Viewing in London by appointment. Please get in touch at david@davidgerrard.com
Happy to deliver anywhere in the UK by negotiation. If you pay the asking price and the destination is ground floor and not too far from London, it might be free.
Quotations for worldwide shipping with fine art specialist packing/crating can be arranged. The buyer pays the freight forwarder directly.
Part trades for high-quality early keyboard instruments may be considered in relation to higher value sales. (If you have a Skowroneck sitting unused, I want to hear from you... no revival or kit models, and no square pianos.) At the very least I’ll be interested to hear about your instrument.
Sorry, no payment in instalments.
A magnificent double modelled on the Boston MFA's 1736(?) Hemsch, originally the shop/demonstration model of the late Malcolm Rose. With only two subsequent owners, it has been been carefully looked after throughout its life, with maintenance by the maker and select London technicians. With the exception of finger wear to the lower manual naturals and the inevitable light rubbing to some gilded areas, the condition is extraordinary for its age. Flawless construction, dark and serious sound; a Big French Double for grown-ups.
FF-f3 @ 415, FF-e3 @ 440, 8’8’4’+buff
Keyboards in ebony and bone, keyframes suspended at rear for climatic indifference
Fine soundboard painting and six-legged table stand
Padded transport cover included
241 x 92 cm
£18,500
Small double-strung Italian with an exceptionally sweet sound; an early work of a maker now celebrated for his Italians. Casework, stand, and soundboard in cedar. Very light – really an “inner” case instrument with a lightweight lid added. Vertical “outer”-style spine battens added for lid support and to make the spine edge less vulnerable in transport. Age-appropriate cosmetic wear, but fully restrung, requilled in Delrin, jacks resprung in PEEK, ready to go.
8’8’ in brass, 415, transposes to 440 with removal of d3. As such, currently tuned AA, C-d3 to facilitate transposition (giving BB-c#3 chromatic @ 440), but can of course be tuned to GG/BB short octave bass if transposition is not a priority.
197 x 78 cm
SOLD
I was told by the previous owner that this instrument was built in the EMS workshop as a demonstration model. In any case, this is a well-kept example of their popular “baby Italian” kit, now fully refurbished and with some significant upgrades from standard. Vigorous and convincing sound. Restrung in yellow and red brass, requilled in Delrin, keyboard properly finished with scribe lines and bevelling, and the short octave keylevers crossed into diatonic order at rear in order to allow transposition (see photos). With the removal of the c3 key, the keyboard can be shifted one semitone to the right, requiring retuning of just one semitone for bass C/D/F/G rather than the major third errors that result from shifting a standard short octave keyboard.
EMS/RWC described this design as suitable for 415 or 440 tuning. Really, though, the scaling is on the shorter side of 440, leaving 415 usable but rather slack. Sound and tuning stability are both improved by tuning to 440 in the native position. As such, this instrument is best used as C/E-c3 @ 440 (transposing to C/E-b2 @ 466), but C/E-c3 @ 415 (transposing to C/E-b2 @ 440) is also possible.
Transport case in very clean condition, original wooden stand, and X-frame metal stand included. The supplied wooden stand is somewhat on the spindly side, and in the situations for which this instrument is particularly suited (outreach workshops, difficult access/frequent moves) something more stable was desired. The metal stand travels flat, sets up in seconds, and fits between locator plates on the instrument’s baseboard, providing a much more child- and public-proof solution.
Instrument 141 x 69 cm, transport case 146 x 74 x 19 cm
£2,650
A lovely triple-fretted clavichord that compares very favourably with the original on which it is modelled. Oak case, keyboard with fabulous yew naturals. Refurbished by Huw Saunders approximately 10 years ago, condition excellent all round. Currently strung in brass at 440, with twined strings in the bass for C thru A. Also highly suitable for an iron stringing at quint pitch – see Darryl Martin’s 2016 GSJ analysis of the original.
105 x 36 cm
£3,750