Square Piano

The organ and piano builder Johann Matthäus Schmahl (1734-1793) took over his father's organ building workshop based in Ulm after his death and devoted himself to piano and harpsichord building. The table piano was built around 1770, has a harp-shaped case and stands on three legs. Black lower keys and white upper keys are more unusual than the reverse, but have the same effect: in low light conditions, the keys are easy to distinguish. The table piano can be transposed by a semitone using a lever that shifts the keyboard, and has five hand pulls on the front panel to switch different dampers on and off. The note names are written next to the tuning pins to help identify them. The table piano has a hammer action without release and a range of more than 4 octaves (C-f'“”), and it is single-strung.