Help with Steinway Model/tail-plate embossing

[Michael Gamble]

Hello list and Robin Hufford
I had hoped to be able to take - as "gospel" - what Steinway themselves told
me. I had an e-mail from  Margaret Wolejska@steinway.com  who told me such
interesting things about my model "A" but on quizzing them about the
embossed dates and marks on the tail end of the casting I could only get
from London the reply "it's the date of the Patent" Which info ties in
better. Why would S&S keep a cast plate for 20 years before using it in a
new 1914 piano?
You said:  "There is, in fact, a date cast into the plate at the tail that
represents the date of the casting as Calin says.  Also, sometimes,
various scale designations can be found below the dating.  I think, in
1910, the company must have become concerned with people being able to
read these so they substituted a letter where the year would have
been.   One must count alphabetically the number the letter represents,
beginning with the letter A and add to this ten.  This then represents
the year of the dating.  At the other end, and elsewhere are a number of
patent dates.
     Also, I would suggest as regards the A model that there really
should be four varieties considered, although this is not how they are
normally viewed:  They are:  The first one - the A1 roundtail with 85
notes.    The next should be the 88 note roundtail.  These are not
exactly the same as one has an additional rib and is, to my ear, a
distinctly different sounding piano.  Then there are the other two
variants.
     In my opinion  the longscale A- the 6ft four inch one, should not
even be considered an A but, actually, another model.  It shows the
continuity in the company's view of the power of marketing, which
persists to this day,  that they would introduce another model,
substantially different than the first three mentioned above, and yet
refer to it by a designation which actually had applied to a
substantially different piano.  Some things never change.
   There is, in fact, a date cast into the plate at the tail that
represents the date of the casting as Calin says.  Also, sometimes,
various scale designations can be found below the dating.  I think, in
1910, the company must have become concerned with people being able to
read these so they substituted a letter where the year would have
been.   One must count alphabetically the number the letter represents,
beginning with the letter A and add to this ten.  This then represents
the year of the dating.  At the other end, and elsewhere are a number of
patent dates.
     Also, I would suggest as regards the A model that there really
should be four varieties considered, although this is not how they are
normally viewed:  They are:  The first one - the A1 roundtail with 85
notes.    The next should be the 88 note roundtail.  These are not
exactly the same as one has an additional rib and is, to my ear, a
distinctly different sounding piano.  Then there are the other two
variants.
     In my opinion  the longscale A- the 6ft four inch one, should not
even be considered an A but, actually, another model.  It shows the
continuity in the company's view of the power of marketing, which
persists to this day,  that they would introduce another model,
substantially different than the first three mentioned above, and yet
refer to it by a designation which actually had applied to a
substantially different piano.  Some things never change."
Sorry to have returned your post in full, but I for one would like to get to
the bottom of this "tail-plate embossing" So I am adding just that to the
list title above.
Regards
Michael G (UK)