Query/Mark Allen Piano

[Ron Overs]

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Hi all,

>  >He left Portland and--rumor at the time had it--went to Sydney, Australia to
>>build a piano for the Sydney Opera Hall. I've no idea as to the veracity of
>>the rumors. Perhaps Ron Overs would know.
>>
>>Del
>>
>Is it possible he took up a new identity as ..... Ron Overs?  Have 
>you ever seen
>the two of them together?
>
>Phil F

Now Phil, the answer to the first question is NO.

Yes, I have Phil, and there are a few differences I hope.

Mark Allen did come to Australia with a few piano plates and assorted 
bits and pieces, but he 'settled' in Melbourne. Wayne Stuart, who was 
the head teacher in piano technology at the Preston TAFE (in 
Melbourne) at the time, had some part in bringing Allen to Aus'. I 
have always wondered why Stuart encouraged him here - was he 
interested in finding out about Allen's tone building philosophy? I 
do know that Wayne was already planning his own future as a 
manufacturer.

Around 1985 there had been a lot of press about Allen and his 'world 
beating' piano. However, as many of you would know, Mark was no 
'shrinking violet' and his healthy ego probably lead him to believe 
his piano was much more than it was. While he had quite a number of 
theories about how the modern piano should evolve (some of which 
seemed plausable to me at the time) he had one serious impediment - 
poor workmanship. Even if he was equipped with the best understanding 
of tone building on the planet (which is unlikely), nothing 
worthwhile would result while it was accompanied by such shoddy 
workmanship.

An Australian piano technicians convention was held in Melbourne (it 
was the year of my first convention lecture) not long after Allen's 
arrival in Melbourne. It was an interesting convention for me, since 
I was already thinking of the possibility of building my own pianos 
eventually. But when I saw and heard the Mark Allen piano it was a 
bit of a shock, the workmanship was very ordinary indeed (ditto for 
the tone). He had drilled many holes through the core wood to lighten 
the hammers, and he was rabbiting on about some magic epoxy that was 
going to transform the tone of the instrument. Numerous bridge pin 
holes had been drilled in the wrong place, plugged poorly and then 
re-drilled. Overall, it was quite disappointing. During the 
convention he gave a talk on his tone building philosophy, but he 
seemed to be a bit short on sensible facts and long on superstition. 
For those of you who knew him, he didn't get through it without 
mentioning that " . . a good sounding piano tone should sound like 
the singing voice of Kathleen Ferrier".

As a postscript, Mark Allen and his piano did have one lasting effect 
on me. He was using iron plates for his pianos which were not his 
own. A younger technician I know told me how he was instructed to 
grind the original name off the plates, when he worked briefly for 
Allen. Several technicians were critical of him for using plates from 
another manufacturer. The bad press Mark got about the plates lead me 
to acknowledge our use of non original parts on our first pianos by 
naming them Overs-Steinbach (Samick pianos sell in Australia under 
the name Alex-Steinbach). Only two more of these 225s will be built. 
While I am pleased with the performance of our current 225s, I can't 
wait to slightly lengthen the piano and shorten the name. I'm 
currently designing three new grand models as a matching 
all-Australian-made threesome. For those who would like a preview of 
the case outer shapes go to;

http://overspianos.com.au/cases.html

Regards,
Ron O.

-- 
                  OVERS PIANOS
        Grand Piano Manufacturers
_____________________________

Web:    http://www.overspianos.com.au
Email:  mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au
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