Mason & Hamlin (giant)

[stanwood]

>Hi David

>In my conversation today with Bill Koenigsberg (Concord, MA) a collector and
>devotee of ampico Masons, he recollects looking at the actual factory
>delivery records of the serial numbers and he can recall there being around
>150 CC's made.

>This model 1902 "CC" probably didn't have the tension resonator, (introduced
>in 1905) which may mean this piano  was a predecessor to the CC, possibly a
>C?  Your figure of  9' 4 1/2" could also indicate an earlier version, as the
>final size for the CC ended up around 9' or 9'1" I believe. How did you
>identify this as a CC?  Did you actually see it originally written on the
>plate as a CC?

>David Sanderson

Hi David,

I'll have to ask Peter Mohr More about this this.  (the CC)
It does have turnbuckles but of the early open type, not the barrel type.
Another interesting aspect of this instrument is that the blank that the
keys was made up of horizontal laminations of sugar pine sandwiched with
thinner layers of mahagony veneer.  It is very wide at the tail.  This makes
the amount the the case curves in from the treble very slight compared to
what we are used to seeing.  The tone is sort of like what you might imagine
very large late victorian vintage Martin quitar might sound like.

Suggested nicknames for this monster piano, Imperial CC, or CCC!

David Stanwood