List of Keyboards
Square Piano by Hayt, Babcock & Appleton
This square piano was made by Hayt, Babcock & Appleton in Boston, Massachusetts around 1814-1815. The firm was comprised of Alpheus Babcock, Thomas Appleton, an organ builder, and Charles Hayt, a Boston merchant and was located at 6 Milk Street in Boston, a building known as the Franklin Music Warehouse. This piano has a compass of FF-c4, and English double action, leather hammers, double-string throughout, tuning pins on right, 1 pedal (on center post): dampers, wood frame, and a mahogany case
Credit: Smithsonian
Bentside Spinet by Haward, C
Less than a dozen bentside spinets have been identified with this maker. Queen Anne owned one of Haward's virginals and Samuel Pepys noted in his diary that he "did there like of a little espinette".
Technical description: Double bentside walnut case, deal spine veneered with walnut; on stand of three turned legs; GG/BB-d3, ebony naturals, fronts of key levers stained black, accidentals of solid ivory, two-rail key frame with overhead dip rail, keys guided by wooden slips in rack; jacks guided by punched leather strips above oversize slots in the soundboard and lower guide, simple parchment rose in soundboard. Credit (Douglas Maple 1983)
Upright Piano by Hawkins, J
This upright piano was made by John Isaac Hawkins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1801. Hawkins patented an ingenious small upright piano with a folding keyboard, of which the Smithsonian’s is an example. Other piano experiments were an upright instrument, the Claviol, which bowed the strings, a system of attaching the strings to a nut on a threaded rod, and the use of springs as strings in the bass. Only three of his instruments are known to survive. This piano is serial number 6 and has a compass of FF-f3, Hawkins upright action, felt hammers (originally leather), double-strings, 2 pedals: moderator and swell (which opens shutters in the case below the keyboard), wood frame with iron bars behind the soundboard, straight-strung, and a mahogany veneer case with metal carrying handles
Credit: Smithsonian
Clavichord by Hauser, H
1 manual, C–c3, 8'8'. Rectangular case with recessed keyboard, 1294 (1323) mm wide, 369 (383) mm deep, 126 mm high, 135 mm high with lid. Base made of pine, new, 17 mm thick. Sides made of walnut: the back panel 13 mm thick, the keyboard panel 12 mm thick, the side panels 12 to 12.5 mm thick, with exposed finger joints, the upper edge mitred, resting on the base. Lid made of spruce, smooth, edged with moulded strips, originally fitted with long straps, which are no longer extant; the connection between the lid and the (replaced) keyboard flap was originally secured with a steel strap and wire loop, also replaced, but still present on the front flap. The bridge is made of walnut, 12 mm thick, straight, mortised into the keyboard side and the back panel, with 2 windows, each 58 mm wide and 14 mm high. There is a small compartment to the left of the keyboard. The wood species of the tuning pin block and the attachment strip have not yet been identified. The tuning pin block is located beneath the soundboard and is bent. The attachment strip is 32 mm wide at the side panel and 29 mm wide at the treble end, starting 9 mm above the soundboard. Pegs in 4 rows. On the outer sides of the rows are the note names; in the centre between the pegs are wire numbers, like the signature in black lettering on a red, bordered background and therefore certainly inscribed by the builder.
Credit: Uni of Leipzig
