Good afternoon, Rachmad and interlocutors,
I thought I would have a second go. First off, my impression is that grands longer than a 'D' or an Imperial are not especially wonderful. At least, the Challen was not highly regarded by pianists at the time, but it was more of a publicity stunt. Challen was chosen as the BBC piano in the late 1930s, on the strength of a very well scaled 8-foot grand which they made. The large grand was sold at auction in London within my memory, and I would estimate late 80s/early 90s. I think it was sold when Phillips were still auctioning pianos in Queensway.
Since player pianos are my speciality (well, my life, really), I should tell you that there were some concert grand reproducing pianos made, just a few of which have survived. In the case of the Duo-Art and Welte pianos, the spool box (the roll mechanism) has to fit above the keyboard and in front of the frame, so this makes the piano case longer. There was a Steinway Welte-Mignon 'D' grand made in the mid-1920s, particularly for concerts of special Welte compositions written by Hindemith and others, but this has disappeared. It was probably destroyed when the Allies bombed the ex-Welte factory in Freiburg-im-Breisgau in 1944.
There was a Chickering Ampico concert grand in the Chicago area in the 1980s, though Ampico rolls fit in a drawer under the keyboard, so the length is not affected.
Duo-Art concert grands were made in both Weber and Steinway pianos. The President of the AMICA (Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors' Association) Chicago chapter has a Steinway 'D' Duo-Art, and there is a good photo of it at:
www.chgoamica.com/AMICA-PIX/IMG_2584_op_800x600.jpg.
Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians had one in the 1920s, which is now in private hands, and was restored by a Dutch friend of mine about ten years ago.
You can see a rather blurred photo of a Duo-Art concert grand in 1917 at Aeolian Hall in New York, where it was being used to play the solo in the Saint-Saëns G minor piano concerto. This is on
www.pianola.org, which I run. I bought the original publicity material last week on Ebay, so the photo will soon be rather better, I hope. Go to
www.pianola.org/reproducing/reproducing_duo-art.cfm and scroll down the page until you find it.
You have been considering longer pianos, but there are also wider pianos. Steinway Welte-Mignon grands are wider, because they have to fit windways inside the casework, so that the soundboard extends beyond the frame at both ends. I have my doubts about longer pianos sounding better, but the wider ones certainly do. Mind you, the Weltes usually come in 'O' sized grands, but that is equally what the pianists recorded on.
When I give concerts, I simply use the resident concert grand, and my Pianola fits in front of it, and connects with felt-covered fingers over every note. This saves a great deal of back-breaking lifting on my part, since I can leave it to Steinways to shift the piano. One thing you wouldn't particularly notice as a pianist is the spacing of the keys. American Steinways are slightly narrower from bass to treble than German ones - that has been my experience when I have played over there, and had to adjust my Pianola to fit.
Rachmad, I think you may be in England, because your profile says your local time is the same as mine, and anyway, you are interested in the Challen, which is very British. In view of your name, you might like to know that Rachmaninov will be playing at the Purcell Room in early December, along with Scriabin, Medtner and their buddies. You'll find details on our website if you look carefully!
Topic: Challen - 11ft 8inch 1935 Grand Piano