I was at the Steinway dealership in a major city
recently, and tried to tell the saleslady of the
marvelous things which are being done by some of this
list's members to modify/redesign/upgrade these pianos
during rebuilding. She looked at me in horror and
said: How can you improve a STEINWAY! STEINWAYS ARE
PERFECT !!!!!
10 minutes later she was showing me several
"identicle" L's, one of which sang, the others of
which were less fun to play than many garage-sale
uprights I've seen. Even she admitted that the others
were "duds".
But this justs mirrors the current state of
"taste" in America! SOMEONE will walk into that
showroom and think that the piano I loathed is the
best-sounding, and buy it! Until this changes, sales
plummet, or the collective prayers of all the bitter
techs out there bears fruit, this company will have
little incentive to pursue uniformity.
Thump
P.S. Similarly, look at the "Top 50" selling rolls in
the QRS catalogue---- a compendium of dross if I ever
saw one: "Beer Barrel Polka", "Music Box dancer",
etc.. And we wonder why the Arabs hate us......
--- David Love <davidlovepianos@comcast.net> wrote:
> I think you take it for what it is. The company
> accepts a wide range of
> "performance" out of its pianos. That goes for
> soundboards and tone as well
> as actions. It may simply be that for the process
> and materials they use
> and the quality control they currently employ, they
> have found that they
> must accept a certain degree of variation in, in
> this case, residual
> bearing, crown, and, ultimately, tone. Whether the
> problem weighs in more
> on the process itself, is more of a skilled labor
> issue, or one of
> antiquated tooling is of interest to us (and should
> be to them), but the
> bottom line is that, if and when purchasing a piano
> from this company, one
> needs to be aware of how wide the range of
> acceptable is from them and then
> proceed with caution. Unfortunately (or
> fortunately), for most piano
> buyers, these problems go mostly unnoticed. When
> and if this little known
> part of their reputation starts to become more known
> and it starts to effect
> sales, then it is likely you will see some change.
> Until then, caveat
> emptor.
>
> David Love
> davidlovepianos@comcast.net
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org
> [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf
> Of David Skolnik
> Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 3:40 AM
> To: Pianotech
> Subject: Re: Stienway(Steinway) d-rolled bridge
> saga- report
>
> Horace and all -
>
> I just had occasion to read this thread. I need to
> leave for an early
> tuning (Steinway D, in fact), so I can't afford the
> tortured sessions it
> usually takes me to excrete even a few sentences.
> Perhaps I'll try later
> this evening. I am, however, dismayed that, among
> other things, the
> manufacturers response seems to elicit only mild
> consternation on the part
> of list responders. I too have gotten similar
> response, though not
> written, over the years. Why is there not outrage
> on this list over this
> situation? Are we still so afraid of the
> manufactures long reach and
> memory? I am. But what would the technical
> community's response be if they
> presented such claims at a class at a convention, or
> in their promotional
> material? What is a warrantee worth? David R has
> made this
> public. Assuming his assessment and observations
> are correct, what does it
> mean for any of us (or our clients) if we cannot see
> this situation
> successfully resolved?
>
> David Skolnik
>
>
>
> At 12:02 PM 7/8/2005 -0700, you wrote:
>
> >Dave, et al,
> >
> >I was wondering who would speak up on this. Seeing
> that no one else has,
> >and there seems to be some continuing interest,
> here are some thoughts:
> >
> > - What you are seeing is not all that uncommon.
> It is primarily, but
> > certainly not exclusively, found on larger
> instruments. S&S Ds and Bs in
> > particular are susceptible. While there are ways
> in which the problems
> > you describe can sometimes be ameliorated
> temporarily, the correct fix
> > is, of course, a new board.
> >
> > - This goes largely, but not exclusively
> co-equally to the much-debated
> > method of construction used, changes made in those
> methods over time
> > (beginning in the mid-1950s, and pretty much
> completed during the later
> > 1980s/early 1990s), and, like it or not, the
> combined problems faced by
> > all piano makers of decreasing quality both as to
> raw materials and labor
> pool.
> >
> > - The letter you received from the person at S&S
> is a paraphrase of what
> > various folks in various positions there have been
> saying for at least
> > the last 40 years about this and similar issues.
> I have copies of
> > similar correspondence and/or notes from
> conversations relating to
> > service dating back to the mid-1960s buried
> someplace about this kind of
> thing.
> >
> > - Do not count on S&S to fully acknowledge the
> problem. Even if they
> > do, you cannot be sure of how the repairs (if in
> fact, any are authorized
> > at all) will be carried out. In the event that
> they do, I would urge you
> > to take exceptionally careful measurements of
> everything from deck height
> > (of both the plate and the under side of the pin
> block) to speaking
> > length; and then make sure to document everything
> with appallingly anal
> > clarity.
> >
> > - FWIW, it may well be that you simply wind up
> having to live with the
> > beast. If that turns out to be the case,
> encourage the owners to start
> > planning now on having the board (and, in all
> likelihood, the block)
> > replaced sooner rather than later. And, have that
> work done elsewhere.
> >
> >Best regards.
> >
> >Horace
> >
> >At 05:07 PM 7/4/2005, you wrote:
> >>Esteemed list
> >>
> >> I have taken my time following this up as I
> ponder
> >>what attitude to take. For new readers...to
> review....
> >>bridge is lower on speaking side then backscale
> side
> >>by as much as 20 thou. over much of this new D
> >>Steinway.. including the bass bridge. The result
> is
> >>strings that will not stay seated, and various
> buzzing
> >>off the backscale. It is severe enough in at least
> one
> >>place the back of the bridge is highenough that
> there
> >>is no pressure on the backscale plate before the
> hitch
> >>pin and the string will buzz on the plate unless
> held
> >>down to the plate or muted.
> >>
> >> From previous posts I understand bridges do
> >>not roll so much as soundboards in front of the
> >>bridges may collapse. Also it was suggested by at
> >>least one person that the piano was built this
> way.
> >>
> >> I have a response from Stienway, and have
> >>respectfuly taken off the name of the person
> >>writing for the moment. They are coming from NY
> >>to see this piano and in light of the response
> >>I hope for more feedback. They obviously wish to
> >>manage the problem and leave it alone. I can not
> >>see strings staying seated in its current
> condition.
> >>String seating and hammer mating is at present, in
> >>my opinion, a waste of time.
> >>
> >> Here it is.........
> >>
> >>-------------------------------------------------
> >>Hello David,
> >>
> >>First, thank you for your very complete letter.
> Your
> >>comments are very helpful in trying to assess any
> >>possible problems with this piano.
> >>
> >>As to the excess glue, you are correct that this
> is
> >>simply glue squeeze-out that should have been
> cleaned
>
=== message truncated ===
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