Hamburg Steinway

[Elian Degen J.]

Hi

I want to mention to all of you, after reading the thread, I have been
working for a long time with two recording studios in Caracas, Recorded
sound is totally different matter than a concert hall.

Even though here people prefer the Hamburg Rounded sound. The best result in
the studio was achieved with an American Steinway. They asked me to prepare
the piano to be very bright at the top, and when they chose the instrument,
they chose one that had a superb bass.

I remember the sound engineer telling me that with modern equipment they
were able to change characteristics, but no equipment in the word could
modify something inexistent

You can equalize sound so you can cut down brightness, but if the piano is
dull you cannot add brightness, same as bass you can dull it up, but if the
piano does not have it you cannot amplify. Take that in account.

Elian Degen

-
----- Original Message -----
From: Marcel Lapointe <jaguarrr@globetrotter.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, September 03, 1999 12:37 AM
Subject: Re: Hamburg Steinway


> >List:
> >
> >
> >We are in the initial process of purchasing a piano for our new recording
> >studio.  Some of the faculty have mentioned a Hamburg Steinway.  Although
> >I've seen a few I really know very little about them.  Probably looking
for
> >a Model B.  The Mason & Hamlin BB has been mentioned as well.  We have
> >several of them that are around 30 years old.  What are the new ones
like?
> >Anybody?
> >
> >Dave Severance
> >Washington State University
> Eugenia Carter wrote:
> My 2 cents is don't recommend any piano that you, or a technician you
trust,
> have not evaluated before purchase and believe would be a good choice. We
> techs look at pianos differently than do non-techs. I urge you to try to
be
> a part of the selection process; but, if you are not, give the
"higher-ups"
> your wish-list of what the piano needs/should be and give them several
brand
> options. Then wish them well. :-)
>
> I agree totally with Gina carter. You  have to try it before buying one .
> First thing to do , get in contact with Hamburg, so they will tell you how
> many model B they have for testing. Don't travel to Germany to test only 2
> or 3 Model B. Wait that they have at least 6 or 8 of them. They ran  out
of
> pianos sometimes real fast, model B is a great selling piano in Europe and
> Japan.(Japan buy more than 35% of yearly production of Hamburg Steinway If
> I do remember well) I have seen some pianos only a couple of days old in
> the testing room  and they were sold already.
> It's great to have at least 6 or 8 pianos to test. You can discover so
many
> different personnality in such so wonderfull instruments. Each one is
> unique...
> If you go to Germany, you will have the chance to try the model C wich
> would be my prefered choice for a  recording  studio. This model is not
> build any more in New York for many decades. It is 7'5'', and the bass
> notes are even more  rounder than those of the B. They only build a few of
> them, so again ask to know if they have somes for trying.
>
> Here in Quebec,in the main concert hall, we have a 4 year old Hamburg D ,
> and it is a fantastic instrument. We choose it out of 12 Model D ,in
> Hamburg. An experience I wish to everybody.
> Marcel Lapointe rpt
>
>
>