Just a bit off topic from pre-war TRK's but from the same RCA family.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1939-RCA-STORYTONE-PIANO-vintage-tube-amplified-electric-piano-wurli-BA-6A-/271136957002?pt=Keyboards_MIDI&hash=item3f2105a24a

These pianos were exibited at the Worlds Fair with the TRK's. They were a collaboration between RCA and Story & Clark (piano makers) to produce the first electronic piano with electronic pickups. Read the Bay listing for details or search it for more info.

And Story & Clark made their soundboards in my hometown. How could they abandon them for tubes? I am crushed.

The Vassos TRK styling is spectacular. Makes my TRK look plain. And makes my TRK look cheap.

That is a stunning work of art! I never knew they existed.

Were they mass produced or just a Worlds Fair thing?

Here is a link to a site that has some internal pix.

http://m.matrixsynth.com/2012/10/1939-rca-storytone-piano-worlds-first.html

Looking around, they are in the wild and more than I thought. I found a Story & Clark ad for them so they were retail. $695. And several sites say they were heavy. #1500.

Thanks for posting - copying over to world's fair site (www.worldsfaircommunity.org), where I'm sure it will get some more interest.

If you want to hear it in action, check this Earl (Fatha) Hines recording.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrreNHM9pgM

"Now we return our program to our regularly scheduled tv collecting".

Did anyone else notice the (much later than 1939) JBL speaker? I wonder what it originally came with... old RCA sound equipment is one of my interests, and this piano is nothing short of amazing.

Very nice looking cabinet. However I am a little taken back how grubby the electronics looks.

I would have thought more effort would have bee placed there.