Dear Les, Reading your reply was like reading a book that you couldn't put down til you finished. A fantastic response. I am glad you are on this list. James Grebe R.P.T. from St. Louis pianoman@inlink.com "Take me through the darkness to the break of the day" ---------- > From: Les Smith <lessmith@buffnet.net> > To: pianotech@ptg.org > Subject: Re: 1870 Steinway vertical > Date: Sunday, October 12, 1997 3:56 PM > > WARNING! tHIS IS A LONG, RAMBLING, QUASI-TECHNICAL POST ON ANCIENT > STEINWAY VERTICALS. IF YOU ALREADY KNOW THE STORY, OR EVEN IF YOU > DON'T, YOU'LL PROBABLY BE BORED. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! HERE GOES.--LES > On Wed, 8 Oct 1997 NBWW@aol.com wrote: > > > Hi all. > > This is a new experience for me. The thrill of a new adventure! My palms a > > sweating! I am a new comer to the computer and the internet. Heard about > > this from other techs. > > I'm restoring an 1870 Steinway vertical and need 6 original butts and 6 > > original wippens. I'm just doing the action and trapwork at this time. > > Restringing to follow as the budget allows. > > Since no one else jumped on this, I say a few (okay, more than a few!) > words about this. First, however, if you've never worked on one of these > before, it might be a good idea to slip into you BROWN corduroys, first. > You'll see why in a minute. > > Historical perspective. Your piano was built in 1870. It wouldn't be until > six years LATER that a brash young army general and his men would be im- > mortalized in a losing stand against the Souix Indians on a battlefield > at the Little Bighorn River in Montana. The same year that Custer and his > men perished, the US was celebrating its Centennial in Philadelphia. Part > of that included a huge piano exhibition in which the newly redesigned in- > struments--including a stunning new concert grand-- of Ernest Knabe from > Baltimore would make the piano world sit up and take notice. Unfortunate- > ly Knabe's moment in the sun would last just twenty years. When Ernest > died in 1894, Knabe's future died, too. From there it was all down hill. > Never again would they be a "contender". Yet I imagine that when Ernest > died, even Steinway breathed a sigh of relief. His pianos were THAT good. > Finally, at that same exhibition, a young inventor named Bell showed off > an invention for the first time that would literally change the world, > the telephone. The piano you're talking about repairing/restoring was > made BEFORE these long-distant events took place. It has outlived not only > its makers and original owners, but Custer and Bell and Knabe and the > many generations who came after them, too. Quite, frankly, that impresses > me. A lot. It should impress you, too. > > Whenever I open up one of these relics from days long passed, and look > inside I feel something like the hushed reverence I feel when I > walk into a church. I feel in the presence of something very special, > very rare, and utterly without peer today. Pull off the bottom board. > Down near the bottom of the plate, you'll find the date it was cast by > Steinway. It'll read something like 25/3/80, using the old day/month/ > year format. When you look inside the piano from the top you'll see > something unique: hammers, butts, damper-levers, wippens, keys, dowel- > capstans, tubular-metal action rails, "signature" Steinway flanges, > strings, felts, case parts, etc., etc., all not merely ASSEMBLED by > Steinway, but BUILT by them too. Parts which could be found in no other > piano made, only Steinway. Wow! And here it is, 127 years later, still > functional enough that we're talking about repairing/restoring it to > see if maybe we can maybe coax another century or so out of it. In- > credible. > > In 1870, when that piano was built, Steinway had been manufacturing > pianos here in the states for less than 20 years. The pre-eminent piano > in America was still Chickering, but Steinway already had them clearly > in their sights. In the Chickering factories, the worker's mantra was > "We're number one, we're number one! In Steinway's factories the mantra > was "Kill Chickering, Kill Chickering"! To this end Steinway spared no > expense, never compromised quality in favor of corporate expediency.In > the days long before the bean-counters, the clock-watchers, and the ef- > ficiency experts made their appearance, Steinway set out to build the > finest piano in the world, no matter what the expense. They succeeded. > You're looking at one. And the reason why, a few short years later, it > was the workers in Steinways factories who were jubilantly chanting > "We're number one, We're number one". Meanwhile, back at Chickering, > everyone had been reduced to puzzling "Hey, what happened? Hey, what > happened?" Steinway was what had happened. Chickering would never re- > cover, neither would anyone else. Since the day Steinway overtook > Chickering, there have only been two piano manufacturers in the US: > Steinway and everyone else. And that's why that ancient 1870 Steinway > upright you'e looking at deserves both your respect and the very best > work you're capable of doing. Nothing less! > > Now, here's where those brown corduroy's come in. You said "right now > I'm just doing the action-work." JUST. Kind of reminds me of when the > captain of the Titanic said to his first officer, "Wow, look at the > size of that iceberg over there! Swing her closer so I can get a bet- > ter look! :) Here's why. > > First of all, I assume that this piano has a seven octave span, a 3/4 > plate and an open-faced pinblock, right? That really wasn't that hard > because back then they all did. However, can you identify the model of > this Steinway? Is it an "E", or an "F", or perhaps a N, O, L, R,T, X, > H, or S ? Relax, I'm pulling your chain, it'll be either an E or an > F. The difference? Four inches. The E is 48" tall, the F is 52" tall. > Knowing the model is important. You'll see why. > > Despite the fact that Steinway upright actions of this vintage are > among the best engineered and executed ever made, after more than a > century it is probable that serious action problems exist with this > piano. These problems fall into two major catagories and are com- > pounded by the fact that replacement action parts haven't been avail- > able from Steinway itself FOR DECADES. Oh-oh! The next time you'er work- > ing on a relatively modern Steinway upright look inside and try to > find those "tubular-metal action rails" and those snazzy "signature" > Steinway flanges. Hey, they're missing! And so are the butts, damper- > levers, wippens and countless other parts that used to make Steinway a > Steinway. Why? Maybe they weren't so well designed in the first place, > huh? Right. And maybe if you wait up Christmas eve you might see Santa > slide down the chimney, too! > > The two most common action problems encountered on these old Steinways > are action parts are so worn out from use that they can no longer be > salvaged, or else the presence of an action-killer clalled "Verdigris", > or, simply, "The Greenies." Both are major headaches. You must deter- > mine the condition of the action before you can possibly give an esti- > mate for making it functional again. If you have ALREADY given an esti- > mate, without examining the action closely, you're dead. Consider mov- > ing out of town and changing your name annd phone number.No kidding. > > Assuming that you're still alive here, pull the action. Warning: you > better own an action cradle! If you try to set the action on your bench > it will promptly fall over, undoubtedly breaking numerous fragile parts, > causing you to have to raise you estimate considerably. OK, it's in the > action cradle. Now what? Put your finger on the back of each hammer and > GENTLY wiggle it from side to side. Try the same thing with the wippens, > and then--gulp--the damper levers. Chances are that you are going to > find an extreme amout of side-to-side play in the hammers and wippens > indicating severely worn action centers. Worse you're certain to find > excessive play in the damper levers. Loosen the little retaining plate > on one, remove it and take a close look at it. See that little groove > in the lever that holds and squares the lever to the centerpin? See > how it's worn so badly that the lever rubs against it neighbors and > in the process misses one or two of the strings it's supposed to dam- > pen. If so, you've got the "Old Steinway Damper-Lever Blues!" A killer > to fix unless you can find exact replacements. LOTS O' LUCK. You see, > those damper levers are unlike any others you've ever seen, or will > ever see again unless you do another Steinway upright of similar vintage. > I'll explain in a minute. > > Now's as good a time as any to get the rest of the bad news. You know > how modern uprights use damper spoons to lift the dampers when the key > is depressed? SURPRISE! Your 1970 Steinway doesn't have damper spoons > at all. Take a look at the back of the wippen. He,he,he. Instead of a > spoon you find a wooden flange into which is inserted an adjusting screw > which is accessed by a HOLE in the BOTTOM of the damper lever! You know, > the ones that are worn so bad you can't reuse them. So if you want to re- > tain the integrity of the action, your're going to have to come up with > similar wippens and damper levers. These, as you may have already assumed, > are not readily-available, over-the-counter items. For that matter, you > can't even get them UNDER-the-counter, unless you're lucky anough to find > another tech who's "parting out" an old action.It happens. Sometimes. IF > you're lucky. Are you feeling "lucky" so far? Stick with me. More good > news follows. :) > > Verdigris. The "greenies". The action-killer. Push the hammer rail for- > ward until all the hammer are touching the strings. Release the hammer > rail. Do all the hammer quickly return to their rest position, or do they > just seem to float back there in slow motion, or maybe not even get all > the way back at all? Try the jacks. Push down on the heel of each one with > a thin bladed screwdriver, then release it quickly. Does it pop back > smartly to its rest position, or does it, too, seemingly move in slow > motion. Remove a hammer and its flange from the high treble where there > are no dampers. look at the side of the flange. Can you see the felt > bushing and the end of the centerpin, or are they covered with a dark- > green waxy substance? Lastly, look at the underside of the flange, More > green stuff? Sluggish action centers and the presence of Verdegris, mean > that you have big-time problems brewing. And you were worried about those > damper levers! > > Stick with me. I won't beat up on you TOO much longer. Question: Have you > ever made a hammer spring rail? You know, fabricated one from scratch? > Get ready. In something this old it is probable that the hammer springs > are shot--too weak to do the job, even once you have the action centers > working freely, and so brittle that they'll break when you try to bend > them. And don't even think about using those "broken hammer spring repair" > do-dads sold by the supply houses. I once saw a Steinway were the tech had > installed 88 of those babies IN ADDITION to the original springs. 176 > springs, 2 per hammer, PLUS about a quart of WD-40 (another no-no) and the > recalcitrant hammers still just ever-so-slowly " moseyed" back to their > rest positions. A new hammer rail is a distinct possibility. > > I COULD go on and on, but I won't. Enough. Probably more than enough, but > you get the idea. THOROUGHLY check out the action in your piano, look- > ing for the problems I mentioned above and you'll have a much better idea > of what you're up against. Pianotech includes some of the finest techni- > cians not just in the country, but in the world. When you post back > they'll be able to guide you through the intricacies of fabricating a > hammer-spring rail, dealing with Verdigris, rebushing old flanges, > salvaging old action parts, or adapting new ones to your needs, and the > zillion other problems you're likely to run into when working on that old > dinosaur. > > Early on, you'll discover that one approach to severely worn action parts > and extensive Verdigris is to replace ALL the action parts with new ones. > Genuine Steinway replacement parts have't been avaiable from Steinway, > itself, for DECADES, however, new "knock-off" replacewments ARE available > from a couple of places, Wally B and Japan (!) for two. That's the good > news. The bad news is the price. Astronomical, relatively speaking, even > at the wholesale level. So keep those brown cords handy when checking the > cost of rebuilding the entire action with new parts. And keep a pair in > reserve for the piano's owner when you give him the estimate. There IS a > bright side to this approach, however. Since this is a 7 octave piano, > you're only going to need 85 of everything instead of 88! :) > > You're also going to run into technicians who will advise you to "junk > that clunk". They'll tell you that because of all the problems I outlined > above--PLUS all the others I didn't even tell you about!-- the piano is > just not worth the time and expense that it would take to salvage it and > that the money would be best used if it were applied to a new piano. They > will recommend that YOU part out the action to others dumb enough to try > to save one of these worn-out relics of the past and then smash the case > to smithereens, use it as kindling in your fireplace and roast weenies > over the blaze. A lot of techs support this position. As a matter of fact, > I would guess that if old Jonas Chickering and his sons were alive today > and on-line with Pianotech, they would readily volunteer their services > to any tech contemplating such a course of action. I'm equally sure that > not only would they bring their own chain saws and sledge hammers, but > that they'd bring the weenies, too! > > I would suggest approaching this piano as a learning experience. You're > not only going to learn a lot about old Steinways, you're going to learn > something about yourself as well. Further, if you persevere, if you > stick with it, if you go on to do other old Steinways, you may in time > come to appreciate why, against competition such as this, Chickering never > really had a chance. No chance at all. > > Best of luck. Enjoy the experience! > > Les Smith > lessmith@buffnet.net > > > > > > > >
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