Like bounteous other inventions, the piano was founded on earlier technological innovations. The mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and the harpsichord were well known. In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are plucked by quills. Centuries of assignment on the mechanism of the harpsichord in particular had shown the most effective ways to form the case, soundboard, bridge, and keyboard. Cristofori, himself an facile harpsichord maker, was well acquainted with this bod of knowledge.

Early technological progress owed much to the English firm of Broadwood, who already had a reputation for the splendour and powerful tone of its harpsichords. Broadwood constructed instruments that were progressively larger, louder, and more robustly constructed. They sent pianos to both Joseph Haydn and Piano Covers Ludwig van Beethoven, and were the first firm to build pianos with a ambit of enhanced than five octaves: five octaves and a fifth during the 1790s, six octaves by 1810 (Beethoven hand-me-down the extra notes in his later works), and seven octaves by 1820. The Viennese makers similarly followed these trends, however the two schools used distant piano actions: Broadwoods were also robust, Viennese instruments were farther sensitive.