spinets, and the
lessons we can learn. It is fair to say that the success of my
own spinet (yes, it does sound quite well) owes a great deal to this
litle book.
Copies are available from John Barnes' son Peter, via his website www.aviolin.com/peterbarnes
Peter can also supply a plan of the well-known Keene & Brackley spinet (c.1715) which was the model for the Early Music Shop kit, sadly no longer available.
So, from time to time, there will be more about English Spinets.
Copies are available from John Barnes' son Peter, via his website www.aviolin.com/peterbarnes
Peter can also supply a plan of the well-known Keene & Brackley spinet (c.1715) which was the model for the Early Music Shop kit, sadly no longer available.
So, from time to time, there will be more about English Spinets.
********************************
Our 'For Sale' Page
We seem to do
quite well at selling interesting pianos for reasonable prices. As a rough guide, a piano
should sell if the price asked is somewhere around the probable
hammer-price at auction.
Please remember that all deals are between you and the buyer - I accept no responsibility for either party. But having said that, there have been no problems so far.
There are no charges for listing, but if anyone (seller or buyer)
wishes to make a gesture, donations to my favourite charity are always
welcome. Please see the 'Donate' button on the website www.wellrushcats.co.uk Please remember that all deals are between you and the buyer - I accept no responsibility for either party. But having said that, there have been no problems so far.
For administrative reasons, I will not personally know who has donated, so I can't acknowledge, but thank you anyway! However, if any donor is a UK taxpayer, and wishes to take advantage of Gift Aid, even better! please let me know.
*****************************************
FRIENDS OF SQUARE PIANOS
is a sort of on-line club for owners, potential owners, and friends
of -
Square Pianos!
We are also happy to welcome
owners of
very old grand pianos – say before about 1837 – as
they do
not seem to have a website of their own. We hope that you
will
find something of interest, and also feel free to contribute
–
please e-mail any questions or contributions
to friends.sp@btinternet.comSquare Pianos!
Our aim is to encourage ownership and enjoyment of these historic instruments, and to help owners to keep them in playing condition. There is a special pleasure in playing (and hearing) music played on the instruments for which it was composed.
The picture above is
my Ganer of about 1795, after extensive reconstruction of the stand,
but before restoration. Please see 'Restoration Diaries' .
****************************************
My
only claim to respectability is that Carl Dolmetsch once offered to
take me on as an apprentice. This was in 1962, when I had
just
shown him my first clavichord, and been his guest at Haslemere.
However, he also advised me that it would be better to go to
University, and I accepted his advice. Early Keyboard
Instruments
have therefore remained a hobby, and since accepting early retirement, I am able to spend a bit more time
enjoying
them.
My real work now is with cats,
though - I am local Branch Co-ordinator for
Cats Protection.
www.wellrushcats.co.uk
Cats Protection.
www.wellrushcats.co.uk