Mason and Hamlin

Mason & Hamlin is a piano manufacturer in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA.

  • 2.1 Tension Resonator
  • 2.2 Current Models

History

19th century

Mason & Hamlin was founded in 1854 in Boston, Massachusetts. Founders were the music teacher Henry Mason, son of Lowell Mason, the composer of the American national anthem, and Emmons Hamlin, a mechanic and inventor who had worked for the organ and melodeon - contractors Prince & Co. in Buffalo, New York.

They first made ​​only melodeons, then led in 1855 but the organ - harmonium one. This construction placed the bellows vertically and under the pipes, and served as a model for working with vacuum American pipe organ. In the early 1870s, they were regarded as the largest and most important manufacturer of Reeed organs. The company employs approximately 500 employees and built about 200 instruments per week. Mason & Hamlin supplied organs to several well-known composers, especially Franz Liszt, whose name, the Company transferred to its patented Sustain - selection mechanism, similar to the sostenuto in pianos.

Mason & Hamlin began in 1883 and the pianos. Initially they built only upright pianos, which had a patented method of tuning stability, called screw stringer, and should be an improved system over the traditional design with tuning pegs. 1895 Piano Building Department by Richard W. Gertz has been completely reorganized. Gertz was an independent German Piano developers from Germany, who had already designed a new scale for Mason & Hamlin. Gertz was in 1903 appointed Secretary ( Chief Financial Officer ) of the company and then in 1906 became president. He had developed the Tension Resonator for M & H and patented a device under the edges of the casing structure, can be prevented by means of that the soundboard loses its curvature. This device was found in the wings from 1900. The Company shall designate that this facility is currently in all new build pianos Mason & Hamlin.

20th century

At the turn of the 20th century, the "Golden Age" of piano building, were very well-known piano player at Mason and Hamlin under contract, such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, whose 1924 recording of his Second Piano Concerto formed was recorded on a wing of Mason and Hamlin. The composer Maurice Ravel said of the pianos Mason & Hamlin: "While the qualities of the percussion instrument to be preserved, the piano Mason & Hamlin is the concept of the composer also by its exceptional dynamic range, as well as with the quality of its sound. It is not far from a small orchestra. In my opinion, the Mason & Hamlin is a real work of art. " Many piano lovers praise the incurred at the time of Mason & Hamlin pianos.

The piano manufacturing in the United States in 1942 came under the sovereignty of the War Production Board due to the Second World War to a halt. The production of Mason & Hamlin now presented gliders ago. The ownership of the brand Mason & Hamlin changed hands several times in the postwar era. In 1985 she was part of Sohmer. Over the decades, the design of the M & H pianos has been changed so that it no longer the era before the economic crisis in 1929 had almost together with the origins of the classical Mason & Hamlin pianos.

1989 bought the Seattle-based businessman Bernard " Bud " Greer, the Sohmer Company, which also held the trademark rights to George Steck, Knabe and Mason & Hamlin. He acquired the naming rights, the technical specifications and the manufacturing equipment. He had to create these things to a piano factory in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which he had previously purchased by the piano maker Santi Falcone - and of which he also held the Falcone manufacturing specifications and Namenserechte. Greer called the new company, Mason & Hamlin Companies. Greer's goal was the resurrection of the Mason & Hamlin pianos from before the depression and the return to the original specifications including the Gertz'schen scale calculations and the use of the same materials. A few changes were made, including the use of Renner action parts and a little longer keys.

From 1990 to 1994 give approximately 600 pianos, mostly the wing models A and BB, along with some of the model 50 upright pianos Greer filed for bankruptcy in 1996. In 1995, the company Premier Pianos their lead at the Haverhill factory and completed with a core team of several pianos.

Today

1996 Mason & Hamlin was acquired by the Burgett Inc., which also owns the system PianoDisc, a manufacturer of reproduction pianos of the same name. Mason & Hamlin pianos are still manufactured in Haverhill, Massachusetts, sold in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. Mason & Hamlin is a member of NAMM, the International Association of musical instruments, and the PMAI ( Piano Manufacturers Association International).

Tension Resonator

Each Mason & Hamlin piano has a Tension Resonator, a system of steel struts under slight tension, which is anchored to the wood structure of the housing bottom, under the cast iron frame and the strings. In wings of the struts extend from one or two stars. The struts are bolted at specific angles around the housing and the inner contact of the soundboard. The model 50 upright piano has a strut that spans between the two sides of the housing. The manufacturer claims that these efforts bring stability to the housing, which in turn the "crown" ( " crown", usually called in German " Bell" ), ie the camber or curvature of the soundboard benefit come, on which depends the sound of a piano. It stands to reason that the additional stability and voltage to maintain the bell has a direct impact on the ability of the body to reflect the sound of the soundboard and strengthen the power and Tonhaltedauer the piano. Piano technician report that even old pianos Mason & Hamlin retain their bell.

Current Models

Vertical / Upright piano

  • Height: 50 inches
  • Width: 57.67 inches
  • Soundboard area: 2120 square inches
  • Polished Ebony
  • Length: 5 ft 8-1/2 in ( 174 cm)
  • Width: 56.12 in ( 142.5 cm)
  • Surface resonance Floor: 1984.5 square inches
  • Mahogany
  • Pyramid Mahogany
  • Walnut
  • Jacaranda
  • Macassar ebony
  • Bubinga
  • Satin Ebony ( jet black )
  • Polished Ebony
  • Length: 6 ft 4 in
  • Width: 57.67 inches ( 146.5 cm)
  • Surface resonance Floor: 2272.4 square inches
  • Mahogany
  • Pyramid Mahogany
  • Walnut
  • Jacaranda
  • Macassar ebony
  • Bubinga
  • Satin Ebony ( jet black )
  • Polished Ebony
  • Length: 5 ft. 4in. ( 162.6 cm)
  • Width: 57.22 in. ( 145.3 cm)
  • Surface resonance Floor: 1883.4 sq. in.
  • Length: 6 ft. 11 1/ 2 in.
  • Width: 59.14 inches ( 150.2 cm)
  • Surface resonance Floor: 2538.4 square inches
  • Mahogany
  • Pyramid Mahogany
  • Walnut
  • Jacaranda
  • Macassar ebony
  • Bubinga
  • Satin Ebony
  • Polished Ebony
  • Length: 9 ft 4 in ( 284.5 cm)
  • Width 64.44 in ( 163.7 cm)
  • 3645.5 square inches
  • Rosewood
  • Satin Ebony
  • Polished Ebony

The models A and BB are also available as part of the " Monticello Attraction Case Collection". The company also offers a high- Piano, the 50 " high Model 50 All Mason and Hamlin pianos are guaranteed for 12 years.

Swell

Further information and links

  • " Mason & Hamlin Organ and Piano Co. " Illustrated Boston, the metropolis of New England. 1889 Google books
  • " Edward P. Mason. " Massachusetts of today: a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World 's Columbian exposition at Chicago. Columbia Publishing Company, 1892. Google books

Left

  • Mason & Hamlin website
  • Mason & Hamlin Canada website
  • Http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?832737
  • Library of Congress. Six Morceaux, composed Expressly for the Mason & Hamlin Cabinet Organ by LH Southard, 1864
  • Flickr. Wedding photo with Mason & Hamlin organ, 19th c.
  • Piano Builders
  • Company (Massachusetts )
  • Essex County ( Massachusetts)
Types of business entity Negative pressure American Piano Company Chickering and Sons
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