David, The thing be at Ron O has landed a commision to redesign a 131 cm instrument. Its a complete redesign as I understand it and if it flys... well he's on his way so to speak. A quick snip from the post on CAUT that stimulated my reply. I'm sure Ron will have more to say about this and other exciting developments as things unfold. Cheers RicB Designing a new model is such an exciting time, with the opportunity at hand to make a real difference. I have received my first commission to design a new piano for another manufacturer. The piano in question is a 131 cm upright. The current piano made by this manufacturer has so many problems it will need a totally new scale, plate and sound board. This is a new challenge for me since I have a 133 cm design exercise which I did back in 1996. Some of my tone building ideas have evolved since then, but a lot of the design remains valid. I'm currently laying up the sound board area, scaling, back scale and note spacing. Since I have decided not to manufacture any upright pianos myself, all of my design ideas from the 1996 concept can be incorporated into the new 131 design. I expect to be building the prototype by December. The manufacturer is sending me a semi-built shell, without a sound board or plate. I'll build the protoype into the existing case to save the cost of re-tooling for the case. Regards, Ron O.
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