7/8 Keyboard

[A440A@aol.com]

Greetings, 
     At the KC convention,  we used David Steinbuhler's B for the historical 
temperament classes.  It had a 48" keyboard, which is a little smaller than 
normal, but not nearly as small as he can go. 
     My pianist had never seen one of these, and took approx. 15 minutes of 
playing before going in front of the class.  She did nicely, helped by the 
fact that temperament demonstrations don't really rely on hugely virtuoso 
pieces. 
     Three days later, she warmed up for five minutes and tried out some 
heavier stuff of her own, and aside from the occasional ninth, she was 
getting comfortable with it and already beginning to think about pieces that 
she had had to pass by earlier.  The smaller board opens up that last bit of 
repertoire for all but the biggest hands, and in that sense, it is not just 
for kids,anymore. 
 
>   1) If these were used, wouldn't the pianist have a lot of problems
>when going to competitions, giving recitals elsewhere, etc. and having
>to play on "normal" keyboards?

    Could be,  
>
>   2) Are they designed as just a keyframe and keys and one just
>installs the regular action on that frame? Or do you have to get the
>entire thing?

   You send David a regulated action, and he builds the keys and spaces them 
to the whippens or stickers that you have. 
 
>   Would it be feasible/practical, especially in an institutional setting
>to consider getting a couple of these? One for a teaching piano and one
>for a performance piano? Just some rhetorical questions possibly, but an
>interesting possibility.
 
  I would like to hear others thoughts on this too, I am thinking about 
recommending the school purchase one of these boards for use in the kids 
curriculum. 
Ed Foote