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Another interesting thing about early tuning pins is that they had no becket holes. Instead, the wire had a 90 degree bent that was laid on the pin and the initial 10-12 coils were to hold the string tight to the pin. Then the pin was inserted and the remainder of the wire wound on. That's the original reason for the stylistic configuration of tuning pin coils on restored and reproduction early harpsichords some early pianos,

'Hammer'?

Not when you bring tools on a flight, folks! Always refer to the tuning tool as a 'tuning lever'. Trust me on this.

Square grands? Sure, I'll tune them, when called upon to do so, if the thing is in any kind of reasonable condition. And that is very very rarely. I'd say that out of 15 calls to tune square grands, only one of them is even capable of being tuned. If it is in all original condition, and has never been re-strung, chances are excellent that it can't be tuned. I've written more 'death certificates' for square grands than receipts for tuning them. I use an extension-hammer, remove the dampers (...usually a simple thing to do; one thumbscrew and they lift out easily), and tune away. Yes, I have long arms! I also concur with tuning below A-440. Generally at least 20-cents flat (roughly A-435), and if the piano is already horribly flat, I'll level it out with mebbe a 10-cent raise maximum. Mostly, the people just want it usable, which is all they can get from these creatures.

And that story about burning the squares? True. I think it was the 1905 American Piano Retailers convention. They asked their members to bring along any squares left in their inventory built a pyramid 50-feet tall, and burned them to the ground to signify the 'end' of the square grand. No great loss. I've seen some desks, some planters, and a bookshelf (turned on end, vertical) made from the excellent looking cabinets. The legs have also been turned into tables and lamps that are quite distinctive...they are out there!

Here! I went searching....
-Jeff

We are almost upon the anniversary of a unique American musical event. On the evening of May 24, 1904, piano dealers piled a heap of the older-style square grand pianos on an abandoned beach near Atlantic City, New Jersey and set them on fire. The Great Square Piano Bonfire, front page news in the New York Times and hundreds of other newspapers, had been seven months in the making.



Professor William E. Hettrick of Hofstra has written extensively about the event, and composer Wajid Yaseen contributes this pithy summary based on his work:

“. . . one of the most notorious incidents of wholesale destruction of musical instruments was the burning of a large number of old square pianos at Atlantic City [actually Chelsea Heights], New Jersey, on the evening of May 24, 1904. The event was entirely the creation of Harry Edward Freund, the editor of The Musical Age, a New York trade journal aimed chiefly at piano dealers and among the many concerns that Freund raised in his weekly periodical, was the claim that dealers were suffering losses by having to give trade-in allowances on their old, outmoded square pianos. His solution to the problem was to stage a public demonstration of the worthlessness of the squares in a way that would generate maximum publicity and his campaign began in The Musical Age on November 7, 1903, with his editorial “Burn the Old Squares at the Atlantic City Convention.” Freund made sure that the bonfire ceremony was described in detail, especially the point at which he set his torch to the pile of kerosene-soaked pianos, reported to number one thousand.”

Many piano dealers offered credit terms, another factor in the economic mix underlying the stunt ostensibly about obsolescence.

Those of us who live in homes of 1904ish vintage can understand the popularity of square grand pianos even after their manufacture ceased: they fit in modest parlors and leave room for sofas, settees, whatnots, and the odd aspidistra. The modern grand piano may be easier to tune and louder, but it is so, well, piano-shaped, and rooms are not.

So this holiday weekend, take a minute from commemorating our military heroes and remember this uniquely American musical event, the Great Square Grand Piano Bonfire.

Jerry Lee Lewis, eat your heart out.

For the complete story, see Hettrick, William. Harry Edward Freund’s Great Square – Piano Bonfire: A Tale Told in the Press, .Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society 30 (2004): 57-97,

It had precedents. The French Conservatory burned most of their harpsichords at one time, which makes old French harpsichords precious and rare today, as during the French Revolution, harpsichords were confiscated and sent to the Conservatory.

Ah yes, the PITA factor. I took on a few in my younger-and-dummer years. I learned quickly that many of the old wooden action parts could not hold a reliable glue repair. 'Came near to getting sued on one old nightmare, and decided that life was just too short.

I did have one dear old lady who had a sense of humor as large as her bank account, and I approximated some sort of tuning for her on her huge old four-legger for several years, but have done none of them since.

Dear rxd , I really grasped the concept for a "hammer", thank you for the clarification. In Russian, it sounds like a hammer. I was not clear why the key adjustment named if it's don't nailed. Now it is clear that, initially, for harpsicord it's literally acted as a tool for fixing damaged and needed fixing pins nailed it's, In Russian, the tuning hammer: "настроечный ключ"

Nailed it!!