CONSUMER INFORMATION GUIDE
JANUARY 1990

 

Ten features have enabled us to establish a criterion for grading and measuring the quality of a given piano line. These ratings reflect consistency in the quality of all instruments bearing a particular brand name and are an average of all instruments bearing that name. We use the formula of one point for each feature that meets or exceeds our criterion, and deduct one point for each feature that does not meet our requirements. This should serve as a guide if you wish to conduct the same test for a particular piano.

QUALITY RATING [Q.R.]

THE BASIC STRUCTURE: The following information was compiled to evaluate the general specifications as listed by individual manufacturers, and will enable us to establish a criteria in our analysis.

A. THE BACK POSTS:                            

Size of the post; not only width but depth.

Double or triple posts

Posts extend all the way to the top of the piano

          Posts extend all the way to the bottom in a tight mortise and tenion construction.

                       (MORTISE - A notch, or hole shaped to fit
                        TENON - a projecting part for insertion into another piece to make a joint.)

B. MATERIAL OF BACK POSTS:

Solid spruce, not poplar / oak.

Strongest wood for its weight Resists splitting and cracking.

Spruce lengthwise grain is straight close and dense provides rigid support.

Backposts bolted to cast iron plate.

C. THE PINBLOCK:

Quarter sawn hard rock maple, cross laminated, 2" thick.

Number of plies not as important as type and cut of wood.

 D. THE SOUNDBOARD:

One thickness spruce.

The term "Solid" referring to spruce in soundboards is semantically misleading today because builders of laminated boards, where all three layers are spruce, refer to the board as "solid" spruce, meaning it is "all" spruce.