[CAUT] Steinway Style II Grand

[Boaz Kirschenbaum]

For what it's worth....

I prepped an 1876 New York Model C at Steinway Hall. The piano had new 
bridge caps and pinblock, but I believe it had a shimmed board....can't 
remember, should have taken notes.

We had many difficulties, mostly with bearing problems in the melodic 
and treble sections. Too much bearing in high treble, not enough in 
melodic section. This is not a criticism of the restoration department, 
just that they probably had challenges adapting a remanufacturing 
technique intended for more common models to a much older and more 
unique instrument.

In addition, there was a lot of v-bar noise in the melodic section 
which could not be completely remedied.

Both of these issues caused voicing problems. Eventually we got the 
piano playable after a lot of regulation experimentation, finally got 
it stable and at pitch, and to an acceptable level of voicing. It was 
never going to be a performance instrument, and would be sold to a 
collector....but a week or so of work yielded some limited results and 
was interesting in terms of problem-solving. We didn't experiment with 
pitch though, that might have helped.

There were newer, heavier hammers used (NY Model D hammers). Original 
keys, original action brackets, new action rails,  original keyframe. 
There was another major problem of inaccuracy of original capstan 
placement, and original key-leading inconsistencies....which led to a 
very heavy action, 70+ downweight.

In addition, NY IMP parts were used, which don't regulate as well as 
the Pre-84 parts in this geometry....but we made it work. Keydip was 
420+, probably 430, I think I resorted to chucking the dip block and 
doing it all by feel after much gnashing of teeth and cursing.

I suppose the question would be, is it worthwhile and will there be a 
return on the investment? I wonder what the market is for these. Would 
it in fact be worth $100,000 when completed?

If the customer wants to keep the piano and have a performance 
instrument, that may be impossible without major structural and action 
work.

You might consider replacing the entire action, keys, keyframe, and 
damper system. It would cost more in parts but you would have more 
consistency and predictability. If you can adapt a D action that could 
be a viable option. Combined with rescaling and re-setting downbearing, 
new bridge caps, pinblock etc., the piano could be transformed. Costing 
for this would easily be in the $20,000 to $25,000+ range.

But if they want it preserved for some reason, than that will take a 
lot more work.

Another idea is to order hammers from Abel, they will 
custom-manufacture old-style hammers from samples.

Boaz Kirschenbaum
RPT
Greenwich, NSW