----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert A. Anderson" <fndango@azstarnet.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: October 02, 2000 1:09 PM Subject: Buckskin >> Del F. wrote: >> >> "For a variety of reasons, mostly political, but well beyond the control of >> Baldwin, the natural buckskin traditionally used for knuckles and hammer >> butts was becoming difficult, if not impossible, to get at any price in the >> quantities needed for their production. And the obscene worldwide -- OK, >> mostly the U.S. -- demand for beef had not yet reached the level that we >> were willing to sacrifice a good deal of its crop lands and devastate a good >> share of the worlds rain forests to ensure a steady supply. A demand which >> leaves, of course, a surplus of residual cowhides. (It's pretty hard to get >> at the beef without first removing the hide.)" ----------------------------------- > > I thought buckskin came from deer. My idea of cowhide is something a lot > stiffer. I thought that the knuckles I have seen in some late '50s > pianos were cowhide because of a scarcity of buckskin. So somebody set > me straight, please. > > Bob Anderson > Tucson, AZ > ---------------------------------------------------- Buckskin does come from deer. And, I guess, a few other similar creatures that we ask to give up their lives for the good of our musical enjoyment. However, cowhide of adequate quality can be processed into a reasonable facsimile, I am told. At the time both were apparently in short supply. Del
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