Welcome to

Friends of Square Pianos

This is a website for anyone who owns, or would like to own, a square piano, or possibly a spinet. Or a harpsichord, or a clavichord... Or anyone who is just interested, and would like to learn a little more.

Please get in touch with me, David, on friends.sp@btinternet.com with questions, comments, or just to say 'Hello'.  This is a site for everyone, especially those new to the world of Early Keyboard Instruments.  And of course, we very much appreciate the support of those with more experience.

Update April 27th

Friends of Square Pianos Party - 26 April 2025

M&W Stodart 1808 For Sale

Clementi 1803 at Bamford's, 15 - 21 May

Friends of Square Pianos Party 2025

Thank you to all who came to make this such an enjoyable party - a day of friendship and music.  One of the many highlights was one of the first performances of 'Ode to Pity', a poem written early in Jane Austen's life, and now set to music in the style of the late eighteenth century by Donna McKevitt.  It was truly delightful.  Here we see the lovely Penelope Appleyard, whose idea this was, singing to the accompaniment played by David Wright.  The piano is by Christopher Ganer c. 1787 and must be very similar to the Ganer piano owned by Jane at Steventon, where her father was vicar.  The parsonage was sold in 1801, and the piano is mentioned in the sale notice in the Reading Mercury.  We know from one of her letters that Jane was sad to see it go; it would be nearly ten years before she had another piano of her own.

This piano is the one featured in the 2008 dramatisation of 'Sense & Sensibility', where it is played by Marianne Dashwood (Charity Wakefield).  Thanks to Keith Howard for bringing this newly-restored piano to the party. 

Several of our Friends very kindly contributed to an assembly of  over twnenty early keyboard insurments - original and reproduction.  We see a few of them in the above picture - clockwise from bottom left:  Square piano by John Broadwod, an early example 1787; an original 1735 spinet (N°1460) by Thomas Hitchcock; a new-build spinet by Steve Garfirth, based on the famous 1711 Keene & Brackley); a 20-the century clavicytherium under restoration, new soundboard decorated by James Hawksley; a beautiful harpsichord By Lilström of Sweden, owned and played by David Wright; the famous '1664' (actually 1704) spinet by Edward Blunt); and the 'Pink Ribbon' Ganer c. 1787 by Christopher Ganer.

Something a bit different this year - Bill Badley brought his lute, and accompanied Angie and Penny in some delightful songs by John Dowland.

We were pleased to welcome Sophie Yates, who will be using the 1704 Blunt spinet for a recording of English music later in the year.  She gave us a foretaste, with Bill (her husband) doing  a splendid j0b as page-turner.  

Henry Purcell's beautiful 'Evening Hymn' has special memories for many of us, and we were privileged to hear an arrangement as a duet by Angie, Penny, and David.

David closed the musical elements of the programme with a stunning performance of 'Vo Far Guerra' from Handel's 1711 opera Rinaldo.  This battle-scene is marked 'Cembalo ad lib', for which the performer and composer William Babell wrote a full cadenzq, possibly a close rendition of what he heard Handel himself play night after night at the Hay Market, where Babell was first violinist for the production.  The critic Charles Burney commented that:

"Babell acquired great celebrity by wire-drawing the favourite songs of the opera of Rinaldo, and others of the same period, into showy and brilliant lessons, which by mere rapidity of finger-playing in single sounds, without the assistance of taste, expression, harmony or modulation, enabled the performer to astonish ignorance, and acquire the reputation of a great player at small expence... Mr Babel... at once gratifies idleness and vanity."

Well, I enjoyed it, and my ears are better now.  Thanks to David for these notes.  

Nice harpsichord by the way - after Ruckers 'Petit Ravalement' by Kilström of Sweden.

There was much more - these are just some of the highlights.

A lovely day - thanks to all friends who made it such a memorable party. We do hope to meet again next year, when the date we have in mind will be April 25th.

M&W Stodart 1808 For Sale

This elegant piano has been authentically restored, and is in excellent playing condition.  It is number 321, and is very similar to one of the favourite pianos formerly at Finchcocks, number 232 (1807).  

The Finchcocks piano had the initials 'GWD' on the soundboard (George Dettmer), and a pattern is emerging that although Robert Stodart was a pioneer of the English grand in the1770s, it seems that the early squares were made by other leading makers including Christopher Ganer.  Please see the Sale Page for pictures, details, and a sound-clip of this fine piano.

Clementi 1803 at Bamford's, 15 - 21 May

This elegant piano is one of the earliest Clementis - its number is 2643, dating it to 1803.  It will be lot number 2181 in the auction at Bamford's, Derby, which runs from 15 - 20 May.  The beautifully-painted floral nameboard decoration is very unusual in featuring two of the characteristic designs  - sweet peas on the left and morning glory on the right.  Usually, these are seen in symmetrical pairs, as in the heading image of the pages on this website.  

Please see the page Clementi 1803 at Bamford's for pictures and full details.

A Fine 'French' Harpsichord by David Rubio (1973) For Sale

This fine instrument was the property of the late Sir David Lumsden from new.  It was made when the seller, Fergus Hoey, was working with David Rubio, and Fergus has been looking after it for most of its life.  He has recently conducted a refurbishment.  Please see the Sale Page for pictures and full details.

Harpsichord by Goble 1991 after Dulcken 1745

This beautiful harpsichord was made by Andrea Goble of Oxford in 1991, after the 1745 Dulcken original in the Smithsonian Institute.  It is now offered for sale.  Please see the Sale Page for pictures and full details.

 'French'  Harpsichord from a Hubbard Kit 1994

This harpsichord was carefully built from a Hubbard Kit by Davies Stevens.  It was recently overhauled and is in good order.  It has the standard 'French' specification of 2 x 8' + 4', shove coupler, and buff.  It is tuned to A440, but may comfortably be lowered to 415.

Please see the Sale Page for details.

The History of the unique 3¼-octave piano from the original Broadwood Archives

Update - More about the Crawley Family

Thanks to diligent research by Robert Simonson, we now have the full history of this unique piano, to be sold in the Gardiner Houlgate sale on 14th March.  Please click HERE for the full story.

© The Surrey History Centre

Harpsichord Music from the time of Louis XIV

Played by Sophie Yates

I am happy to recommend  this recording by Sophie Yates, played on a harpsichord by Andrew Garlick after the Vaudry instrument in the V&A collection .  Delightful music, beautifully played.  Some lesser-known pieces, perhaps my favourites are those by Louis Couperin.  

For the link to order, please click HERE

Bizzi Harpsichord 2008 For Sale

This elegant single-manual 2 x 8' harpsichord by Guido Bizzi was made as recently as 2008, but is sadly no longer played.  The matching stool is included in the sale.  Please see the Sale Page for pictures and details.

Kirckman Harpsichord 1786 For Sale

This magnificent instrument by Jacob and Abraham Kirkman is an example of the fully-developed English harpsichord, with the keyboard including the low FF#, an integrated music-desk, a nag's head swell, and a machine stop.  Please see the Sale Page for pictures and full details, including an explanation of the machine stop!  

Ivory Sales in the European Union

 New Developments 2024 

This is now getting complicated, and I am sorry to say that I no longer feel able to offer any advice.  The background to the current situation is that the European Commission issued a Directive in 2021 (see below) the provisions of which are required to be enacted into law by all 27 member states. As of late 2024 regulations are appearing, notably for France and Germany, but it is not clear to me what these regulations are. 

I can only advise sellers and buyers to check carefully what they need to do to comply with the law in their particular case, which will often involve more than one country.

These notes, and some additional comments and case-studies have been added to the Ivory Page

Plans for Keene & Brackley Spinet -

Now Affordable!

The famous Keene and Brackley spinet is rightly the model for many reproductions, both amateur and professional.  I am happy to announce that by courtesy of the copyright owner of John Barnes' original plan, we are now able to offer copies at an affordable price; they are now available through Friends of Square Pianos for just £20, plus carriage at cost.  Please note that this is the original plan taken from the original instrument in the picture, not the EMS kit version which had two added sharps for GG# and d3#.

Even if you are not going to build an instrument yourself, anyone with an interest in spinets will find this plan fascinating.  

Please see the new page Plans For Sale for details of plans of spinets, harpsichords, and clavichords offered at reasonable prices.

Bespoke Tuning Hammers

Early keyboard Instruments, whether originals or replicas, do require more frequent tuning than modern iron-framed pianos.   The costs of professional tunings mount up, and it can also be a problem finding a tuner who is happy to work with our ancient instruments.  For this and other reasons, most of us do our own tuning.  To offer some help to those thinking of having a go, I have prepared a short PDF guide, available on request.

It is very important to have a properly-fitting tuning hammer, which should bear on a good portion of the two flat faces of the wrestpin (tuning-pin).  If the fit is too sloppy, the corners of the pin and the socket of the tuning hammer will be damaged, and the backlash makes accurate tuning difficult anyway.  If it is too small, it will grip the top of the pin only, with the same result.

I am able to offer a limited number of hand-made hammers tailored to your own pins, either directly or via a template.  Please see the Tuning and Tuning Hammers page for details.  Sadly, in view of the EU General Product Safety Regulation, effective from 13 December 2024, I am no longer permitted to supply these to EU countries or Northern Ireland. 

I have made a number of very short and lopsided hammers; these have proved popular with owners of Broadwoods and other pianos with the pins at the back, and also with spinet owners.  In both cases the lid makes tuning difficult (unless it can be thrown right back) and these special hammers can help.  They don’t look as elegant as the long-stemmed symmetrical type, but they are quite practical!

The Spinets of the Hitchcock Dynasy - Names, Numbers, and Dates

The second of these two essays builds on the first ('1664 and All That' - see below) and offers a new interpretation of the data concerning the establishment of Thomas Hitchcock as the leading spinet maker.  It explains the somewhat confusing numbering sequences, their relationship to dates of manufacture, and the change on the nameboard from Thomas to John.  As before, the piece is rather long to transfer directly to this page, so please open the PDF below.

1664 and All That 

Some confusion still surrounds the early life and career of Thomas Hitchcock.  When was he active?  Who was ‘Thomas Hitchcock the Elder’?  One of the first histories of keyboard instruments in Britain was written by Edward Rimbault (pub. 1860).  He tells us that “John [!] Hitchcock made these little instruments of a compass of five octaves. Several specimens still exist bearing dates between 1620 and 1640”  It is likely that Rimbault mistook front numbers for dates, and numbers as high as this would indeed have carried the name of John Hitchcock, but it seems surprising that he had apparently never seen Hitchcock spinets carrying numbers which could not possibly have been dates, such as 1460.

Perhaps the most important early historian for keyboard instruments was Alfred Hipkins of Broadwoods.  He compiled the catalogue for the 1885 International Inventions Exhibition, and used this experience for his 1888 book ‘Musical Instruments – Historic, Rare, and Unique’.  It is in this book that Hipkins makes the notorious statement “…Thomas Hitchcock, whose autograph appears in spinets from 1664 and 1703.” 

His famous 1896 book ‘A Description and History of the Pianoforte’ repeats this as “Thomas Hitchcock’s written dates found within instruments made by him cover the long period between 1664 and 1703.”  But he then goes on to note that Hitchcock was the first to number his instruments, so he did realise that the numbers on the nameboards were not dates. 

As so often happens, later authors followed these statements as unchallenged facts, and the misunderstanding is repeated in James (1933) and Russell (1959).  Boalch ‘Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord’ (2^nd edition 1974 and presumably 1^st edition 1956) has a variation of the muddle, ascribing ‘1664’ to ‘Thomas the Elder’, and ‘1703’ to ‘Thomas the Younger’.  Even the 3^rd edition (1995) still has the entries, but the editor (Charles Mould) does realise that something is not quite right, and offers the plaintive statement: “…1664 does seem early for a wing spinet in London, and the date may have been misread.  If it were possible to locate this, and the other early Hitchcock instruments, it would be possible to be more precise about the identity and dates of the members of the Hitchcock family in the early years of their workshops.” 

So it was that, having kept a low profile since 1885, the mysterious ‘1664 Hitchcock’ emerged from the shadows.  This is the story of an important little spinet – it is my privilege to be part of the story.

The essay is a bit long to transfer to this page directly, so please open the PDF below.  All comments welcome!

  Some of you may have followed the construction - starting from a pile of wood - of this replica of a remarkable and important instrument.  The spinet is now complete and playing well, and has gone to its new home in the Sigal  Music Museum in South Carolina.   Please see the Spinet Page for the story.

About the 'Webmaster' (David Hackett)

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 now happily retired, I am able to spend a bit more time enjoying them - and encouraging others, I hope..