Grand Concert Cimbalom 

Grand Concert Cimbalom

In April 2004 I made a tough, long delayed decision to find a new home for my 1886 Mason and Hamlin parlor organ from my great-great-grandfather. I knew of the Peases, Nelson and Beverley, who run the Pease Collection of Historical Instruments in Palmer, MA. I also knew they had just lost thier warehouse in a fire and needed to rebuild their collection.

There I found several American Hammer Dulcimers amidst the organs, and a Grand Concert Cimbalom in the Hungarian style! I didn't have the money or space for it, but by the time I had driven home I realized I couldn't leave it there.

So I returned to Palmer to buy the cimbalom. When I got it home, I had to a local moving company to get it upstairs to my studio. It is at least 300 pounds.

There is a rebuilders mark in it:

BETHLEHEM, PA
May 20 1957, THIS CIMBALOM
WAS REBUILT BY C,O,BARTOS
325 WYNADOTTE ST, BETHLEHEM PA,
[signed] C O Bartos
Photo: Pinblock Photo: Soundhole

Research brought me to two significant sources.

One is M. Mark Stolarik's book "Growing Up on the South Side - Three Generations of Slovaks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1880-1976", and the other, the CD "Slovak Csardas 1928-1930 Dance Tunes from the Pennsylvania Coal Mines".

Bartos is a significant name in the history of Slovaks in South Bethlehem. And the address is in the heart of South Bethlehem where the workforce of Bethlehem Steel lived. Slovaks were brought over when the Welsh started to organize. By the time of this instrument's rebuilding, we are talking about the third generation, which was moving out of South Bethlehem, north of the river into Moravian Bethlehem, or out to other burbs or out to other parts of the country. So this cimbalom seems to be enmeshed with the Slovak tradition and its difficult relationship with Hungarian culture.

It's clearly not all original. There was no lid, but the molding around the top edge looks like it was added to the case. And the pedal is obviouls a low-buck fabrication. The lyre is made from what I think is an old drawer front. The heart and other figure are cut by a talented but non-expert hand, as is the pedal, which is connected to the lyre by a door hinge! Coat hanger wire to the damper levers completes the naive effect.

Getting it up and running is a task. It took weeks to get up to tune and required some pin dope. It has a really big sound. The damper felts are in poor shape and I've been slowly working on replacing those.