>From Sy Zabrocki Many a tuner has questioned why the piano industry felt so compeled to = build the spinet piano. By the late 30's the industry undoubtedly = received the message the public was resisting the old upright. So why go = from one extreme to the other? Enough has been said about the spinet. = The spinet is almost dead so forget it. An even bigger question is why was there this compulsion to build even = the consoles too small. It didn't take the foreign makers long to see = the folly in the 41" console. Both Yamaha and Kawai built a few 41" but = only for a short time. I bought my first 41" Kawai in 1969.=20 The 43" size is ideal for a console. It provides sufficient string = length and soundboard area and allows for a larger better performing = action. The two inches additional height makes almost no difference in = the home. Some of the 41" actions were just too compressed. It was = ridiculous. In the 70's and up to 1981 I was selling Everett. It was one of the = better consoles. When the Kawai franchise became available to me I = dropped the Everett in a heart beat. But what would have happened if = Everett, Krakauer, Sohmer, Mason & Hamlin, Chickering, Knabe and others = had all been 43" pianos. It's just possible some of them might still be = around. Many dealers really did want to stay with U.S. pianos. Isn't it = ironic that one of the few U.S. makers still on the scene is the Charles = Walter and it is a 43" piano. Very expensive though. Back in the 30's and 40's it's unlikely the public was demanding pianos = this small. The public buys what you put in front of them to some = degree. Certainly the two inches additional height would not have turned = them off. It's almost like it was a contest among makers to see who = could condense it down the most. Well, it's water on the bridge now. = It's too bad it couldn't have been different. Sy Zabrocki
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