Babcock square grand

[C. Mike Swendsen]

>I had an unusual piano to examine today - a Babcock square grand, from the
>early ninteenth century.
>
>It has a mahogany case and is fairly small - only 26" deep and 66" wide, with
>5 1/2 octaves of keys.  Most of them don't work; as the hinges are made of
>what appears to be parchment, and they're all rotted.  The strings however
>are in remarkably good condition.
>

The "parchment" is probably the membrane that came from the gut of a mule.
Theat membrane was used in a lot of the Vieneese actions in the early 1800s.
I believe that you can still get it.

>