Steingraeber factory pictures, bridge agraffes & adjustable vertical hitchpins

[Calin Tantareanu]

A correction: the bridge agraffes and hitchpins used in the Steingraeber
Phoenix 272 concert grand are NOT manufactured by Stuart and Sons. They are
somewhat different in design and were provided by the person who ordered the
piano.

Calin Tantareanu
----------------------------------------
http://calin.haos.ro/c/instruments/
The Bechstein group & mailing list:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bechstein/
----------------------------------------


> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org 
> [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Calin Tantareanu
> Sent: duminică, 30 aprilie 2006 20:13
> To: 'Pianotech List'
> Subject: Steingraeber factory pictures,bridge agraffes & 
> adjustable vertical hitchpins
> 
> Hello!
> 
> I have finally managed to upload pictures of my Steingraeber 
> factory visit to my website, as I had announced in a previous e-mail.
> Like Richard said, they have indeed just built a concert 
> grand with bridge agraffes and adjustable vertical hitchpins 
> (see attached pictures), called "Phoenix". It has a very mice 
> rosewood veneer.
> More pictures of it and the piano construction at the 
> Steingraeber factory can be seen on my website:
> http://calin.haos.ro/c/instruments/steingraeber/index.htm
> 
> When I played the Steingraeber 272 Phoenix, they were still 
> doing the final voicing and regulation. 
> I was very impressed with the sound - it had a big, brilliant 
> tone, with no weak spots, very undiscernable transition and a 
> really deep, full bass. As I had assumed, bridge agraffes 
> really improve the higher partials, especially in the top 
> notes. The sound was very rich and clear, without the 
> pronounced decay in high partials that most pianos have.
> The voicer told me that because of the bridge agraffes, he 
> had to soften the hammers much more than for their other 
> pianos with conventional bridge pins.
> 
> This piano also has vertical hitch pins which are threaded 
> and can be turned in and out for fine downbearing adjustment.
> 
> By the way, the bridge agraffes are from Stuart in Australia. 
> I don't know about the hitch pins though. This is a special 
> order piano, I don't know if they plan on building more or not.
> 
> Another big surprise was their smallest grand piano, the 168. 
> It was an extremely good and powerful piano, with an 
> unbelievably deep bass for such a short piano. Like it's big 
> brother, you couldn't notice abrupt tone changes across the 
> scale. The action was also very responsive and controllable. 
> It is probably the best piano under two meters I have played so far.
> 
> I haven't been able to play their mid-sized grand, the 205, 
> because they had just shipped about 20 grands to America a 
> few days before my visit, and had none left on stock, except 
> 2-3 which were in final stages of regulation.
> 
> Enjoy the pictures!
> 
> Calin Tantareanu
> ----------------------------------------
> http://calin.haos.ro/c/instruments/
> The Bechstein group & mailing list:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bechstein/
> ----------------------------------------
>