reverse engineering Baldwins Wurlitzers

[Roger Jolly]

Hi James, 
          I see you have re-engineered your caster cups to make them handsome.
There is nothing wrong with going with a proven scale design that has cost
a company thousands to develop, why try to reinvent the wheel. Things like
plate patterns, and the associated stress analysis all takes valuable time
and money before production can get under way. Now comes the big question,
how do we make a piano that is less costly, and will not compete with with
the American built unit. A mahogany rim vs maple, a cheaper action, no
acujust hitch pins, and so the list goes on. I have never heard techs
complain about the scaling of these units, on the contary all complains
have been action and hammer related.
  The point that I have made in previous post, is that if a great deal of
care is taken in regulating the action, timing the dampers, and voicing the
hammers, you will end up with a better than satisfactory piano. I have sold
many C173's over the years to small town arts groups with limited budgets
that have been delighted with the performance. However I'm more than a
little anal in how they leave my stores.
  Reverse engineering is a common practice in many fields, for instance GM
develops a 3.8 motor for a spacific car to begin with and will readapt to
fit a whole line of other models. This helps with the economy of scale.
  Another way to look at this is to realise that you have a proven scale
design at half the cost, my view has been to focus on the areas that can be
improved to bring the product closer to the original.
Hope this sheds some light.
Roger

At 07:19 PM 19/08/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello, 	I have always been under the impression that disassembling an
>object to measure the parts carefully does not get you the original design.
> It only gets you one copy of that design which may or may not be a good
>example of the original object.  Agree- dis-agree?
>James Grebe
>R.P.T. of the P.T.G.
> Since 1962 in St. Louis, MO
>Home of Handsome Hardwood Caster Cups
>pianoman@inlink.com        
>
Roger Jolly
Baldwin Yamaha Piano Centre
Saskatoon and Regina
Saskatchewan, Canada.
306-665-0213
Fax 652-0505