A New Local Industry.

Otago Witness, Issue 1784, 30 January 1886, Page 12

A New Local Industry.

A full-sized cottage piano has been manufactured by Messrs Qakden and Howell, of Princes street/for jthe Jhidjan and Colonial Exhibition at London, and ,the instrument will ,be on view at the makers' premises to-day and to-morrow. The piano is well worthy of inspection All who have seen it have greatly admired it. and it is not too much to say that iv appearance and in quality it is quite equal to the best imported instruments. Jt v is the second which has been made by the firm, ar.e 'not manufacturing , merejy jCor exhibition ', , put w^th a view to" sup- ; plying t'lje Colonial market; and jbhis 'piano, we ' arc inform^, js a fair sample pf ;bhe jnstru- 1 mentis which tfrey 3,1-0 prepared to supply to ' customers ai prices which should defy competition. The piano is a trichord', \yith improved action, and many of the modifications in the instrument are the invention and the secret of the firm. The case is made of solid rimu, and is remarkably handsome. It has a plnhj panel front and bracket legs, with black lines instead of the ordinary gilt ones. There is no veneering 01? ijie case ; and while this is certainly an improvement i,o /ny as durability is concerned, it is also claimed 'fatias ii gives the instrument a decided ' advantage in tr«iu. T^e casts for the plate and pressure-bar have bu«in fodaWy made, ( and the strings have been prepared and covered in the firm's workshop. The sounding-board is entirely free from the ends of lh« case ; it is in i»fil suspended, and tho current of sound is not in the' le&bi w^erf ered with. This i mprovement has been coht'vwal iy Messrs Oakdun in id Howell, atul, we unders{,a<*<», j? exclusively applied in their instruments. Ahollicj improvement is that the break between the steel ' strings and the covered ones is got over by using a covering of silver for a number of intervening strings, and f Vi?? us modifying the break.the tone is equalised. ,Th'a t*d'sof a trial of the instrument before ' several' cb'm|>eie?)t judges on Saturday was entirely satisfactory, '£&.? tone, V* piano was remarkably full, t{ch, and 1 ; clear. •[sistrumen/ls &gslai to ,the one on view can j be made, w.e a,^ Wori^cd.. to be sold at less 6hnn t^e price obtained for utGafily inferior, pianos wfcjch are imported ;' and , and Howeil intend to at once proceed w ; ith % I manufacture of SO instruments, and ,tp make . provision for carrying <za £hejr manufacture still more extensively. It may not fre out of plane to mention that it is considered as ft \ow estimate that the sale of pianos m this Colony ! at the pres&nfcfrime would give constant employment, if the instruments were manufactured here, to upwards of 250 pfei'co.ns.