Yeah, but... My shop has no marketing department! :-) If you want a real race car, do you go down to your local Chevy dealer? No, you go to your local small high-performance custom engine/chassy shop..... Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sarah Fox" <sarah@graphic-fusion.com> > Entirely from a *commercial* standpoint, I would suggest that the pinnacle > of piano evolution (thus far) is represented by the baby grand and even > more, the odious spinet. From that point, we have speciated into a new > class of pianos, the digitals, that will doubtless undergo an evolution of > their own. I'm not suggesting that any of these pianos are actually > decent in any way that you and I would recognize. I HATE small pianos. > But I'm in a minority. It's the buying public that drives piano > evolution, and common folx want smaller and lighter, even at the cost of > performance and depth of tone (which I think most people don't appreciate > anyway). > > Of course the relevance of this is that overstringing allows manufacturers > to squeeze a larger (longer-stringed) piano into a smaller package, and > something like a baby grand or a spinet probably wouldn't even be possible > without overstringing. Even making the nose of a 7-footer skinnier makes > it easier to arrange furniture! Builders generally allow about 2 ft along > the wall for where they think furniture will fit. This defines the > ultimate dimension of a piano. The gentle curve on the right side of a > grand is put there so that people can get in and out of doorways and snake > their way around other pieces of furniture! It's sooo much more practical > than the shape of those old squares! (Please note tongue in cheek!) And > remember that the baby grand fits beautifully, nose-first, in any corner > of the room, taking up no more room than a love seat. I may be wrong, but > I doubt ANYONE is going to be able to change this equation for any > instrument to be used in people's homes. > > Why aren't there enormous bulbous, flat-strung concert instruments? I > haven't a clue. Perhaps concert-goers would think they look too funny -- > not like the long, sleek big cousins of the baby grands in the corners of > their living rooms. This entire question should NOT be directed to the > design or R&D departments, but rather to the marketing departments. > They're the ones in charge, and only they know the answers. We mortals > can only guess at their Divine Plan! > > My guess: If it makes the piano larger, it will be met with resistance. > > Peace, > Sarah
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