THanx for the memories, Fred!!! :) Michelle stranges@oswego.edu (PS- you wanna buy the one I saw??) --On Friday, January 3, 2003 9:53 AM -0700 "Fred S. Sturm" <fssturm@unm.edu> wrote: > 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 > > > > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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