1969 Steinway L CBS?

[Kdivad@AOL.COM]

In a message dated Sat, 11 May 2002 12:24:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Greg Torres" <Tunapiana440@cox.net> writes:

>FWIW...
>
>My latest and perhaps my last experience with Steinway parts was not a good
>one. I did a partial action rebuild recently for a customer's 'M' because of
>bad verdigree which consisted of hammers, shanks/flanges and whipens . The
>customer insisted on genuine Steinway parts. As there was (and I believe
>still is) a weird factory schedule going on at the time (last November) I
>was not able to receive the pre-hung set of hammers and shanks they offered
>so I had to go with separate hammer and shank/flange sets. The quality of
>the hammers was awful IMO and the average difference between the hammer bore
>and shank diameter was so great that the hammers literally rocked on the
>shanks as much as 7-8 degrees. I sent this first set of hammers and shanks
>back and when the second sets came back the hammers were even worse quality
>than the first and the bore/shank diameter was the same. For example, the
>thickness of the reinforcement felt on the extreme treble hammers was about
>1/8" compared to the original hammers which were about 1/32" thick. These
>hammers were more like sponges! I had to literally saturate these hammers in
>hardner.
>
>Then I got a call from Steinway because they received my returned parts and
>said that there was nothing wrong with the "fit" ....WTF? When I gave them
>the specs of the original hammer bore they said that the loose fit is normal
>and that the factory can only bore their hammers to that of what I received,
>so if I didn't like this loose a fit then either send them back (again, I
>lose money on my time, shipping and insurance, etc) or use polyurethane
>glue...
>
>Because of time constraints and an increasing monetary loss I wound up using
>these crappy parts and polyurethane glue, you know, the kind that expands to
>fill gaps...
>
>I will not ever buy genuine Steinway parts again unless the customer
>absolutely insists. And then I certainly will charge a hell of a lot more
>money for repairs. Also, I got a call back from the client a few days ago
>still wanting more brilliance in the treble...so I have to go back next week
>and try more hardener or perhaps (yikes!!) different hammers...
>
>BUT, I will end this rant by saying that the quality of the original
>Steinway parts was very very good, except for the verdigree problem. I saved
>them with thoughts of rebushing them perhaps. But I have heard that the
>verdigree will eventually come back even by doing this...
>
>Best,
>Greg
>
>PS If anyone can recommend suppliers of substitute (read: better?)
>hammers/parts for Steinways I am all ears...Thanks
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <Kdivad@AOL.COM>
>To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2002 9:58 AM
>Subject: Re: Re: 1969 Steinway L CBS?
>
>
>> As a technician who works on a lot of Steinways I find it amazing that we
>can not even discuss the problems at Steinway without it being called
>condemnation or bashing. I like Steinways but they are not my master, if
>there are problems that a lot of us have run into why not discuss them. They
>become hard to discuss when as soon as you bring one up the Steinway posse
>jumps all over you. As Terry stated he has much respect for Steinway, which
>shows the pressure to preface our criticisms. We discuss the problems of a
>lot of piano manufacturers but none of them bring up the defenses like
>Steinway, though Yamaha is building momentum (not including grey pianos).
>Most of the posse members will choose to ignore or dismiss the facts behind
>some of Steinway criticisms.
>>
>> David Koelzer
>> DFW

Renner, German Steinway,  I just completed a 1920's full Louis "M" restoration including a new soundboard and the customer (a retailer) insisted that every part, felt, punching come from Steinwey USA.  Not only did it cost $1000.00 more just for parts the extra labor involved just fixing the problems ran an extra $500.00.  Now I'm involved with the same customer on a full Louis "B" and am facing the same problems and he is facing the same costs.  Since Steinway America has used Renner in the past and German Steinways use Renner I usually don't have any problems with my customers accepting them.  The quality is great though the hammers require  little work to get them voiced (not nearly as much as Steinway hammers).


David Koelzer
DFW