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MMD > Archives > November 1999 > 1999.11.28 > 09Prev  Next


"Upright Grand" Pianos & Piano Shaped Objects
By Bryan Cather

Somewhere around here I have an old Broadwood piano catalog that
refers to what are today called "birdcage uprights" as "Cottage
uprights", while modern, overstrung, underdampered uprights are
called "Upright Grands".  This is the only time I've ever seen
"Upright Grand" used to distinguish a particular type of upright
piano.  I agree that it is a useless and mostly deceptive term.

As for PSOs (Piano Shaped Objects) they seem to be fairly common in
this area.  But there is a newer, rather troubling type of PSO out
there that has the potential to give tuners a lot of grief:  I refer
to the increasingly common trend among manufacturer's of electronic
keyboards to put them in cases that look like spinet vertical pianos.

What happens thirty years down the road is that Mrs. Whoosit calls
a tuner to come fix her "piano", only to have him arrive and tell her
she needs an electrician, not a piano tuner!

To Mrs. Whoosit, if it looks like a piano, sounds like a piano,
by Gawd, it must be a piano!  Who can tell her otherwise?...

Bryan Cather

 [ If it looks like a duck and squawks like a duck, but has a shiny
 [ electric cord ... is it a teapot?  ;)  -- Robbie


(Message sent Sun 28 Nov 1999, 23:49:17 GMT, from time zone GMT-0600.)

Key Words in Subject:  Grand, Objects, Piano, Pianos, Shaped, Upright

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