Grand Piano
Friedrich Carl Wilhelm Lemme German
Not on view
Lemme was an organist and keyboard builder (clavichords, grand and square pianos) in the town of Brunswick. He wrote a guide to keyboard instruments that was published in 1802. Lemme learned to build instruments from his father and his son, Charles, would later move to Paris and establish himself as a musical instrument builder there.
Technical description: mahogany and crossbanded mahogany veneer case on four square, tapered legs; panel and frame lid; wrestplank of beech, veneered; unpierced tuning pins; soundboard not laminated; compass FF-f3 (61 keys), ivory naturals with black-painted molded fronts, ebony slips over black-stained accidental blocks; 1 knee lever, operable by either knee, lifting dampers by raising rack in which they are suspended; German action with escapement, no check; damper jacks guided by wood and leather rack over strings, jacks cylindrical for bottom 2/3 of length, cylinders passing through holes in leather lower guide and resting on leather-lined wood blocks glued to key levers; double strung throughout, none wound. (L. Libin 1976)
