henri and henr

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Alex. By all means use them as you will. Yes this was a fairly short 
instrument. Not very long at all, yet because of the configuration it 
managed very long bass strings for the size of the instrument. It was 
straight strung as well... fanned slightly really.  An interesting piano 
with a very charming sound.

Cheers
RicB

Thanks a lot for the photos Richard. Can I add them to my site? Funny that Henri did pianos with the bent side going the wrong way as well as "normal" ones... Maybe he tried the inverted ones first and people wouldn't buy them....
The idea was basically the same as Henri Pape's : striking the cord towards the soundboard rather than away, and getting rid of the need to cut through the soundboard to pass the hammers through. So you can get more soundboard into a smaller piano, which was one of Pape's obsessions. Pape also claims that having the soundboard lower down in the case of a piano makes it more solid. Pape got this result by using a down-striking action, Herz put the strings under the soundboard.
In the case of "my" Herz, it's a concert 2.45m. What was "yours" Richard? It looks shorter.
 
Alexander