>>... did the beginning pianos use this same key coloring, ... >> >>Keith McGavern, RPT > >... I think that the change came about when a machine was invented >which cut ivory. This made that material much cheaper to use. >Conrad Hoffsommer I remembered a series of articles being published just recently by Edwin Good, curator of the Piano 300 Exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in our own Piano Technicians (PT) Journals. As it turns out, the sharps on Cristofori's 1722 piano were 'black' (PT Journal, December 2002, cover page), and the 1726 Cristofori piano as well (PT Journal, January 2003, cover page). So, at least, that establishes that piano sharps were black then, rather than white. If anyone can take it further back than that, I'd be interested. Keith McGavern, RPT Oklahoma Baptist University Saint Gregory's University Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
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