Perhaps Schubert was best known for their “Mandolin Piano”. The “Mandolin Piano was an upright piano equipped with a mechanism that dropped metal tabs between the piano hammers and strings via pressing the middle pedal. This effect gave the instrument the sound of a mandolin, zither, banjo or guitar. The Schubert Piano Company even composed and published special sheet music for the Mandolin Piano, and it was marketed very aggressively. This unique sound quickly caught on and became widely known as the “rinky tink” or “honky tonk” piano sound used in saloons and bars across the land for decades.