Steinway O (was RE: Stein..Player)

[RndyPotter@aol.com]

I read

>...Today the pianos,
>the pianists, the music and the sounds are much different from the way
>they used to be. Some call this progress. Not I. This is not the beginning,
>this is the end. The Golden Age of the piano was a century ago, when the
>likes of Steinway, Mason & Hamlin, Chickering, Knabe, Weber and the like
>ruled the world! Today, of all those great names, only Steinway remains,
>itself but a pale reflection of what it once was. Which is why, when I
>find a vintage Steinway like yours, I seek to restore it, rather than to
>rebuild it.
>
>Decades later, the sound of that model B from my youth still echoes in
>my ear and remains a benchmark against which I measure all other pianos.
>Sometimes after a day of working on modern Steinways, Yamahas, Kawais
>and the like, when I get home I sit down at my ancient Knabe concert grand,
>or the old Steinway sitting next to it, or the even older Chickering sit-
>ting next to that, and play a little Chopin, or Mendelssohn or Liszt. They
>remind me of how the great pianos used to sound and of why I became a tech-
>nician in the first place. That's something I never want to forget.
>
>Respectfully,
>
>Les Smith
>lessmith@buffnet.net

I have a little trouble understanding this, for a couple reasons.
I, too, grew up playing a B, which was a wonderful instrument. (Touch was too
heavy for my liking, but I was an early teen then, and that was another
matter.)
Having made several trips to the Steinway factory, and seeing how pianos are
*still* constructed there, I don't understand what "only Steinway remains,
itself but a pale reflection of what it once was." means. From what I saw at
the factory, and see in client's homes - both very old and very new models,
including the one I just bought - I don't get the "pale reflection" part.
What I see is neither pale, nor appears to me to be a reflection of something
else.

I will admit that I have little recollection of what the instrument I loved
years ago actually sounded like. There is no way I can say its sound was any
stronger/fuller/ richer/cleaner/better/whatever than those made today,
because who can recall what an instrument actually sound like 30 years ago? I
can say, though, that from what I know of the building of the piano's
resonance over time, I would expect it to sound better today than I might
have then. (Assuming worn parts had been replaced, action properly regulated,
hammers in good condition and properly voiced, and so on, of course.)

Not being an expert on such matters (of remembering what an instrument
sounded like 30 years ago), I would have to revert to those who more likely
are, or were. I don't recall hearing, or reading, that Horowitz decided to
dump on Steinway because he felt the quality of their pianos were
deteriorating. But maybe I missed it. I will ask Franz Mohr next time I see
him. And since, from the reports I have heard recently from factory
personnel, Steinway is selling everything they can make, and is in a
back-order situation, it seems to me that the pianists and concerts halls of
the world have not decided to discontinue their love affair with the marque,
either. Seems to me, much of the world is as happy to get a new Steinway as
an old one. Some are even more so. I know I am.

Randy Potter, R.P.T.