Boston verticals

[Delwin D Fandrich]

John Musselwhite wrote:

> There are more differences than that, especially in the grands. One look at
> the hammer flanges will tell you it isn't a Kawai action. The similarities
> are mostly in the shared case parts, IMO.

I was always of the opinion that this was a cosmetic change only. A pretty simple
modification to make, really. Just redesign the aluminum extrusions slightly and redo the
tooling to cut the unique shape in the bottom of the flange. I haven't examined a Boston
action for several years, but memory (which could well be failing) tells me that the rest
of the action -- basic design, layout and geometry -- was pretty much basic Kawai. The
hammers appeared to be a bit different. Probably softer, though I'd not place a lot of
money on the bet.

As to why this should be done is another question. Certainly there is no advantage to be
gained with this style of flange. It's a design that should have been abandoned decades,
if not a full century, ago.

Del