clementi square piano

The owner of this square piano also has three other instruments; a Bluthner grand piano, a spinet & a clavichord; and provides me with one of my more interesting days out. It was recently purchased from a specialised auction and I was asked to generally improve the sound and playing characteristics. The first problem was removal of the keyboard and hammer assembly, otherwise known as the ‘action’. By definition, these instruments are all handmade and are sometimes a little ‘Heath Robinson’ in their execution. This was followed by removal of the dampers. One of the biggest problems when working on anything of this age is that if you so much as look at it, it will break. If you dare to touch it, well........

The hammers were reshaped, dampers recovered with new felt and other repairs were completed. Then the task of regulating begins. This term covers all the tiny adjustments necessary to ensure that the different levers work together to give a uniform touch and tone and on a modern piano is achieved by adjustment buttons and screws throughout the action. However, when this piano was made they either didn’t realise how much wear and tear it would be subjected to during it’s long life, or didn’t know how attractive woodworm, moth, spiders, damp etc find pianos because they didn’t provide any means for adjustment. So quite a long time later, after much shimming shaving bending stretching and finally tuning, the result is in these pictures. And I haven’t had so much fun in years.