Hello Chris,
Yamaha was making a "big deal" in its grand pianos way back in 1980 and even earlier! Back then, their spiel was that longer black notes will keep one's fingers from brushing against the piano's fallboard when playing chords loaded with sharps or flats. It's marketing and little else, just as Steinway's "accelerated action" is nothing more than pivoting the note on a rounded fulcrum surface instead of a pointed one. There are countless other examples of marketing schemes thought up to give the potential buyer a sense that he is getting "more than his money's worth" of value.
I am reminded of the silly notion that Horowitz's own Steinway piano should have taken a bow at the performer's last concert at Carnegie Hall!
Cheers,
Joe
Last edited by jcfelice88keys (13-05-2017 14:58)