Broadwood Grand - A435?

[John Musselwhite]

>This morning I inspected an 1884 John Broadwood & Sons Drawing Room
>Grand.  This is the first time a piano technician has looked at it since
...
>Question 1:  To what pitch was it designed to be tuned?

Here is an extract from an article in the Journal a few years ago about how
pitch "standards" have changed... perhaps it might help?

---------------------------------------------------------
1874    A=454.7   London. Fork representing the highest pitch used
                  in Philharmonic concerts. The highest pitch used
                  by the Broadwood Piano Co.
1876    A=446.7   London. Concert pitch
1877    A=449.9   London. Standard fork used by Collard Piano Co.
1878    A=451.9   London. British Army regulations. Pitch for Wind
                  instruments.
1879    A=449.7   London. Pitch of the Opera Orchestra at Covent
                  Garden during performance
1879    A=454.7   London. Tuning fork used by Steinway & Sons to
                  tune pianos in London.
1879    A=457.2   New York. From a tuning fork used by Steinway &
                  Sons.
1880    A=444.9   London. Her Majesty's Opera.
1880    A=446.2   London. Tuning fork used by John Broadwood and
                  Co. for in-house tunings but NOT for public
                  concerts.
---------------------------------------------------------

That was a fascinating article... unfortunately it doesn't say which issue
and who the author was in the bit I typed out back then.

                John

John Musselwhite, RPT               Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com              sysop@67.cambo.cuug.ab.ca