French polishing and re-polishing of upright and grand pianos. Veneer and casework repairs. Please note, we do not spray finish, but carry out all work by hand.
We also specialise in antique snooker tables, billiards tables, antique snooker dining tables, and antique furniture for sale. Each piece we sell is carefully restored by hand, using natural materials, and the best quality products available.
Snooker and billiards items include: antique snooker tables, billiards tables and pool tables, antique snooker dining tables, antique snooker scoreboards, cue racks and accessories, and games room furniture.
Our antique furniture for sale includes: antique dining tables, sets of dining chairs, armoires and wardrobes, antique cupboards, sideboards and dressers, and architectural antiques.
Sourcing Service. If you can’t find the piece you are looking for, please ask about our free sourcing service for antique furniture, snooker tables and accessories.
We provide a French polishing and restoration service for your own antique furniture, snooker and billiards tables and pianos. Details in ‘Services’
Snooker Table Hire We have antique snooker tables available for hire, please see the page under ‘Services’.
Brown’s is based in a beautiful converted barn in the village of Cardington, near Bedford, which has excellent travel links, close to the A1 and M1, and half an hour’s drive from the M25. Please click on the ‘Contact’ page for postcode.
Please phone or email us before travelling, as we sometimes carry out French polishing away from the workshop, and would like to ensure that someone is available to help you. Thank you.
Music Festival for performers and guests Our 10th
18-06-2022 12:30PM
The Morecambe Bay Piano Group was set up to extend
11-12-2021 01:00PM
The Morecambe Bay Piano Group was set up to extend
08-01-2022 01:00PM
The Morecambe Bay Piano Group was set up to extend
12-02-2022 01:00PM
Tuning Temperaments
How many piano tuning temperaments are there?
There are countless variations, but most fall within three major categories;
1. Meantone, which generally concentrated the dissonance into a few unusable intervals (often called "wolf" intervals), so that the others could be Just. These are often called "restrictive" tunings, since there are certain intervals that are not usable. Good intervals are really good, bad ones are really bad. The Meantone era was approx. 1400-1700
2. Well-Temperament, which gives more consonance to the most often used keys, and more dissonance to the lesser used ones. Though not equal, these tunings are "non-restrictive" because all intervals can be used. The intervals range from Just to barely acceptable. Well-temperament refers to a genre, not a specific tuning. The Well-Tempered era is approx. 1700-1880.
3. Equal Temperament, which spreads the dissonance equally among all intervals.
There is no difference in consonance or dissonance between any keys, thus, there are no good ones or bad ones. Equal temperament represents a complete average. Dates of its acceptance are debated, but there is ample evidence that it was widely available by 1900 and is the predominate tuning on keyboards, today.
r.
