Stretcher

[John Delacour]

At 05:42 +0200 3/8/08, andre oorebeek wrote:

>Now I understand it.
>"stretcher"Êis actually a strange name.
>In my country it has a ridiculous name and nobody understands it.
>...
>the Netherlands

You don't want to take too seriously the names people invent on the 
hoof on this list!  In England we call it the front rail, and in 
Schimmel's Pianonomenclatur we get:

Deutch: Vorstecker
England: Lock-rail
USA: front bar or rail

not that I find Schimmel always reliable.  Herbert Shead (English) 
calls it the Front Rail or Lock Front.

The Lock Rail is the rail on the top front half of a grand holding 
the lock and also the rail in front of the keys on an upright.

"Stretchers" on a grand piano are the wooden rails that connect twin 
legs to the lyre on pianos fashionable in the early 20th century. 
Otherwise stretcher is a term from the boat-building trade.

JD