Digital pianos and inharmonicity

[JIMRPT@aol.com]

Et Al;
 Arthur Loesser in the final paragraph of 'Men, Women and Pianos' says:
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" It is doubtful now whether the piano will be improved, in any meaningful
sense. One wonders, however, why the electronic piano has never caught on.
This is an instrument with very small hammers, low tension, and no sounding
board-every string, however, being provided with a set of pickups from which
the tone is then amplified through a loudspeaker. A special lever can regulate
the degree of amplification. In this instrument, the agreeable feeling of
dynamic stroke-responsiveness is not only preserved it is augmented by
electronic means.   Several small companies were experimenting with it during
the 1930's, but nothing further seems to have happened.
  The low plateau has no slope that we can now see. Our tale is told."
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  Now bear in mind that Arthurs' book was published in 1954 and the
"electronic" pianos he was referring to were the Wurlitzer Electric piano
'types', although they were being made by several different companies,
including later on Yamaha.  These were not truly electronic per se as much as
electro-mechanical. The pitch/tone was produced by the string/hammer
arrangement and only picked up and amplified electronically.
  Unlike those early "electronic" pianos, todays electronics try to 'simulate'
the 'feel' of a piano and 'create' their tones electronically, via sampling,
for the most part.  It is interesting to me that he was so close to being
right on pianos and so apparently wrong on electronics.............the
"plateau" he was referring to is the flat sales of pianos at the time and
essentially as exists today.
  The more things change the more...........................
Jim Bryant (FL)