[CAUT] Steinway rebuilds

[Alan Eder]

First, my apologies to those who have read my account below before.


I was once hired to ride herd on someone's else's rebuilding of an S & S "D".  The piano owner had been advised by someone from Steinway's restoration dept. to send the piano to them to be completely rebuilt (including a new soundboard).  For whatever reason (still unknown to me), the owner decided to have work done locally instead.  He trusted the rebuilding shop he engaged enough to "re-do" his baby, but not enough to proceed without being monitored by a third party.  Hmmm...


On my initial visit to the shop, I saw the piano on its side, plate out.  The plate dowels (on either side of each plate bolt around the perimeter of the soundboard) were ground down to the level of the soundboard itself, which was in turn crushed at these points by the plate bosses.  Looked like someone had done all they knew how to regain downbearing on a previous restringing.  This time around, the rebuilders were going to grind down the plate bosses to gain needed downbearing.  So, despite Mr. Steinway's own advice to replace the board, and my independent corroboration of the same, the current rebuilder was not going to do it.  Why?  In their own words, "We tried replacing a couple of soundboards at one time, but it just 'didn't work out'."


What Ron said:

Sounds to me like a rebuilder that doesn't replace soundboards, no 
matter how lousy they sound. Best start shopping for better sources of 
advice.

Alan Eder





-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net>
To: caut <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Mon, Feb 14, 2011 7:58 am
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway rebuilds


On 2/14/2011 10:02 AM, Mckeever, James I wrote:
> Thanks to everyone for the discussion of laminated soundboards,
> especially Del Fandrich.
>
> Now a question about Steinway soundboards.  A rebuilder once told me he
> prefers not to replace Steinway soundboards, because a replacement never
> quite gives you the “Steinway sound.”
>
> Any truth to it?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim McKeever
>

Sounds to me like a rebuilder that doesn't replace soundboards, no 
matter how lousy they sound. Best start shopping for better sources of 
advice.

Unless of course, the distorted response available from that dead 
compression crowned soundboard *IS* the Steinway sound. Then, yes.
Ron N


 
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