• Birth place of its maker, Tasmanian forestry, regional wood-working traditions
• Wayne Stuart’s desire to build an Australian piano with a new soundscape
• The Stuart bridge agraffe and 20th Century vertical spectral emphasis of sound production is applied to the sound of the acoustic piano370 ,
• The expanded range tonal colour and 4th pedal.
• The expanded keyboard compass range,
• The crafted Australian woods used in each instrument,
• The lengths and thickness of the bass strings,
• The difference in piano sound quality consequence of alternative design,
• State government educational institutional technological research input,
• National government investment in small business design initiatives in the Newcastle region due to a change in the overall business environment, i.e a down sizing of the Steel industry infrastructure.
• over fifty recordings by Australian pianists since 1995.371
• Investment of the Alberts music business, the legendary Australian publishing company and philanthropic supporter of Australian innovation in the music scene.
Wayne Stuart originates from the traditional wood working region of the Leven Valley in Tasmania, where in his youth, he routinely topped his design & technology class with his creations of eye-catching cabinets and drawers.372 Author Brendan Ward word-paints a romantic picture of Wayne Stuart’s aspirations, which also paints a picture of national creativity-
The younger Stuart had a dream for the Great Hall [of the new National Parliament House to be opened in 1988.] He envisioned a hand made monument to the best in Australian innovation and music: a very grand piano- one that he would make, with a clear glass lid and legs dipped in gold, its sleek sensuous body veneered in the most ancient and precious timber we have, timber from a tree that had stood tall long before James Cook or Abel Tasman were born; Huon pine, bird’s eye Huon pine.373,/p>
370More control of the transients of piano sound, focusing on vertical spectral quality. See Introduction:‘Vertical Concepts’, Part I, p.22-23 and Appendix 1, Part II p.84
371 See Appendix 1for Stuart Piano recordings.
372 5 Ward, 11.
373 6 Ward, 11.
