<div>Wow.  This is very interesting.  Thanks Calin, for making this available to us.</div> <div> </div> <div>I wonder if anyone displaying in Rochester will have bridge agraffes?  I'd love</div> <div>to hear one of these pianos, and discuss the merits with an expert.</div> <div> </div> <div>Steve Fujan</div> <div><a href="http://www.fujanproducts.com">www.fujanproducts.com</a></div> <div> </div> <div><br><br> </div> <div><span class="gmail_quote">On 4/30/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Calin Tantareanu</b> <<a href="mailto:calin.tantareanu@gmx.net">calin.tantareanu@gmx.net</a>> wrote:</span> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Hello!<br><br>I have finally managed to upload pictures of my Steingraeber factory visit<br>to my website, as I had announced in a previous e-mail. <br>Like Richard said, they have indeed just built a concert grand with bridge<br>agraffes and adjustable vertical hitchpins (see attached pictures), called<br>"Phoenix". It has a very mice rosewood veneer.<br>More pictures of it and the piano construction at the Steingraeber factory <br>can be seen on my website:<br><a href="http://calin.haos.ro/c/instruments/steingraeber/index.htm">http://calin.haos.ro/c/instruments/steingraeber/index.htm</a><br><br>When I played the Steingraeber 272 Phoenix, they were still doing the final <br>voicing and regulation.<br>I was very impressed with the sound - it had a big, brilliant tone, with no<br>weak spots, very undiscernable transition and a really deep, full bass. As I<br>had assumed, bridge agraffes really improve the higher partials, especially <br>in the top notes. The sound was very rich and clear, without the pronounced<br>decay in high partials that most pianos have.<br>The voicer told me that because of the bridge agraffes, he had to soften the<br>hammers much more than for their other pianos with conventional bridge pins. <br><br>This piano also has vertical hitch pins which are threaded and can be turned<br>in and out for fine downbearing adjustment.<br><br>By the way, the bridge agraffes are from Stuart in Australia. I don't know<br>about the hitch pins though. This is a special order piano, I don't know if <br>they plan on building more or not.<br><br>Another big surprise was their smallest grand piano, the 168. It was an<br>extremely good and powerful piano, with an unbelievably deep bass for such a<br>short piano. Like it's big brother, you couldn't notice abrupt tone changes <br>across the scale. The action was also very responsive and controllable. It<br>is probably the best piano under two meters I have played so far.<br><br>I haven't been able to play their mid-sized grand, the 205, because they had <br>just shipped about 20 grands to America a few days before my visit, and had<br>none left on stock, except 2-3 which were in final stages of regulation.<br><br>Enjoy the pictures!<br><br>Calin Tantareanu<br>---------------------------------------- <br><a href="http://calin.haos.ro/c/instruments/">http://calin.haos.ro/c/instruments/</a><br>The Bechstein group & mailing list:<br><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bechstein/">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bechstein/ </a><br>----------------------------------------<br><br><br></blockquote></div><br>