large uprights

[Stephen Airy]

Does anyone know what the largest uprights made in the early 1900s were, 
and how tall they were?  I have noticed that no one is making uprights over 
52" tall anymore, and I happen to like the old, tall ones.  The Ricca & Son 
piano that I have mentioned in earlier posts (not the junky piano, but the 
one with the broken string) is about 56 1/2" tall.  I've heard about 60" 
pianos, and I have been wondering if that's the limit or if there are any 
taller pianos than that that are overstrung, have full plates, 88 keys, and 
that aren't the "inverted grands" or whatever the ones were in which the 
strings only went down to the keyboard.  I have also been wondering what 
might be the maximum string length in such a piano.  Would it be possible, 
say, if the piano is 60" tall and 60" wide, to have a 66 to 68" A1 string 
in such a piano?  Also, another thing I'm curious of -- on many uprights I 
see, they leave a lot of room, like maybe a foot or two between the high 
end of the bass bridge and the right side of the cabinet.  Is there a 
reason for putting the bass bridge there, and not moving it over so the 
strings can be 6" to a foot longer?
Another idea:  in a Spinet, why couldn't they put the bass tuning pins 
along the upper left side running vertically and the bass bridge at the 
opposite corner?  Is it possible to get longer strings that 
way?  Considering, for example, a 37" high 57" wide spinet, I don't think 
it would be impossible to have strings approaching 54 - 57", would 
it?  They are probably only 40" in most spinets these days.
Oh, and another thing: I don't have the money to buy a piano right now, but 
does anyone know where I should look for a beat-up (worn hammers, some 
keytops missing -- maybe looks like the junky piano in the picture except 
all the keys are there), action looks similar to "junky piano" picture, 
maybe all the strings are still there, and is at least 100c flat 
Bosendorfer Imperial grand?


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