<html> <body> As a Sauter dealer, I was in that same exhibit room and happened to notice the piano (kind of hard not too).  The tenor bass is incredibly clean.  He didn't choose to make it snarly like Steinway goes for.  My wife played it and it did have decent sustain and sound throughout the registers.  Definitely in the American tonal tradition with a much cleaner bass tenor than you usually encounter in an American piano maybe a little brighter in the treble.  The bass is incredible in the low notes.  That low C almost sounds like a big chopper, it tended to dominate the whole room.  He is very approachable and it was fun to crawl under the piano and discuss his belly design.  His next project is apparently going to be an 8' grand piano.  He mentioned that a Steinway artist played it and sniffed that it was weak in the bass (no snarl).  Amusing to the technicians among us--a Steinway would be rather hard pressed to produce that kind of volume.  I would not compare it to a Fazioli.  Different cultures entirely.  If you don't have a Fazioli to try out, play a Sauter and think a cooler, drier sound and you will have an idea.  Comparatively, his piano is more American in the treble with not quite the power or sustain associated with the better European pianos.  My wife and I attended a concert hosted by Mr. Fazioli with Vitaly Margulis playing the 9' Fazioli grand.  It was an incredible showcase of pianism on an undisputably fine European grand. Andrew Anderson At 05:35 PM 3/3/2007, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> Well, he may not be a trained piano craftsman, but he certainly is a craftsman.   I designed the scale for the piano and did some consulting along the way offering advice where and when asked. Some of which he followed and some not. One area I wish he had followed a little more closely was with the soundboard -- it's some thicker and, hence, stiffer, than I would like. As is the ribbing. To my ear it sounds voiced a bit too bright to make up for that. It does have good sustain, though.   The scale extends down nine extra keys to C which, having a theoretical frequency of some 16.35 Hz, is more felt than heard. The range below A is much more useable than it is with the Bosendorfer Imperial. At least in my opinion. Oscar Peterson -- the only pianist I've worked with who actually uses those extra lower notes -- would love it!   It's a big piano and hearing it in a smallish room doesn't really do it justice. I've also heard it in David's loft where it seems to open up more. Maybe its psychological, but seeing it at the end of a smallish exhibit room reminded me of seeing a lion in a cage at the zoo. Nice to look at but hardly its natural environment.   Del   <dl><hr> <dd>From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [<a href="mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org" eudora="autourl"> mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org</a>] On Behalf Of Richard Adkins <dd>Sent: March 03, 2007 12:23 PM <dd>To: caut@ptg.org <dd>Subject: Re: [CAUT] Rubenstien Piano <dd>Thanks, it is hard to tell from the pictures. I guess the "agraffe" I think I see on the bass bridge <dd>is merely part of the exposed front notch. I find it hard to believe this guy did all this by <dd>himself, not being a trained piano craftsman. <dd>  <dd>If someone has acutally heard it, I'd be interested to know what they'd say it sounds like. <dd>  <dd>Thanks for all the replies... <dd>  <dd>Richard </dl></blockquote></body> </html>