The really interesting story about Steinway is that there are actually two Steinways.<p>Steinway in Queens, NY, and Steinway in Hamburg, Germany.<p>It was two branches of the family that ran them, and got separated by the war.<p>Before they unified, they did do cultural exchanges of techniques, methods, etc.<p>Today they are one company, but the pianos they produce have individual characteristics owing to distinctive methods, techniques, and materials used by each factory.<p>During the war, Steinway Hamburg was also forced to become an arms factory, so there are German weapons out there made from tonewood that would have been great pianos<p><a href="https://www.chuppspianos.com/steinway-sons-pianos/history/" rel="nofollow">https://www.chuppspianos.com/steinway-sons-pianos/history/</a><p>I think it's one of the great cultural integration stories, that people can get separated and come back together even after war and terror.
It's interesting that this was sufficient to entertain the troops. There were enough GIs who played and enough who could sing and a book of songs they all knew from memory.<p>I was raised that way, but many people my age and younger can't carry a tune, let alone agree on common songs. My parents were musicians, though, so there's that. Momm played the piano and even sold pianos at one point, including a lot of Steinways. Their best market was in the Midwest 25 years ago when she was selling them.
I see a market potential here: tactical piano. There's a whole group of people who would buy this in a heartbeat and perhaps benefit from a little culture. Then again it'll probably wind up buried under last years bug out bags next to the 6x6 luxury military RV in the garage.
IBM made M1 carbines (short rifles) for the war. They are very collectable now among gun/computer nerds.<p><a href="http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1494" rel="nofollow">http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticle...</a>
Perhaps a more interesting story is the Rhodes electric piano - initially invented by Harold Rhodes as a miniature piano to allow wounded servicemen to engage in music therapy lessons at their bedside, it became an iconic sound in jazz, rock and pop.<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/04/arts/harold-rhodes-89-inventor-of-an-electronic-piano.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/04/arts/harold-rhodes-89-inv...</a><p>On a somewhat less cheerful note, a large proportion of sound recording and broadcast techniques wee pioneered by the Nazis. Hitler and Goebbels deeply understood the power of radio as a propaganda tool, so the regime invested heavily in technologies that would allow their voices to be heard across the Reich. They developed the first practical tape recorder[1], an extremely low-cost AM radio receiver[2] and an array of improved microphones, amplifiers and loudspeakers. The modern era of sound recording really started in 1945, when seized German technology and emigrant German engineers made their way to Britain and America[3].<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetophon" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetophon</a><p>[2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksempf%C3%A4nger" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksempf%C3%A4nger</a><p>[3] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_recorder#Commercialization" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_recorder#Commercializatio...</a>