SD-10 Clarification

[Charles E Faulk]

Roger,

Funny you should mention the experimental SD that was left after Harold
was retired. He called it the "Gray" piano. It had a flat steel plate, as
you said, with welded struts. The idea  behind that was to lend precision
to all the plate elevations and thicknesses. With a plate like he
envisioned, one could almost set the plate in a case without the need to
adjust it's height for downbearing ... almost. I remember hearing it on
several occasions played by some formidable artists. Quite a good piano,
but unfortunately not significantly better than the existing SD-10. Too
bad he never had a chance to develop it fully. It also had a spring
mechanism on each key that would eliminate the need to weight keys with
lead.

Regards,

Charles
On Sat, 28 Oct 2000 09:43:10 -0600 Roger Jolly <baldyam@sk.sympatico.ca>
writes:
> Hi Charles,
>                   Thank's for the input, sounds logical. The notes I 
> had,
> asked as many unaswered questions as it did answers.
> I recently had the chance to look at one his prototype's (SD12?). 
> Baldwin
> donated it to the Cincinnati Museum of Art. The forward duplexes 
> were tuned
> an octave higher than the speaking length. The trench was clearly 
> visible,
> the resonators were split, and looked to be adjustable. The treble 
> sounded
> cleaner, but lacked the power of a production SD10.
> 
> It had a welded steel plate, and metal action frames. I'm guessing, 
> but
> probably the plate was made this way to save the cost of making a 
> pattern
> for a casting.
> I wish there was more time to examine more closely. 
> 
> Regards Roger
> 
> 
> 
>
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