Curious Design

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Actually, yes. I have "seen" one. In fact, I did the basic design work on the piano and
built the first prototypes.

Thanks for your report.

Del

------------------------------

Z! Reinhardt wrote:

> Hi Everybody!
>
> Del -- have you seen one of these pianos yet?
>
> Today a customer asked me to look at a Charles Walter Grand she is
> considering buying.  What I saw was an instrument with a tone like none
> other in its size class (it is *only* 6'3"...), you would swear that the
> bass belonged to a substantially larger piano.
>
> Two other technicians were also there, admiring the piano and getting a
> closer look.  We were particularly struck by the ribs/soundboard design.
> For starters, the ribs did not go into notches in the liner.  They were
> tapered, yes, but, they ended just short of the inner rim.  Furthermore,
> the soundboard had, for all practical purposes,what appeared to be a wide
> "bridge" on the underside under the bass section.  Perhaps that is to help
> focus the tone in towards the center of the board?  There were ribs on each
> side of but not touching this, rather than running through it.
>
> ...
>
> Through the years, I had been taught that a mark of a cheaper piano was
> that the ribs do not go into a notched liner.  Mr. Walter is an engineer
> who is known for his ambition to produce top-quality instruments.  Would
> this be an example of his expertise blowing a commonly-held belief *out of
> the water*?
>
> Very curious now --
>
> ZR!  RPT
> Ann Arbor  MI
> diskladame@provide.net