Geo. Steck upright

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Melis" <pianotunings@juno.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 12:23 PM
Subject: Geo. Steck upright


> Hello!
> 
> As a first-time poster, new tuner, and total novice in the art and
> science of piano technology, I have been dutifully taking in all the
> wisdom, advice, and experience that the many regular contributors to this
> list have to offer.  Thank you for all that I have learned and all that I
> will learn.  
> 
> This last weekend I tuned a full-size Geo. Steck upright, vintage
> 1910-15, if the piano tech who last worked on it is correct.  (I did not
> make a note of the serial number, regrettably.  From what the owner said,
> the piano tech who dated it based his/her age estimate on the fact that
> the bass strings are wound with what appears to be steel rather than
> copper.)  

    While some piano makers went to nickel-plated windings rather than copper during wartime (WW I was 1914-1918), sometimes they were used just because they were less expensive (I presume).  I've seen nickel windings on old pianos from the early 1900's when no war was going on.  At any rate, the serial number and an atlas is better for finding the year of manufacture (if records are available).

In any case, many of the pins were very loose, and as I'm
> tuning it I'm seeing that the pinblock is riddled with cracks, which of
> course helps to explains the looseness.  It took two hours to get it as
> good as I could, and not until I got home and was thinking about it did I
> realize -- duh! -- that I have never before seen a piano where the
> pinblock was exposed and not covered by the plate.  How interesting!
 > Does anyone know whether this is how the piano was actually designed? 
> And if so, do you have any idea why?  I would love to know more.  
 > Best regards,
 > David G. Melis
> Associate Member, Piano Technicians Guild
> 1512 West Thorndale
> Chicago, IL  60660
> (773) 728-9762 

Plenty of pianos, grand and vertical, have exposed pinblock faces.  It's mainly in older pianos, but by no means rare.  There's an article on exposed (open-face) vs. covered (closed-face) pinblocks in the Jan. & Feb. 2002 Journal.  It's more about tuning pins actually, the gist being that in an open-face pinblock, the coils can be closer to the surface of the pinblock, making for less "flagpoling" than in the closed-face pinblock, where the thickness of the plate adds to the amount of unsupported tuning pin sticking out of the block.  (Plate bushings add a little support, but not much.)  
    Yes, this is how it and most early pianos were designed.  If the top edge of the plate ends at the bottom of the pinblock, it's called a three-quarter plate.  The idea of having the plate extend all the way over the pinblock and drilling holes for all the pins came later. 
    --David Nereson, RPT