Broadwood Barless Grand

[fordpiano@earthlink.net]

Some time ago there was some talk of barless grands.  Some were interested in
what they are or how they look.  I thought I had an image of a flat strung
barless grand.  I found the image that I had in mind but it's not exactly a
barless grand.  It's a large flat strung piano with one break in the scale for
a plate strut.  Sort of a transitional barless grand.

  I have scanned three images:  this piano in a plan view, an overstrung large
barless grand in a plan view, and a plan view of a small barless plate from a
patent application.  The image from the patent application is pretty good. 
The other two images are pretty poor - copies of copies, but I think you can
see enough to get the idea.  Richard Brekne has kindly put these up on his
site.  The links are:


                    http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/pics/barlessplate.jpg 
                    http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/pics/flatstrung.jpg 
                    http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/pics/overstrung.jpg 



In my Dover paperback edition of Dolge there are images of a barless grand
plate and barless upright plate.  On pg 75 of my edition.

If you would like to view the patent from which I got the plate image the link
is:

http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=GB2329276&CY=gb&LG=en&DB=EPD

Go to the top of the page and click on the appropriate button - image, text,
or whatever.

It is a UK patent number GB 2329276.  It's a patent for a capo bar
incorporated into a barless plate.  It gives a bit of background on the
barless plate as well.

Phil F



Phillip Ford
Piano Service & Restoration
1777 Yosemite Ave - 215
San Francisco, CA  94124