Brash Failure / cedar shanks

[Ron Nossaman]

> I suppose one of the reasons cedar was used for shanks in older pianos 
> was for a question of weight ?
> 
> Pierre


That makes sense. And they didn't expect the pianos to last 
longer than cedar shingled roofs (20-30 years), so it probably 
wasn't an unreasonable choice in that context. It's only since 
the cheap, disposable 1950s (when anything old was considered 
trash) that we're left with very little from that time 
(because so much of what was produced in the 50s WAS trash), 
that the surviving old stuff has taken on the mystic glow of 
presumed immortality that the manufacturer never intended.

Speculation, I know.

Ron N