pyramid piano

English

Pyramid piano

Etymology

From the shape of the instrument, which is roughly triangular, like a projection of a pyramid.

Noun

pyramid piano (plural pyramid pianos)

1. A piano that has its strings slanting upward from left to right in a case that is shaped like a tall isosceles triangle.
   • 1968, Franz Josef Hirt, Stringed Keyboard Instruments, 1440-1880, page 146:

     The return of the pyramid piano dates from 1804 from the workshops of Wachtl and Bleyer, in Vienna. .

   • 2001, Jiri Rak, Guido Lagomarsino, Biedermeier: Art and Culture in Central Europe, 1815-1848, page 178:

     His known pieces include a pyramid piano in Vienna in the “Sammlung alter Musikinstrument", two grand pianos and this giraffe piano; they were all made in Bohemia.

   • 2020, Sophy Roberts, The Lost Pianos of Siberia, page 87:

     Upstairs there was a pyramid piano — an instrument of peculiar shape and height, like a concert piano turned up against the wall.

See also

• giraffe piano