Description

This article is from the Piano General Topics FAQ, by Isako Hoshino rmmpfaq@yahoo.com with numerous contributions by others.

8.3.2] Piano octave spans (All grands unless otherwise noted)

Cristofori (1726) = 164mm
Pohlman (square, 1770) = 178mm
Stein (1780s) = 156, 158, 160mm
Schiedmeyer (1780) = 156mm
Schiedmeyer (1785) = 180mm
Longman & Broderip
(square, 1790) = 169mm
Schantz (1790, 1805) = 160mm
Schmid (1794) = 158mm
Clementi (1805) = 163mm
Erard (Beethoven's
piano, 1803) = 162mm
Walter (1795) = 159mm
Walter (1803) = 153mm
Walter (1815) = 160mm
Streicher (1816) = 158mm
Kirckman (1820) = 162mm
Broadwood (Beethoven's
piano, 1817) = 166mm
Broadwood (1819) = 164mm
Boehm (6 oct) = 158mm
Fritz (c1825 in workshop
of Paul Poletti) = 167mm
Graf (1826, similar to
Beethoven's Graf) = 161mm
J.B. Streicher (1841) = 158mm
Pleyel (1852, cf Chopin's
Pleyel of 1839) = 164mm
Steinway (Hamburg, 1937,
modern range) = 165mm
Bluethner (modern range) = 165mm

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