Sykes & Sons

Established in 1823, The Eavestaff Piano Company is one of the most notable names in British piano history, best known for the MiniPianos they brought to market in the early 1930s.

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The piano was once universally regarded as a necessary entertainment piece and could be found in almost all middle-and upper-class homes, but traditional upright pianos had been falling out of favor with homemakers for some years. The 'original Pianette MiniPiano' was developed as a stylish, space-saving alternative to larger upright pianos and was an instant success for Eavestaff.

 

The Pianette was made available in a very wide selection of different styles, veneers, and finishes to suit almost any setting. Veneer choices ranged from mahogany, oak, birch, and walnut and the Pianette could also be finished in a high gloss enamel of white, cream, black, or green.

The De Luxe model, the most expensive variant, was styled to conform with the Art Deco aesthetic that had emerged in the 1920s, with chrome strips, high gloss ebonised casing, and electric lights at either end of the keyboard.

 

Although the Pianette was a significant commercial accomplishment, with Eavestaff having made over 10,000 of them by the latter end of the 1930s, it was far from being perfect. The original design had several weaknesses which distinctly separated the sound and performance of the Pianette from a typical upright piano of a more conventional construction.

 

The evolution of the MiniPiano was pioneered by the highly skilled piano designer and founding member of the Institute of Musical Instrument Technology, Jack Davies.

Over the years Jack revised the design of the MiniPiano, eliminating the acknowledged shortcomings of previous generations and made significant improvements to every subsequent version. After many previous designs, the best of the Eavestaff MiniPianos came in 1958, in the form of the MiniRoyal - Model 90.

 

Jack had completely overhauled the stringing arrangement and introduced a newly designed full-perimeter frame for added strength and stability. Jack's new frame design accommodated bass strings that extend drastically from the top left corner towards the bottom right, giving the Model 90 a bass string length that was equal to those found in 5ft grand pianos of the same era. To maintain the optimal strike position on the radically angled strings, the Model 90 contains an action that slopes downwards towards the bass end, following the same degree of inclination as the strings. The much longer string length was coupled with a much larger and more efficient soundboard, which together allowed the Model 90 to break away from the reputation of previous models and pushed it forward into a league all of its own.

 

 The novel case style of the Model 90 made it very popular with piano dealers across the UK. Aside from the extraordinary mechanical designs and structure, the case offered a visual appearance that even those outside of the piano cognoscenti could recognise as unique. Among musicians, the Model 90 was praised for its exceptional tone and volume and was a very popular choice of piano for many years. 

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During the 1960s, the larger and more traditional upright pianos made a fashionable return to the market with the introduction of imported Yamaha and Kawais from Japan, forcing small instruments such as the MiniPiano into obscurity.

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The MiniRoyal - Model 90 is one of the most iconic pianos from British piano history and the individual that we offer here is an exceptionally well-maintained example. 
Like all of our pianos, this Eavestaff has been reconditioned in our workshop and comes to you completely serviced and prepared with the full backing of the Sykes & Sons Guarantee. 

 

The cabinet of the MiniPiano is not going to meet every person's desired aesthetics for home furnishings. We affectionately call the MiniRoyal a 'marmite piano', because while some people are going to love how it looks, other people are going to strongly dislike it. It's a quirky design, but in the right home, this model can be a wonderfully eye-catching feature with a great story behind how it came to be.