Broadwood and Sons is an English piano manufacturer, founded in 1728 by Burkat Shudi, and continued after his death in 1773 by John Broadwood.
John Broadwood, a Scottish joiner and cabinetmaker, came to London in 1761 and began to work for the Swiss harpsichord manufacturer Burkat Shudi. He married Shudi's daughter eight years later, and became a partner in the firm in 1770. As the popularity of the harpsichord declined, the firm concentrated inc...
more
Broadwood and Sons is an English piano manufacturer, founded in 1728 by Burkat Shudi, and continued after his death in 1773 by John Broadwood.
John Broadwood, a Scottish joiner and cabinetmaker, came to London in 1761 and began to work for the Swiss harpsichord manufacturer Burkat Shudi. He married Shudi's daughter eight years later, and became a partner in the firm in 1770. As the popularity of the harpsichord declined, the firm concentrated increasingly on the manufacture of pianos, abandoning the harpsichord altogether in 1793. Broadwood's son, James Shudi Broadwood, had worked for the firm since 1785, and in 1795 the firm began to trade as John Broadwood & Son. When Broadwood's third son, Thomas Broadwood, became a partner in 1808, the firm assumed the name of John Broadwood & Sons Ltd, which it retains to this day.
Broadwood produced his first square piano in 1771, after the model of Johannes Zumpe, and worked assiduously to develop and refine the instrument, moving the wrest...
less
