heavy Steinway action

[Farrell]

It sounds to me Mark like you are way ahead of the curve. You have identified a problem and are seeking a solution. Most people would play this piano just as it is until they were laid in their grave (perhaps the piano would put them there prematurely?). I would suggest letting us know what area of the country you are located in, and I'll bet a number of techs will email you privately with recommendations for a good tech that is experienced in Stanwood-type leverage corrections. Or call/email David Stanwood directly. Invest a little in such a manner and enjoy your piano for years to come.

P.S. You are right on in not being afraid to improve a new piano (it is perhaps a shame, but you do what you gotta do to get what you want). For the high performance oriented automobile enthusiasts, it is not unusual to buy a new Corvette or Lotus or whatever and immediately take it to the custom high performance shop and take it all apart and make it really high performance (I'm talking about complete disassembly of a new motor, etc.) - and this being done to an automobile that is NOT defective!

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Davidson" <mark.davidson@mindspring.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2003 6:54 AM
Subject: Re: heavy Steinway action


Okay, let's give you guys some more information (no don't have 88 SWs yet, just a little history).

First, I am actually the customer, not a technician.  If I knew then what I know now would I buy this piano -- probably not.  
So problem #1 is simply ignorance.  Probably true for most customers.  I, probably like most people (piano techs excluded), 
do not expect to have significant issues with such an instrument.

Keep in mind that Steinway pianos are not bought from the factory, they are bought from dealers.  Some dealers are better than others.  
I had a choice of three L's locally, none of which were prepped (we're talking ZERO prep aside from tuning).  One could not be played because it
still had the packing material in the keyboard (they took it out while I was in the store).  Shocked? Welcome to reality.

The piano was chosen mainly on the basis of sound, not touch.  This again is probably true for many customers, particularly musicians
(a Steinway with lousy touch still sounds better than most of the other stuff out there, unless you want to shell out even more money).  
I do not have any beefs with the sound.

The main reason for wanting to lighten the action is that my wife is 90 lbs and has some arthritis.  I can play it without problems, she is in
pain.  To generalize, it is probably more difficult to make a piano right for multiple people.

A while after we bought the piano, the dealer hired a good technician.  On a trip to the store, it was obvious that every single Steinway in
the store was significantly nicer to play touchwise than ours.  So we paid him to come out and do a day's work on ours.  Big improvement,
but still doesn't change the basic weight/leverage setup issues.

We also took a piano window shopping trip to New York which was a real eye opener.  It revealed a few things, the most important of which are
1) don't buy it if it's not right IN THE STORE.  It is possible, and there's really no excuse.
2) there's other good stuff out there (e.g. Faust and Harrison rebuilds, used Bosendorfers etc).

BTW, I don't buy the argument that because I bought it I have to leave it alone.

Well, that should give you guys some things to talk about :)

-Mark





  As Ed and Ric said, action making is an art, and all pianos should be prepped. But more important, and this is what I asked about before, is given that each action is different, the player needs to pick out the piano he/she likes. If, after a couple of years, the player complains about the action, we need to ask, "Is it any different from when you first got the piano?" Actions are kind of like a pair of shoes. If they don't fit and feel good when you first put them on, you can't "wear them in." With an action, there is not going to be much difference in the way it feels in the first couple of years, unless there is something wrong. But I don't think we should try to do some wholesale changes to an action that wasn't put there in the first place. Because when you change one thing adjustment, it has an effect on the other adjustments. 

  This is why artists try out all the pianos in Steinway Hall to pick out the one they like the best. When we bought our B and D, the chair of our department, who is also a concert pianist, went to NY to pick out the piano he liked best. When I sold pianos, and when I advice people on buying pianos, I tell them to lookt for three things in a piano, how does it look, how does it sound and how does it feel. If any one of those three is not right, look for another piano. 

  In other words, with regard to the customer who complained about the heavy action on a 3 or 4 year old Steinway, the first thing we need to ask is, "Is this what you bought?" If it is, there isn't much we can do to change it. 

  Wim