Yes, Barrie, The dampers on old square pianos are indeed very small - but then the strings were not long and heavy and so the makers of these instruments used to follow the accepted design of the Harpsichord makers and use a simple piece of bushing cloth type material as a damper. The efficiency of Harpsichord dampers was not really an issue - inefficiency just added to the over-all power output which was very small by modern standards. This was still so in the early 1800s square pianos but the difference from Harpsichords is that the square had two strings per note whereas the Harpsichord only had one string per note per Register. One had simply to activate a second Register to increase the output (similar to the use of the U.C. pedal in a modern Grand). The oldest square piano I maintain is in a Museum and is made by Pohlman (fecit 1776) On this A = 392 (B = 440). Regards Michael G (UK)
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