Mathushek spinet grand

[stranges@Oswego.EDU]

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
>
>
>
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