Wheatstone Special

[varney]

Has it ever been established what the designation 'Special' in the Wheatstone ledgers generally refers to?

 

I had thought it meant an instrument specially made to a customer's particular requirements.

 

Reading some old threads on ledger terms I'm now wondering if it meant an instrument that deviated in some way from the typical models and not necessarily at a customer's request.

 

Apologies if this topic has been aired and answered previously. All replies gratefully received!

[JimLucas]

Has it ever been established what the designation 'Special' in the Wheatstone ledgers generally refers to?

 

"Special" basically means that there's some particular difference or differences from standard models that they were not expressing in more detail. Almost certainly, they were all customer requests.

 

"Special" could be something we might consider "minor", but it could also mean something quite significant. I believe examples of the former have included special finishes or fretwork. An example of the latter is my Pitt-Taylor duet, in which both the keyboard layout and the means of holding it (adjustable "gloves") are unique. It's listed with a standard Duet* model number and the word "Special", but no further explanation. The Duet model number seems simply to have identified the size of the ends, even though a Crane duet of the same size would have had a different model number.

 

Howver, some significant special modifications weren't marked "special" but were spelled out, e.g., one English concertina built with "rails", i.e., anglo-style hand bars. Others, like extra reed pans, may not have been recorded at all, neither explicitly nor as "special".

 

* What we would call Maccann, but Wheatstone didn't, claiming Maccann stole the idea.

[varney]

Thank you for that very helpful information, Jim,

 

It chimes in with what I started to suspect the term referred to: a standard model but with modification(s) at a customer's request ( usually).

 

I suppose it was also used to flag an instrument made uniquely for somebody, but more often just to denote the above.

[Stephen Chambers]

My own Wheatstone "Special" #25100, from 1910, is listed as a Model "No.6 Black Gilt Fittings Special" in the ledger, when it's basically a high-end 48-key aeola treble in a "best hexagonal" body, with long-scale aeola reeds, the "81 fret" ebony ends otherwise only found on some aeolas, gold-tooled bellows frames and gold-plated fittings.

[Stephen Chambers]

Oh, and I nearly forgot - they also seem to have given it a "Special" serial number too, in that I don't suppose 25100 was accidental...