While the nameboard of this instrument with its floral garlands reads John Betts / Musical Instrument Maker / Royal Exchange LONDON, it is likely he was a dealer rather than maker, and that he engaged other makers in their own workshops to produce pianos for him to sell, rather than be directly involved in making them himself.

This piano features the English single action, a relatively crude and simple mechanism designed by Johannes Zumpe in the 1760s for the first square pianos built in England, and common through to the end of the century.

The five octave keyboard of FF–f´´´ has ivory naturals and ebony-slipped sharps. The overdampers are sprung with whalebone. There are two handstops to the left of the keyboard: the first lifts the dampers; the second is a buff stop, muting the strings with a strip of leather. The piano rests on a simple, square leg demountable trestle stand.

The instrument was donated to the School of Music by Dr Andrew Nolan in December 2009.