At 19:13 08/14/2003 -0700, you wrote: >It did have an iron plate, but there IS a lot of wood there. > >Conrad, >NO it did not have a plate, in 1830. The Full Plate wasn't developed until >1835, or so. If it had any cast iron in it, it was in the form of a "Hitch >Plate" and Maybe, just maybe a support strut. A lot of those were made out >of brass and not Cast Iron, as it was an easier metal to work with. That's >it! We really did not see major amounts of Cast Iron, in pianos, until the >1840's. And, that was more in American made instruments. On this account, >Europe was a bit behind, at the time. >Best Regards, >Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon) >Captain, Tool Police >Squares Are I I was just guessing on the vintage. - after renting the video and trying to see details, I did see a plate, so that would make it newer than 1830. They didn't do us curious types the courtesy of showing the serial number, however. 1. it was a square 2. the picture _was_ from the movie 3. it kinda looks like a grand in the picture, but that, IMMHO, is due to the fact that the keys are not recessed. The case juts out and there are cheeks just like a modern grand. If you just glance at the picture and don't count legs, you can easily be confused. 4. It supposedly did sit on the beach, and somehow didn't sink - truly a miracle if you know anything about wave action and sand... 5. it had oblong pins 6. it had individual dampers vs:american style damper tray 7. it was being carried athwartships on the canoe, so was in the most unstable condition possible, and did seem as though it was helped a bit in it's escape. 8. it miraculously sank down, feet first and landed open and almost invitingly playable on the ocean floor. 9. I don't want to make a judgement on the piano's sound as my 12" portable TV doesn't exactly have excellent sound reproduction capabilities. I only rented the video for one night. I'll leave it to someone else to glean any other observations. c Conrad Hoffsommer Designing and testing virtual flamesuits since 1993.
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