A 5-octave English Bentside Spinet with painted finish, made from a John Storrs kit.

The kit was obtained from someone who, having assembled the case, did not want to proceed further. Not being under time pressure, I added my own touches to the basic design, principally:
 - cutting a moulding into the case top, and fitting a case-bottom moulding strip,
 - making and fitting special brass hinges and a soundboard rose, 
 - doubling the number of hitchpins to provide one per note, 
 - fitting woollen cloth to keyboard and jack rails to reduce the action noise,
 - and, quite unauthentically for an English spinet, decorating in a more-or-less Flemish style.
I am not aware of any other spinet like this - the decoration, I mean.

Storrs Kits are no longer made. This kit is thought to have been made, and the case started, around 20 years ago. I completed the instrument over a period of about 18 months, in 2011-2013, taking around 375 recorded hours.

Body: poplar, painted with Sanderson's Midnight Blue, thinly coated with acrylic varnish; keyboard well and mouldings varnished in shellac or polyurethane.
Lid and Soundboard-well papers by Grant O'Brien.
Lid motto: PRO OMNIBVS VNVM (pro omnibus unum), indicating that one sound or one set of strings* must serve for everything.
    * what the "one" refers to is unspecified, hence the use of the neuter case.
Dimensions; 175cm length x 66cm depth x 83cm height with lid closed (130cm with lid open).
Range: 5 octaves FF - f3, chromatic (no FF#), strung in brass and steel.
Stand:  poplar trestle stand, varnished; this can be disconnected and dismantled, using an Allen key.
Keys: ebony naturals and sharps, sharps topped with bone slips.
Stool: made in 2020, in poplar/tulipwood

Click on a thumbnail to see the full-size picture.

	The spinet open. The wall-space required is a little more than that for an upright piano.
	The spinet closed. Hinges hand-made from brass sheet. This picture gives quite a good impression of the actual case colour.
	Front, showing the music desk and the lid-stick; both can be stowed in the instrument when the lid is shut. Colour reproduction not very good.
	Part of keyboard, and the name-plate.
	The soundboard rose in gilded beech; painted flowers representing the names of my wife's grandfather and his daughters: "Jacob Maurer" (daffodil), Violet, Lily, Rose, Iris, & Marguerite; border of Rosemary (my wife's middle name).
	Flap hinge. There are three of these. Colour inaccurate - the paint is somewhat darker..
	Lid hinge, showing loose pin for lid removal. There are three of these. Colour inaccurate.
	Added in 2020: music stool in poplar
	Instrument and stool.