A Remarkable Mason & Hamlin B1 Arrives at the Pianos XXI Workshop

An extraordinary carved grand piano begins a new chapter as we prepare to restore both its musical voice and its remarkable decorative craftsmanship.

Every piano that enters our workshop has a history. Some reveal it through their sound, some through the evidence left by generations of musicians, and occasionally one announces its story before a single note is played. This Mason & Hamlin Model B1 is one of those instruments. It has just arrived at the Pianos XXI workshop, and even among the many historic pianos we encounter, this is an instrument that demands a second look.

The reason is immediately visible. Nearly every part of its wooden case has been transformed into a canvas for carving and ornamentation. The instrument is surrounded by scrollwork, foliage, flowers, masks, winged creatures, and sculptural architectural details. Its massive carved legs terminate in extraordinary animal forms, while the music desk itself is a remarkable work of decorative carving, with two dramatic winged figures facing a central lyre. And behind all of this craftsmanship is something equally important: a Mason & Hamlin grand piano waiting to make music again.

Historic grand pianos were sometimes commissioned or decorated as pieces of furniture as much as musical instruments, but the extent of the carving on this B1 makes it particularly fascinating. Look closely, and the details begin to emerge. The music desk alone could almost be considered a separate work of decorative art. A lyre occupies the center, surrounded by scrolling foliage and flanked by large winged creatures, with floral urns anchoring either side of the composition.

Across the outer case, carved leaves and scrolls flow around portrait-like masks and oval cartouches. Even areas that might normally receive little decoration have been carefully considered. Then there are the legs. They are not merely supports for the instrument, but substantial sculptural compositions in their own right, built from layers of scrolls, shells, foliage, and architectural forms. At floor level, powerful carved animal heads emerge from the structure to form the feet. The keyboard area continues the same visual language with carved geometric panels, decorative moldings, and sculpted figures. Wherever we look, another detail appears.

That presents an unusual challenge for restoration: how do we preserve the history visible in this extraordinary case while returning the entire piano to its proper condition?

As visually spectacular as the case may be, our restoration cannot begin and end with appearance. Underneath it is the musical instrument. Mason & Hamlin was founded in Boston in 1854 and became one of the significant American piano manufacturers of its era. Its grand pianos became known for substantial construction and distinctive engineering, including the company's famous Tension Resonator system.

Opening this B1 reveals that other side of its personality. The golden cast-iron plate, strings, soundboard, bridges, pinblock, action, and keyboard remind us that everything surrounding them ultimately exists to serve a musical purpose. In many ways, our job involves two restorations happening together: one concerns the remarkable object we can see, while the other concerns the instrument we eventually want to hear.

Restoration begins with investigation. Before dismantling an instrument like this, we document what has survived and assess its present condition. We examine the structural and acoustic components, the action and keyboard, the strings and tuning system, and the many individual pieces that make up the case. With this piano, documentation of the cabinetry will be particularly important.

Carved components must be examined individually. Old repairs, losses, cracks, joints, finishes, and previous interventions can provide clues about the life of the instrument. Even apparently minor details may become important once disassembly begins. The objective is not simply to erase age, because age is part of this piano's history. Instead, we need to distinguish between patina worth preserving, deterioration that must be addressed, and previous work that may need to be corrected.

There is a temptation with restoration to judge success by how “new” something looks when the work is finished. That is not our goal here. With an instrument like this Mason & Hamlin, indiscriminate refinishing could remove precisely the character that makes the piano so compelling. The variations in the wood, the darker recesses surrounding the carving, the edges softened through time, and the subtle differences between individual carved elements all contribute to what we see today.

Our approach will therefore be guided by preservation wherever possible. We want the carving to remain carving—not become a surface buried beneath finish. We want the details to remain crisp and dimensional, and we want the wood to retain its depth and warmth. Most importantly, we want the finished piano to still look as though it has lived a life.

At the same time, sentiment cannot determine the mechanical work. A piano must function. As the restoration progresses, we will evaluate the soundboard and bridges, pinblock and tuning system, strings, action, keyboard, and other structural and mechanical components individually. Some original material may deserve preservation, while other components may have reached the end of their useful musical life.

Those decisions will be made as the instrument is examined and dismantled, rather than according to a predetermined recipe. The goal is to retain as much of the piano's identity as possible while restoring the stability, responsiveness, and tonal potential expected of a serious musical instrument. Eventually, the work happening beneath the surface will matter just as much as everything visible on the outside.

This is exactly the kind of project for which we created the Pianos XXI Workshop. Rather than showing only a polished finished piano, we want to document the entire process: the discoveries, the problems, the decisions, the craftsmanship hidden underneath the case, and, inevitably, a few surprises along the way.

Over the coming stages, we will photograph and document this Mason & Hamlin as it is dismantled and examined. We will take a closer look at its construction, its extraordinary cabinetry and carving, its acoustic structure, and its action. Then the rebuilding begins. There will be woodworking and structural work, mechanical restoration and finishing, stringing and action work, regulation and voicing—and many hours when progress cannot be measured by photographs alone.

For the moment, however, we are resisting the temptation to jump ahead. This is how the Mason & Hamlin has arrived at our workshop: before restoration, before disassembly, and before we know every secret hidden beneath its case.

There is something valuable about documenting an instrument at precisely this moment. Months from now, when individual pieces are spread across the workshop and the piano is deep into restoration, these photographs will remind us where the journey began. Eventually, there will be another photograph taken from the same position—the same extraordinary carvings, the same winged figures guarding the lyre, and the same sculptural legs—but beneath them will be a restored Mason & Hamlin, ready for another generation of music.

The journey of this remarkable Mason & Hamlin B1 begins here. Follow the Pianos XXI Workshop as we document its restoration, from its arrival in our workshop to the moment it returns to music.