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Restoration Diaries
The
'New System' of direct downloads for PDFs is a bit complicated (for
me) what with all those uploads, links, and deletions - so please
bear with me if it doesn't work. Or bettter still, let me know,
David on friends.sp@btinternet.com
Otherwise, here goes:
Contents:
(Click for PDF)
2)Longman, Lukey & Co, c. 1772/3 - see below
3) An American Geib Nameboard, by Tom Strange and John Bartlett
(Click for PDF)
4) Christopher Ganer c.1795 by David Hackett (Part 1)
5) Adam Beyer c.1780 by Graham Walker
6) J A Knam (Vienna) c.1815 by Andrew Nolan (Click for PDF)
7) Broadwood c. 1837, by Bernard Novell (Click for PDF)
8) Longman & Broderip (Geib) by Tom Strange (Click for PDF)
9) Clementi c.1815 by David Hackett (Click for PDF)
(2) An Early London Square Piano
made for Longman, Lukey & Co. c. 1774
This lovely little piano appeared at auction at Serrell's of Malvern, in November 2010. It attracted considerable interest, and after some brisk bidding, it was happily sold to a Friend. From my own point of view, I am delighted that the piano has been entrusted to my care for the time being, to do the necessary work to restore it to full playing condition. Furthermore, the new owner has generously agreed for the progress to be recorded here on the Friends website.
But who made it?
The firm discussed above was always a music publisher and dealer in
instruments, not an actual maker. Later pianos
labelled ‘Longman & Broderip’ have been definitely identified as the work
of Christopher Ganer, John Geib, and Thomas Culliford. However, we believe this one to be the work
of Frederick Beck, based on various constructional details, but in particular
the absence of dampers on the top few notes – they ascend only to c3. We know of no other maker who followed this
pattern.
Nothing is known of the previous history of the
piano, although it is believed that it had been in the ownership of one family for
some considerable time, and has not been recorded by the ‘Piano Community’
before. Only two other pianos by
Longman, Lukey & Co are recorded in Clinkscale – the first dated 1770, and
now in The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and an undated example at Finchcocks, Goudhurst. The description of the later piano is similar
to this one, but it was not in such good condition.
For its age, this piano is in a good state of preservation, and has mostly escaped the attention of ill-advised ‘restorers’. Its biggest problems are structural, with evidence that the hitchrail came loose many years ago, and the wrestplank is now detached. Apart from that, the casework is in very good condition, and most of the detail is intact. As is normal, the strings are something of an assortment.
The first major job was the removal of the strings.
This was more easily done by removing the damper-assembly first. The dampers of these very early pianos are
‘fixed’ – a little later on, the bar carrying the dampers and springs was
pivoted, so that the whole lot could be raised out of the way. However, the earliest dampers were operated
by little whalebone stickers, pinned into a tiny mortise in the
damper-lever. This arrangement makes it
impossible to raise them clear of the strings, and makes string replacement
rather difficult.
As found, the strings were a somewhat motley assortment,
and most (especially the iron strings) were clearly relatively modern
replacements. However, there was hope
for some of the tenor and bass strings, so the available data were recorded as
completely as possible. In the picture
above, the lowest string is clearly a replacement, but the three above are
likely to be original.
All of this type, and some of brass strings above, have the same eye
design:
- with a somewhat inelegant ‘reverse’ of the core
back over the twisted portion.
The windings on the wrestpins are also somewhat
unusual: the string is coiled upwards over
the loose end, then brought diagonally downwards, with the last turn or so in
the conventional downwards direction.
Details like these, when found on a number of strings, make it virtually
certain that these strings were all put on at the same date. Since these strings do form a sensible
pattern, whereas the others are clearly of odd dates and ‘wrong’, we suggest
that these strings are original. It
always remains a possibility, of course, that they are the remains of a very
early ‘restring’. We can only work on
the balance of probability. An early restring would have to have had some
purpose, and there is none apparent.
Our knowledge about the original strings for pianos of this age is sparse, and as with any kind of archaeology, we only have one chance to record the data ‘undisturbed’. The full chart is recorded separately.
We noted at
the beginning that the wrestplank was loose, and that the hitchrail had at some
time moved towards the right. This last
problem had directly damaged the soundboard with a crush injury:
- and it was also clear that the belly-rail was
loose. A serious soundboard crack near
the junction of the cheek and the belly-rail (badly glued up very many years
ago) had also suffered further, partly as a result of this.
Any one of these issues would have required removal of the soundboard, so it was clear that this was the next job!
This job is never easy, particularly on pianos like this where the soundboard is continuous over the whole of the right-hand part, including the wrestplank. We always assume and hope that the soundboard has been glued in with animal glue, which will yield to combinations of moisture and heat. The very large glue joint to the wrestplank is a challenge, because there is no easy access – particularly to the undrilled part above the treble wrestpins. However, in this particular case, we knew that the wrestplank itself was loose, and this offered the unusual possibility of removing the soundboard still attached to the wrestplank.
The job
began, as usual, with the removal of the mahogany beading around the
edges. This was easily accomplished with
careful use of water, some warmth, and old kitchen knives dipped in boiling
water. And a lot of patience – this is
not a job to be rushed. With the beading
removed, we were surprised to see several screw-heads around the edges of the
board. It was evident from their shape
that they were very old screws, almost certainly original.
We can see
from the picture of the belly-rail, that the soundboard was already detached in
that part, so the gradual business of prising it up started there.
As is usual in early pianos, the wrestplank does not go to the
bottom of the case, so it was possible to devise a system of
wedges, with the elements inserted through the mousehole, and a
final long wedge hit with a mallet to push the assembly up from
underneath.l
The
soundboard after removal
The
underside (with wrestplank attached) showing soot-stain and barring. Unusually, two of the bars are mahogany
(rather than the usual pine or spruce) as are the little blocks supporting the
heads of the bridge-screws. Despite the
very best efforts of Friends of Square Pianos, the origin of the soot-stain
remains a mystery.
With the
soundboard removed, it became clear that the function of the screws was to
secure the bars to the soundboard, not the soundboard to the liners.
A good view of the basic structure. Much of the strength comes from the two diagonal boards. Fill-in supports the keyframes, but adds little strength.
From now on, it's all building up!
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(3) Christopher Ganer, Square Piano c. 1795
by David Hackett
Three years after I bought this piano, the restoration is now well under way The job will take some
time, so our reader is invited to follow as the work moves forward.
This particular Ganer has probably never been reported before. It came to light when the heirs of its former
owner, an agricultural worker of Kingston Bagpuize in Oxfordshire, decided to sell
it in March 2007. This gentleman had
bought it in 1940 from his next-door neighbour, who in his turn had owned the
piano to the extent of memory before that.
The price paid in 1940 was ten shillings.
We can be fairly sure that this piano has escaped the
attention of ‘restorers’ throughout the twentieth century, but what before
then? Sadly, the soundboard, strings,
and wrestpins are not original, but their replacements show every sign
of nineteenth century work – and probably from the first part of the century at
that. The replacement strings were iron
(not steel) and brass – with no covered strings. The wrestpins, although too heavy, are
mostly undrilled. Remarkably, a few of
the notes were still capable of sounding when the piano was examined – the
pitch was about a third flat.
Christopher Ganer probably made several hundred pianos, of
which the remarkable number of eighty or so are known to survive. Of those survivors, this must be one of the
last to be made; it is unusual in having a double action, one of only about
three known. There is no escapement, but
there is an intermediate lever. When the
piano is restored, we will know how well this arrangement worked!
in overall appearance, the piano is conventional, and at 5’
3” long, of average size for its time.
It rests on a French stand, with leather castors. There is an unpainted ‘dust cover’, and
slight evidence of the usual ledge on the keyboard lid for resting music. The ledge itself must have been lightly
pinned, and missing for some time, as there is no colour-mark on the wood. There is a folding internal music rest on the
back if the nameboard, but it is not certain whether this is original.
The piano is constructed basically from the usual
solid
mahogany, but the veneering scheme is remarkable, and woods so far
identified (in addition to the usual ebony/box stringing) include
tulipwood, satinwood,
purpleheart, and partridgewood.
The nameboard is veneered in satinwood, with a ‘ripple figure’, and edged with tulipwood cross-banding. The maker’s name is carried on an enamel plaque, and there are surrounding ornaments of inlaid ribbons and sprays. The main spray is in a green-dyed veneer, with incised and black-filled detail; the ribbon is in a light-coloured veneer with green detail.
The whole thing was very dirty as found, and the stand in
particular is not in good condition.
The farm-cottage rats evidently used the legs to sharpen their teeth! There is a great deal of work to do before
this piano will be restored. But when it
is, the contrast between the vivid purpleheart and the golden satinwood will be
eye-catching. As considerable parts of
the veneer on the stand will have to be new, the dilemma is whether artificially to fade the
new bits, or to leave them as a reminder of just how brilliant the colours were originally
There is some apparent colour difference between the boards, but they are all from the same log. It's just that some have had more exposure to light than others during the 20 years or so that I have had them. It's the top surface that's finished, though, and that will match (see below).
The wrestplank has a new top piece, and the soundboard has been glued snugly back into place.
Work has now started on the action!
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