fortepiano.co.uk

Early keyboards maintenance and information website.

Professional services provided:

• Tuning (maintenance, concerts and recordings)

• Repairs

• Removals

• Assessment and Condition reports

• Quick reports at auctions pre-views

• Strings, both plain and covered made to order

• Bespoke wrest (tuning) pins replicas

• Harpsichord and square piano hire for concerts and films

Please make your enquiries to the following email: cesar@fortepiano.co.uk, or to the mobile number +44 7463325335. I normally attend all the south of England but occasionally I travel to Wales and the Midlands, and even internationally. I also can attend enquiries through video-calls.

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This is also an information service for restorers, players, owners, amateurs and researchers into Pianos built BEFORE 1837 and similar important historical instruments.

In this website you will find a Register of Extant Broadwood Grands and provide some information about research and conservation of early stringed keyboards.

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Enquiries about Broadwood Grand pianos built BEFORE 1837 can be forwarded via email to:

cesar@fortepiano.co.uk. We are not affiliated to any institution and any advice is provided free and 'as it is' and is intended to be just a rough guide for anyone interested in the world of early keyboards. If you need professional advice or consultation, please contact me at the email address above.

Cesar Hernandez

RESEARCHABLE ONLINE DATABASES

Boalch-Mould. A research database of harpsichords and clavichords and their makers, 1440-1925.

Clinkscale online. A research database dedicated to the worldwide cataloging of pianos built before 1860

RECOMMENDED PUBLICATIONS. In no specific order.

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Artifacts in Use. The paradox of restoration and the conservation of organs. John R, Watson, OHS Press in assoc. with Colonial Williamsburg. Don't be mislead by the mention of organs, all the principles of this book apply to early keyboards in general. If you intend to restore an instrument, you should know the ethical (and some technical) problems that are involved. From the back of the book: 'Some historical astifacts are best preserved behind glass in museum exhibits, but what about objects that only reveal their full meaning through use? Artifacts in Use merges the goals of conventional restoration with the values, sensibilities, and methods of restorative conservation to describe a holistic form of preservation'. I highly recommend this book and basically any of this author.

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Abate Wood in Rome: the ingegnosissimo mattematico who made the first pianoforte ‘that was brought to England’.

Patrizio Barbieri

Early Music, Volume 46, Issue 3, August 2018, Pages 501–516. I started my own investigation on Father Wood, as I would not believe he was an invention of Charles Burney, so I thought I will start with any institution In Rome that may have had links to England. I came across the Venerable English College in Rome, so I contacted the archivist, who kindly confirmed that Father Wood and his brother were students there. He provided me with a copy of the register, but he also told me that Patrizio Barbieri already did that research. I found it fascinating (as most of his other publications) and therefore I recommend it here. Louis or Lewis Wood was born at the Jacobite court in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, on 11 November 1709, and died at Frascati, near Rome, on 23 June 1755. His father, Laurence Wood, was the doctor to James II in exile. C. Hernandez.

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The Keyboard Stringing Guide, Jean Louchet. edited by Lulu.com. Available through Amazon. This guide is a very complete resource for those who want to know and understand the nitty-gritty of stringing. Starts with more or less easy explanations but at some point it goes into hard maths and physics calculations. There are some bugs, like some decimal commas instead of points and a few other minor typos in the formulas but nothing that can confuse a physicist.

Strings. Interpreting wire gauges, by Paul Poletti. One of my favourite researchers who has brought light into the rather obscure topic of stringing. We highly recommend any of his publications.

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The Art of Tuning. A self-Guided Manual for Piano Tuning, Design, Action Regulation, and Repair from mid-19th-Century France by Claude Montal. Translated by Fred Sturm, RPT. The original text of the book written by Montal (the father of piano tuning for blind people) in 1836 with the updates of 1865.

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A Treatise on the Art of Pianoforte Construction, by Samuel Wolfenden. Published by Hecksher & Co. Reprinted by photolitho from the original edition of 1916 together with the supplement of 1927.

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Contemporary Theory of Conservation. Salvador Muñoz Viñas. Edited by Routledge. I recommend this to anyone who wants to acquire a solid base in conservation theory, or to update their principles to the 21st century. Everything is questioned in the book, including - believe it or not, and with good reasoning - the principle of reversibility.

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Piano, by David Crombie. A Photographic History of the World's Most Celebrated Instrument. Published by Miller Freeman Books. In this book you will find a history of its devolpment and numerous atypical pianos.

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Ruckers, by Grant O'Brien. Published by Cambridge University Press. Though this book is devoted to the harpsichords and virginals built by the famous Ruckers family, the insights, approach to study, etc. are relevant to any person interested in early keyboards. O'Briens contribution to the study and research of pre-19th Century stringed keyboards are capital for the understanding of the pianofortes.

The British Art Piano and Piano Design Vol I. by G S Gadd. Published by The Very Yellow Press, 18 The Green, Twickenham TW2 5AA.

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Broadwood Square Pianos, Michael Cole. Published by Tatchley Books, 334 Prestbury Road, Cheltenham GL52 3DD. A must-have for anyone interested on fortepianos.

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The Stringing, Scaling and Pitch of Hammerflugel built in the Southern German and Viennese Traditions 1780-1820, by Michael Latcham. Published by Haags Gemeentemuseum,Stadhouderslaan 41 NL-2517's-Gravenhage,Netherlands.

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The Care of Historic Musical Instruments. Edited by Robert L. Barclay. Code of ethics, guidelines etc. for conservation and restoration of instruments mostly from the point of view of museums. Pdf file can be find for free on the net.

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The Piano-Forte, by Rosamond Harding. (Pianos to 1851) Published by Hecksher and Co. To get a hardback copy (£15 plus postage), please email me at the address found at the bottom of this page.

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The Early Pianoforte, by Stewart Pollens. (Pianos to 1763) Published by Cambridge University Press. 1995 ISBN 0 521 41729 5.

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The Pianoforte in the Classical Era, by Michael Cole. (Pianos 1760-1830) Published by Clarenden Press Oxford. 1998. ISBN 0 19 816634 6.

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Makers of the Piano 1720-1820, by M N Clinkscale. Published by Oxford University Press. 1993. ISBN 0 19 816323 1.

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A History of Pianoforte Pedalling, by David Rowland. Published by Cambridge University Press. 1993. ISBN 0521 40266 2.

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The Cambridge Companion to The Piano, by David Rowland. Published by Cambridge University Press. 1998. ISBN 0 521 47470 1.

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Keyboard Instruments in Eighteenth Century Vienna, by Richard Maunder. Published by Clarendon Press Oxford. 1998. ISBN 0 19 816637 0.

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A Handbook of Historical Stringing Practice, by M Rose & D Law. Published by Malcolm Rose and David Law. 1991. The Workshop, English Passage,Lewes,BN7 2AP. ISBN 0 9518590 05.

PUBLICATIONS PRESENTLY OUT OF PRINT:

Company of pianos, by Richard Burnett. Finchcocks Press. Includes 1 CD (a copy might be available through finchcocks.co.uk)

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Clementi,his life and Music, by Leon Plantinga. Published by Oxford University Press. 1977. ISBN0 19 315227 4.

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Broadwood by Appointment, A History, by David Wainwright. Published by Quiller Press. 1982. ISBN 0 907621 10 4

Valuation and Restoration of early keyboards.

Warning: If you are buying or selling an instrument containing ivory, be sure that it has been registered for a CITES exemption certificate:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/dealing-in-items-containing-ivory-or-made-of-ivory

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Valuation is a difficult matter as some instruments are unique and some others were mass produced. Some were kept in good conditions and some other were neglected. I find there are very few rules of thumb for valuation and probably this is the reason why so few people do it. Auction houses may provide estimates but sometimes the final price could be far from the predicted. As with most antiques, the scarcity and condition is the most important points to consider. Another point is the presence of working original parts, specially leather hammer covers and soundboards. A cracked but original soundboard would be preferred to a modern replacement by an experienced restorer. In the case of pianos, squares of about 1810 - 1815 start to be less sought after than previous ones. Those made in the 1820s and 1830s are the most common and often you can find them for free, usually unrestored or badly restored, but sometimes you can get a playable one whose owners are looking for someone sympathetic to have them for free. If bought, the price is usually less than five hundred pounds. Any money spent in their restoration will never be payed back if you want to sell the instrument, certainly. A playable instrument usually can be found for much less. If you want to find out if what you have could be valuable, you can see online the archives of most auction houses, or send us a few photographs. We don't give valuations but we could say if the instrument has some potential interest to someone.

Grand pianos are better valued than squares and we give the same advice: look online and/or talk to collectors. And have always as much details as you can, like make, serial number, date, compass, a list of broken or missing parts (like the pedal[s]), if it looks like it has been restored in the last 50 years, etc. If you want to submit photos, take one overall shot, then details of the hammers, dampers, soundboard, nameboard and tuning pins, and try to use a high resolution, as it may be necessary to check some details. A video of the instrument playing a few notes can be very revealing.

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Restoration

A typical restoration of a square piano, could range from five to eight thousands pounds in UK, and that could include replacing hammer hinges, restringing, realigning bent or broken parts, replacing action and dampers cloths, securing lid hinges and some other repairs like mending pedals, lids, etc. But please take this as a very-very rough idea as every restorer have their own way of quoting. Some restorers do not give quotes, but estimates, with the final sum depending on the work that actually have been done and this will be supported by a report with photographs, in most cases.