Steinway NY Re-Introduces the O (to replace the L)

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, Ron,

At 03:52 PM 2/22/2006, you wrote:
>>>  Is there anyone still living and working for Steinway that has 
>>> ever designed a piano from a blank sheet of paper (or computer screen, now)?
>>
>>Hard to say.  Even if the answer is "yes", what kind of real-time 
>>experimentation has been done?  By whom?  etc.
>
>Exactly my point. So where else could new models come from but 
>slightly modified old models. Old blood, you know, marriage of cousins.

Yup.

>>>  If not, that means either hiring someone from (gasp!) outside, 
>>> or rummaging through the back room for old parts to recycle in a new package.
>>
>>The latter is not available since someone-who-shall-remain-nameless 
>>shamelessly trashed everything out of the Ollie Meyer room..."no 
>>longer any reason to keep it
>>around....".
>>Best.
>>Horace
>
>They don't need documentation, if that's your point. They are 
>surrounded by artifactual three legged examples of their history 
>going way back. Living patterns. Just a matter of cut and paste, as it were.

Actually, even though they are surrounded by the models you note, the 
importance of what Ollie had stashed away lies in it being the exact 
jigs, fixtures, templates & etc, in addition to full-sized models of 
various action designs and scales, scale sticks, etc. which were used 
in the development process over time...roughly 100 years of 
accumulated work-product of most of the major designers.  So, not 
only were there the finished products to examine, there was also the 
artifactual evidence of the intellectual discovery processes which 
got there.  Now, as you note, there remains only the finished product 
and such of the "bible" as has not been removed/lost/etc.

Best.

Horace


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Horace Greeley
Systems Group
Controller's Office
Stanford University

651 Serra St., RM 100
Stanford, CA 94305

voice:	650.725.9062
fax:	650.725.8014
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