[Experts] Steinway New York vs Hamburg

Richard Brekne Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no
Sun, 16 Nov 2003 00:11:20 +0100



Jim Harvey wrote:

>
>
> And, while it's just gut feeling, the Hamburg seems more out-the-door
> finished -- more like 75% for the NY versus 90% for the Hamburg, and I
> don't mean the paint!
>
> Take all this with huge grains of salt, 'cuz here in the sticks my exposure
> to either as -new- products is quite limited.
>
> Jim Harvey

Limited experience or not, I think you hit the provebial nail on the head with
the above. While I think both factories are capable of producing real gems, I
lean towards believing that Hamburg is more consistant at it... at least during
the present period. Part of this feeling may come from a better state out of
the box. Another thing I think may be understated is the impact of the action
and hammers/voicing technique on both. We have quite a few older NY S&S's
around here... from the late 40's and 50s... even some older ones, and most of
these have long since shed much of their NY parts, and with the change over the
Hamburg sound comes very clearly through. I havent had a chance to make this
kind of comparison on brand new, or very recent instruments... but it would be
an interesting study to be sure. Just how much of that NY sound is << in the
hammer >> ?

Cheers
RicB


--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
UiB, Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html
http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html



This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC