Doug Henderson's article touches on my own mild frustration.  The
pneumatic pianos have the drawbacks of irregular music and short
length, as well as historical accuracy of the recording.  It seems
to me that solenoid pianos should run circles around the older guys.

In order to build a fantasy piano, one would have to understand pianos
themselves, music itself, pneumatic pianos, electronics, computer
hardware, computer software, MIDI possibly, and have the skills to
play the piano, woodworking, metal working and so forth.  Economics,
geography and agreement on the project at hand mean a combined effort
is not likely going to happen either.

My fantasy piano would be a 9' grand, with a CD drive digitally driving
a set of solenoids.  The music would be created as Doug does, on a
computer, note by note, controlling the expression, saving the file
to the CD and tweaking the recording until it did indeed sound like
Gershwin, or Waller, and so forth.  Over time, a nice library of CDs
would become available because others would sit down at the computer
keyboard and punch in their favorite tunes and arrangements.

The work done thus far with solenoid pianos is difficult to understand,
much of it either not explained in simple terms, or possibly kept as a
trade secrets.  The technology evolved from existing technology rather
than ground up new stuff.  The manufacturers market the items through
dealers, with prices unpublished so that the hobbyist who might install
one himself is discouraged.

I guess after nearly 40 years around pianos and computers I have come
to the understanding this should be the ideal. I have a friend who just
bought a set of speakers for $7000.  His tone-arm without the cartridge
is $2500 and he has a $2000 cartridge enroute.  I am to hear this
system in a few weeks.  Using vinyl recordings, I already have the
mindset that this system will not perform to my satisfaction, given the
expense.  This whole "business" of recorded music must have a mindset
that encompasses, ego, status, traditional peer group approval and a
whole host of characteristics that have nothing to do with ideal sound
quality.

I am realistic enough to know that this is not going to happen, that
the demand for such an instrument is far too low to be viable but it
is fun to dream about it!

Don Winter