Hi, Steve. I can give you a little information on this, but you're also going to need some input from those who regularly change stringing scales and replace soundboards, too. If the piano you're looking at has a rounded off tail, it's a modified Model "O" whose case was elongated (and keys lengthened) to accept the spoolbox, air-motor, tracking mechanism and other miscellaneous parts a Dou-Art player mechanism, the rest of which was located under the piano. Over the years, Duo-Art made three different models of their player: "Early","Late", and "Very Late". Your piano once contained the "Early" Dou-Art mechanism, which was made and installed by Aeolian, not Steinway. The "Late" Dou-Art mechanism is the most de- sirable of the three, even though the "Very Late" is the rarest in terms of the number of units built, but that's another post. In evaluating your model "O" you have several factors to consider in determining its current condition and value; whether you can possibly get by with something less than a full rebuild, and how much it's all going to cost. The fact is that after tinkering with the design of the model "O", Steinway finally decided to dump it in favor of the model "L". Steinway changed the straight bass bridge found in earlier "O's to a curved bridge; they changed the low wound tenor doubles to plain string triples and then decided that the only way they could improve things further was to change the case design altogether and go to one that had a square tail instead of a rounded-off tail, Hence the model "L" came into being. Thus, theoretically at least, on the face ot it, one would have to conclude that--everything alse being equal--that a model "L" is more desirable than an "O", because the switch of case designs represented an improvement as far as the bass bridge--and hence tone-quality--was concerned. Secondly, even among model "O's", the later version would theoretically be more desirable than the early version, for the same reason. Are you still with me? (If I've got any of this wrong, 300 tech's will shortly be jumping in to set me straight!) The problem with your "O" is that the player mechanism is missing. A model "O" case without the player mechanism will meet with some sales resistence compared to a model "O" with a standard case. The elongated case, with those extra inches between the fallboard and the plate and tuning pins, looks strange and bulky--it just doesn't appear "right" compared to a standard Steinway case. This is important because if the piano is sold, without the player, it will go to someone who is comparing it to other Steinways with "normal" cases. So the fact that your piano is an "O" instead of an "L", and also an "O" with a non- standard, "odd-looking" case, may both very well be considered negatives when trying to sell it, or even when just appraising it. Also, although a relatively minor point, your piano originally had ivory keys. Ivory keytops in good condition on a vintage Steinway are a definite "plus" as opposed to plastic keytops. So there's another small negative there. Why are we talking about the negatives? Because you have to weigh them into the equation when deciding how extensive a rebuild you want to do on this piano, and how much money you're willing to invest in it. You say that the soundboard has crown, the strings little or no downbearing on bridges and that the sound and tone-quality are "weak and muffled". Boy are you going to be surprised if you do only the bridge-work, restring the piano using the old soundboard and discover to your dismay that the tone-quality is STILL weak and muffled! If you determined that there is still crown in the soundboard by running a taut string alongside a rib underneath it, did you do it with several ribs, or just one? I clearly remember seeing a couple of rebuilt "O's" in recent years that looked beautiful, but still exhibited the same, muffled, poor tone-quality you describe in yours, because the rebuilder thought that old board was "good-enough to get by" when it wasn't. In one case the dealer actually asked me: "It sounds GREAT for a piano whose soundboard doesn't have any measurable crown after restringing, huh, Les?" No. It didn't.So you might need to get someone who regularly replaces soundboards to take a look at this piano and give you some informed input. Maybe you CAN get by using the old soundboard, but you don't want to find out that you can't AFTER you've already rebuilt the piano! Also, piano technology has made SOME advances in the last 85 years and it may very well be that you can get some help designing a new string- ing scale for your "O" which is superior to the original one. Address your soundboard and bridge concerns first, however. :) I've rambled on enough and I'll let some of our heavy-duty Steinway rebuilders jump in now. It should, however, be apparent the trying to appraise the value of your "O" and estimating what it might take to rebuild it so that it plays and sounds as it should, requires a lot more input. Also, trying to cut corners on this and merely trying recondition what's there, is sure to result in disappointment all around. I guess this post probably gave you some information you wish you hadn't heard, but you have to know what you're getting in to ahead of time. You'll also probably get a bunch more posts on your "O" before this thread is finished. It's a complicated subject, but if anyone has the answers, these guys do. Good luck. Les Smith PS findng a replacement Duo-Art player action for this piano is probably the least of your worries, but the chances are poor, at best.
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC