A few months ago, I think it was Michelle Stranges who brought up the subject of the Mathushek spinet grand. It rang a vague bell with me at the time, but I couldn't place it. Then a couple weeks ago, a "regular" customer called me to tune his piano, and there was my spinet grand (I had tuned it three times before, all at 5 year intervals or so). It's a fascinating instrument, so I'll describe it for the record. I dated it to 1937-8. It is the shape of a square grand, though smaller. Not as deep - I didn't have to stand up and lean over to reach the tuning pins, which are placed at the "back" of the piano like on a square; not much deeper than a deep spinet like an Acrosonic of the same general era. And not as wide - pretty standard piano width, without that extra couple feet or so on the treble side you generally see on squares. Action is standard grand, ie, wippens with repetition levers. There is some curvature of key length, with bass keys shortest, but not so pronounced as on 19th century squares, and the longest keys are perhaps no longer than on a concert grand. Layout of the soundboard/bridge assembly is unlike any 19th century square I ever saw. It resembles an upright laid on its back. IOW, the treble bridge stretches from treble to bass, with its tenor end on the player's left, rather than all being to the player's right in a sharply curved alignment. It is a pretty straight bridge, with a very pronounced fan of strings to attain the length needed in the tenor (from around 90 degrees in top treble to about 30 degrees in tenor, angle to stretcher. Lowest tenor tuning pin is around the middle of the back of the piano). Bass is cross strung, and the bass bridge is parallel (more or less) to the upper treble part of the treble bridge. There are extensions to the soundboard added at both ends of the key board. It actually extends over the last few keys, so that there is a reasonable area of soundboard beyond the ends of both bass and tenor. (Looks like an elegant furniture design, with lovely curves on both ends.) Really a very inventive design, ensuring maximum effective soundboard area, with the bridges more or less down the center of this small soundboard. The result is a very interesting instrument, with a much stronger tone than one would expect from so small an instrument. Horribly high inharmonicity (FAC "A" number in the 13 range) - I suspect due to a pretty low tension scale, chosen so that the piano could be built light - but it tunes reasonably enough. Certainly something that would fit a need: small floor space, but real grand action, and passable sound. Just the thing for the poor struggling musician in a tiny apartment (except it doesn't have a practice/mute pedal). Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico
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