A research database dedicated to the worldwide cataloging of pianos built before 1860
Tom Winter, Clinkscale Online Editor, lives and works in San Francisco, California. He was invited by John Watson to Beta-test Clinkscale Online when it went public in 2011 and has been involved ever since. Tom’s background includes more than forty years as a free-lance piano technician and twenty years as Senior Piano Technician at San Francisco State University. His interest in early pianos dates from 1994 when he assumed responsibility for the early keyboard instruments in the Frank V. de Bellis Collection at SFSU. He now builds, conserves, and restores full-time in a workshop in the Bayview district of San Francisco, online at www.WinterEarlyPianos.com
Michele Winter, Clinkscale Online Assistant Editor, is a retired public school music teacher with a penchant for editing text.
John Watson, Clinkscale Online Administrator, worked with Martha Clinkscale to publish her database of early pianos on the internet in 2010 and continues to serve as principal site designer. He began his career split between church music and keyboard instrument making. Thirty-three instruments bear his name, including three in daily use at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (CWF) where he served as conservator of instruments and mechanical arts from 1988 and associate curator of musical instruments from 2008. Now retired from CWF, his research interests have led to several books including Changing Keys: Keyboard Instruments for America, 1700-1830 (2013). His website is at www.PreservationTheory.org.
James Judson, Clinkscale Online Software Analyst, is a retired software systems analyst with a love of music and the mysteries of computer code. Also based in Williamsburg, his work has enabled the interactive aspects of Clinkscale Online since its first online publication in 2010. Linkedin profile
Tom Strange supports Clinkscale Online in various ways. His background in materials science and his day-job in implantable medical devices has led to a remarkable number of related patents and papers. After having built some harpsichords and restored many pianos, his passion for early keyboard instruments led to a personal collection which has evolved into The Carolina Music Museum in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, one of the world’s significant public collections. His article on the life of early square pianoforte builder John Geib was published in Eighteenth Century Music, March 2010. He hosts the website www.SquarePianoTech.com