On Jun 26, 2007, at 3:19 PM, John Minor wrote: > I have a private customer who has asked me a few questions about > Bechsteins, and I have minimal experience with these. I'd be > interested in hearing opinions on the following: > > How do Bechsteins compare with Steinway(9')? They're different. Completely different kind of sound and feel. I like them very much, with the exception of one problem I've dealt with that seems to be a Bechstein thing. I have one private customer with a Bechstein E (9'), circa 1978. Other than single bass strings popping lately, it's a nice piano. One other customer has a grand in the 6' or so range. It is much older and needs a complete restringing. We break strings all the time on it. Not a good piano to judge the make by. I tuned a small newer grand down on the coast several years ago and liked it very much. I'm sorry, I can't remember the model number of the last two. I also tuned a big older upright a few years ago that was quite nice. With the exception of the small grand on the coast, and I can't remember about it, string breakage is a problem on all of the Bechsteins I've tuned, and I am always scared to death the next string will break before I can get the pitch settled. Except the newer small grand, I had string breakage while tuning all three of the other pianos, including the upright. Bearing in mind, they are all older, but I don't have that problem with Steinways, or Henry Millers for that matter. The only difficulty I remember about the small grand on the coast was that I didn't own a #1 tuning tip at the time, and I found tuning the small pins with a #2 tip odd feeling. I do like the feel of the open faced pinblock, and tend to prefer tuning any pinblock system without pin bushings anyway. I might would be somewhat concerned about whether their wood curing process is suitable for the American climate. I was once told Bechstein didn't take the American climate into consideration when seasoning its wood. But I have no idea if that was a credible statement. I do know that with the model E, at least, the only way to install a Dampp Chaser system is below the beams because of the odd network of beams under there. I hear the Samick/Bechstein marriage has been good for both companies. I do have one client who has a brother who works for Bechstein in Berlin. Incidentally, that client has a Samick, FWIW - but they are not pianists. Jeff Jeff Tanner, RPT University of South Carolina -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20070705/1ef6d3be/attachment.html
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