Houston Square Piano

 C.1795

Collection of David Hackett, Chelveston 

  Pianos by the firm of Houston and Co. are quite rare.  Houston was an actual maker, rather than a dealer, working at the end of the eighteenth century.  He is also recorded as having made instruments for the dealer John Bland and possibly others; this is supported by my own observation of a John Bland piano which shares small constructional details with this one. 

 One of the special features of this piano (apart from its lovely silvery sound) is its exquisite satinwood nameboard.  It could be the beauty of the satinwood which saved it at all, but ironically, this same feature nearly caused it to be turned into a cigar box.  Fortunately, I had the opportunity buy it from the antique dealer in question, and to avert a tragedy.  The nameboard is in perfect condition, and bears the inscription:

Houston & Co. Londini Fecerunt

Corner of                                                                            Soho

Edward Street                                       Wardour Street

-      in amongst finely drawn swags and musical trophies. 

  The piano has a compass of 5½ octaves (FF – c⁴), but this is achieved without the more usual ‘extra notes’ striking through a slot in the soundboard.  This is probably one of the earlier pianos to have the additional half-octave, and the device of the extended ‘swept’ bridge and cranked keys may either just have been another way of achieving this, or a way of circumventing Southwell's patent. 

 This system works very well, although it would hardly be feasible for any compass greater than this, nor for thicker strings and bigger hammers.  Because of the crowding of the keys in the top octave or so, the top hammers are very small indeed.  However, the result is a delightfully clear and silvery tone.

 There is no damper-lift pedal or handstop, but the necessary mechanism for this, including the spring, is in place.  It would have been a simple job to add the handstop and lever, but this was not done.

 We have no idea how many pianos the firm of Houston & Co made, but this one carries the stamped number 1192 at the left-hand end, and we are fairly sure that this is not a date! 

  Many square pianos show a degree of twist; this one does not.  Probably the combination of its sturdy structure (it is unreasonably heavy) and light stringing (many original strings remained)  help to explain this.
 

  The top surface of the wrestplank is covered by a maple veneer, rather than appearing to be an extension of the soundboard as in  pianos from earlier in the century.  The corner is completed by a parchment-covered hinged frame, not by silk-backed fretwork as became the later fashion.  This frame forms the cover for ‘a useful place to put things.’

  The lid carries a  compound inlay in a diamond pattern; the diamonds are of two colours.  As found, several sections of the inlay were missing.  This provided the opportunity to make up replacement pieces to match as nearly as possible.  The picture gives some idea of the way this was tackled.

The sections are now in place, and I feel that the match is reasonable - even if they do look a bit 'new'!