William Stodart square piano ca. 1822 full restoration begun October 2025
Will update. This instrument is in my Pennsylvania workshop. Work on it will pause from November through May.
Longman & Broderip Single Manual Harpsichord 1787 8’8’4′
Much of the summer and into Fall of 2025 was spent working on a single manual harpsichord, Longman & Broderip #660, 1787. You can find its lineage in the online Boalch database. This beauty came to Lichtfield Connecticut from London not long after it was made. The names of owners and those who have worked on it can be found on the lowest key. L&B #660 had been restored by Paul Irvin some 30 years ago, and was due for more love. It came to me after spending a short time in another restoration shop, which had restrung the two 8’s registers in non-historic wire and quilled the two 8′ jacks with black delrin. The 4′ had not been installed/strung by either Irvin or the more recent shop. Note that there is not and never has been a buff type of stop. Time had taken its toll on the wood of the case and trim moldings. A hinge had broken, the keyboard showed a checkered history of replacement keytops and…well, let’s just say again that I spent much time working on the instrument from June through September! I restrung the instrument with Stephen Birkett’s historic wire after the two of […]
Unfretted Older ZHI Clavichord Upgrade
This instrument entered my workshop for the third time! I first encountered it many years ago and made some repairs in the owner’s home. Later, they were moving and asked me to take it on consignment. I made some more improvements and it sold, but noted to myself that someday it deserved more. Well, it came back after many happy years with that buyer, so it was time to improve it more before sending it on to the next buyer. This design had some major issues. For one, each pair strings for a single pitch/note looped around the hitchpin instead of having two separate hitchpins. In the bass, the hitchpin rail was thin and of a weak material that had begun to fail, so the hitchpins would lean forward and the strings slide off. I mapped the string routing carefully (very critical for clavichords) and changed the single hitchpin set up for the first octave to double hitchpins. The case was also cupping significantly, an inherent problem with the case design and construction. I added a custom iron T-bar under the bottom board, painted to match the wood of the bottom board. While it added significant weight, the instrument should […]
Restoration of Senftleben Virginal / Spinet
Late Spring 2025: This little instrument was the darling of a Charleston area family since it was new many decades ago. I had honestly never seen one of these before, nor heard of the firm. There was a lot of problem solving to do. It received many jack repairs, leather plectra, new strings, new soft felt for the drop down moderator, along with the full spa treatment for keyboard, case, soundboard, etc. Initially the low bass tone proved unsatisfactory, so Stephen Birkett made some custom twined strings for the bottom several notes. They proved a massive success!
Restoration of Flemish single by Ferdinand Pointer for IPC Savannah
As soon as the server will let me update photos, you can see the restored Flemish Single by Ferdinand Pointer project completed this spring (2025).
The instrument had suffered greatly in high humidity and required substantial case and soundboard repairs, as well as cosmetics. The case had been bashed about a bit, and the soundboard had splits and movement requiring repairs as well as infilling the soundboard decor. The Flemish papers on the lid were compromised in sections, so replacement bits were carefully fit in and stained to match the rest (with tea!). Black filigree damaged on the original were filled in by hand.
Converted into a 415/550 transposer. Restrung with Birkett wire (yum!), regulations, etc. etc., the full works.
Ugly duckling into singing swan!
Westfield Center Guest Presenter at Cornell CCHK Workshop
July 30-August 2, 2024: I was delighted to be invited to do a presentation at the Cornell Center for Historic Keyboards under the auspices of the Westfield Center for Keyboard Studies with my Hood Acker replica of an 1816 Nannette Streicher fortepiano. Attendees at the Workshop included many piano technicians wishing to learn about early pianos as well as students of and performers on early pianos. I gave a slide presentation and discussion of the place of a piano like my replica both within the Stein/Streicher piano building legacy and instruments of today, along with views into the process of construction. I then played 3 compositions by Nannette Streicher on my piano that demonstrated how it reflected well the Stein/Streicher touch and tonal aesthetic choices and design.
Debut concert on commissioned Acker harpsichord with Savannah Baroque
Savannah Baroque presented “A Baroque Celebration” featuring the debut of a highly decorated new harpsichord by ensemble member and harpsichord builder Anne Acker on March 7, 2023, 7:30 p.m. in the fantastic acoustic of St. Francis of the Islands, 590 Walthour Rd, Savannah, 31410. The program included joyful, celebratory, and dance inspired works. Along with more familiar names, the program continued the ensemble’s tradition of including works by long neglected brilliant women composers. The harpsichord was commissioned by a client in California so this will be the only chance to hear and see it before it leaves Savannah. Savannah Baroque members Marcy Brenner, viola da gamba and Ann Cafferty, baroque violin joined Anne playing the new harpsichord.
Reviving Nannette Streicher, Part 1: The 1816 Streicher piano replica project
Published in The Piano Technicians Journal (vol. 65, no. 2, Feb. 2022, pp 15-18): The first half of an article I wrote about my journey in completing a replica of an 1816 fortepiano by the famed piano builder Nannette Streicher that was begun by a mentor and friend, Margaret Hood, but who sadly passed away too young before its completion. Interestingly, the veneer of Cuban mahogany comes from a log, gifted to me by a Miami sculptor in my days there, that I sent to Margaret and that she sawed herself for the veneer. Now it has come back to me. The instrument debuted at the Boston Early Music Festival in 2019 and is now part of my personal collection.
Inaugural Concert of 2021 Acker harpsichord commissioned by Central United Methodist Church of Florence, SC
Savannah Baroque Members Anne Acker, harpsichord and Marcy Brenner, viola da gamba and tenor viol will play works by anonymous, Dowland, Kerll, Froberger, Marais,Sweelinck, Bach, and Vivaldi and others, for the inaugural concert of the 2021 Acker harpsichord commissioned by Central United Methodist Church of Florence, SC. In person limited attendance. 265 West Cheves Street, Florence, South Carolina 29501 | p: 843-662-3218 April 17, 2021 Central United Methodist Church 265 West Cheves St. Florence, SC 29501 3 p.m.
Hood/Acker Fortepiano after Nannette Streicher, 1816
I had the pleasure and duty to take on the completion of Margaret Hood’s unfinished last piano. After all, it is a design by a woman, Nannette Streicher, daughter of the famous piano Viennese maker Andreas Stein, the replica was begun by a woman, so, as I told Margaret’s husband after her too early passing, a woman needs to finish it. I had it playing for its debut at the 2019 Boston Early Music Festival, but have continued to refine it’s workings, and plan to restring it this coming summer with Stephen Birkett’s Historic Music Wire and releather it with historically made leather from Jason Leininger. then look out! I’m practicing my Schubert!