Name on fall board:

 

1782 John Broadwood

1808 John Broadwood & Sons

 

 

A grand made as a present for the Queen of Spain, the case designed by Thomas Sheraton with Wedgwood medallions (now in the Boston Museum of Fine Art).

 

Main production, the grand and square. Not yet the upright, although the 'upright grand' was introduced - a grand on its end, over 8 ft high. Important customers included the wives of Nelson and Wellington.

 

Firm became 'John Broadwood & Sons', with the introduction of John Broadwood's second son, Thomas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1780 Broadwood reconstructed the square piano, moving the wrest plank and the hitch pin block to the right and fitting an action with under-dampers that were not pushed up to the strings by springs but were counter-weighted. The range of the piano was five octaves and it was patented in 1783. Broadwood began making grands in 1781 with the English action which, with little modification, the firm continued using for over 100 years. There was a sustaining pedal and for something like half a century it was a divided pedal, each half raising its own section of dampers.

The player could depress the pedal easily if he wished. The dampers were the stick types similar to the harpsichord jack but with no plectrum and with a stop rail above.

In 1781 Broadwood shipped to Paris a harpsichord and piano for Clementi's continental concert tour taking in Strasbourg, Munich and Vienna. John Broadwood became sole proprietor of Shudi and Broadwood in the following year. In 1783 he was experimenting with a box-like soundboard, possibly along the lines of the violin principle, and I should think there must have been a sound post or sound posts between the two boards. There is a Broadwood grand of 1787 with the number 203 at the Colt Clavier Collection, probably the oldest by its maker to survive. Although most sources think metal was rarely used in the construction of pianos until a little later than this time, there were small pieces of metal between the wrest plank and belly head just about at the points where the breakers would be expected to be found on later models.

In 1778 Broadwood asked for advice on string tension and length from two experts in physical science at the British Museum. This resulted in the divided bridge for grands taking the place of the continuous bridge which had previously served for both treble and bass, and the adoption of the ninth proportion of the string's length for the striking position, allowing some latitude in the treble. Not all makers took up the divided bridge and it was usual for Viennese pianos to have the undivided bridge up until 1820. The divided bridge had to be implemented of before cross-stringing could be realised. Broadwood extended the compass to five and a half octaves in 1790 as a note in the company's books from 1793 tells us: "We have made some five and a half octave grands these three years past. The first to please Dussek which being liked John Cramer had one." Three years later they made pianos with six octaves for Dussek, going down to the bottom C. Dussek was the first to play with his right side towards his audience, and being rather good looking they had the benefit of his attractive profile. Haydn must have thought much of the English pianos, for after visiting London in 1794 he took back three Broadwood Pianos with him to Vienna. The firm of Broadwood & Son was founded when the oldest son James Shudi joined the firm. Before the end of the century there were 454 piano makers in London. Broadwood produced about 6,000 squares and 1,000 grands between 1780 and 1800. The Industrial Revolution was in full flood and the firm was the first to adopt some of the new methods of production, including a form of assembly line with workmen assigned particular jobs, and it introduced steam power probably early in the nineteenth century. About the turn of the century they were making some 700 pianos annually as against their nearest Viennese rival's 50. Also about this time they became manufacturers to His Majesty and Princesses.

Broadwood's business was thriving and instruments were sent far and wide. A letter of about 1800 says: "The instrument most fashionable here is the Grand Pianoforte sold retail at 70 guineas in plain case and ornamented at 85 guineas. We send many to St. Petersburg and Moscow but we believe that none have found their way to Copenhagen, if you will permit us to send such a one." Another letter of 1802 sounds as if it had been written yesterday, "We hope to be able to send you a small Pianoforte this or next week. At present, from the great and unexpected demand, we have none to sell." Customers did not always pay up even in those days. They wrote to a Dr. Baker of Derby: "if you do not pay within a few days you will be arrested." When, in 1802, Broadwood's were offered a harpsichord in part exchange for a piano they replied: "from their almost total disuse they are unsalable," which shows how completely the harpsichord had fallen from favour within only thirty to forty years. By 1804 James Shudi Broadwood had drawn sketches for a cabinet or fairly large upright which he gave to Southwell, the maker from Dublin. Three years later Southwell made a piano derived from the sketches, fitting it with the sticker action of his own invention. There was fire on the 20th of March 1807 at the Clementi factory, with an estimated capital loss of some £40,000 for which the insurance accounted for £15,000. Broadwood, Clementi's chief rivals, came to his aid, helping him to fulfil orders, and Broadwood's workmen collected enough money among themselves to re-equip Clementi's men with the tools of their trade.