Stan, New Zealand and Australia were colonies of "England " way back then, so what we see most of around here are pianos from those parts. After reading all of the "Birdcage" thread along with Jim Bryant's "Conspiracy" thread it got me thinking that, at that time the English were well into underdamped pianos, so there may well have been a conspiracy of sorts to ship the less preferred birdcage models a long way away (as you suggest) to satisfy both the need for pianos in the colonies as well as the local English tech's preference for working on the newer underdamped pianos. Sounds like "Grey market" used Japanese piano syndrome but a 100 years back. Maybe in a 100 years time the tech's will be writing email threads to one another about the awful second hand pianos that were shipped out of Asia around the turn of the century (2000) to all sorts of far away destinations. But wait! We're doing that already.... Cheers, Graeme Harvey New Plymouth NZ > No information to impart, but just wondering--our Oz and Kiwi friends appear > to have more--er--experience with birdcages than in the States. Given that > these were probably not state-of-the art when built, but might have served as > instruments for the "hunting lodge," or some such out-of-the way second or > third home, then it would be reasonable to assume that at the time it would > be more economically feasible to ship them long distances with other > household effects than to ship a reasonably sized grand or vertical. That > they seem to have travelled also to South Africa and Scandinavian countries > as well, would seem to speak to the same reality. Do you think that explains > why there are relatively few of them in the US? 100+ years ago there was > certainly a thriving piano industry in this country, making it less than > necessary to import affordable instruments. (Regrettably, times have > changed!) > > Stan Ryberg > Barrington IL > >
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