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In the beginning... I had a lovely model "O" Steinway piano,
built in 1908 with a beautiful ribbon cut Mahogany case. This
spectacular player piano was just about perfect for me, except I wanted a
slightly bigger sound, and a custom voicing and regulation that would have
required a full re-build of that piano. Additionally, I was really
looking for a Louis XV style case which is particularly rare.
The closed case and matching bench (rare) You can see the grain, although hidden behind a lousy finish and terrible color, is quite beautiful |
So rather than take apart what was a perfectly happy instrument, I found a new home for the "O" and simultaneously found the Long "A" shown below. This is indeed a 1922 Louis XV Steinway. Unfortunately, the A was not in very playable condition.
The piano had its original ivories replaced with plastic
You can see the yellow oak the previous owners stained it. What does look good is the detailed leg and case carvings.
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Luckily, this relatively poor condition provided me an opportunity to have
the piano completely rebuilt from the ground up to my specifications so
that I would end up with the sound, regulation and voicing I was looking
for, while still having the Louis XV case. Talk about having your
cake and eating it too! It should be noted, that Steinway COULD
build the same piano on a custom basis today, but at a cost of $125,000,
it is believed that even the new Steinways built today can't touch the
sound and quality of those built just after the turn of the century
(1910-1930).
The original harp and rim in very good shape
These pictures were take on site at the previous owners. You can see the case finish matches the shag carpet. Need I say more?
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Now the renovations begin
This empty carcass is ready to begin its 7 month tour through the rebuilder's factory.
Here you see the original Sitka Spruce soundboard, with some serious cracks and signs of aging. After 90 years, the wood simply doesn't have the the strength to produce the famous Steinway sound.
Here the lower action awaits the Ivory replacement
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Here you see the disassembled
case with new spruce ribs
Here you can soundboard installed and lacquered. An original Steinway decal is applied
Each piece of the piano, including the thousands of action parts is meticulously removed, reworked and regulated to original factory specification
This is the original key frame still in use with the new upper action installed. Those hammers are Steinway felt. This is one of the keys to the "Steinway" sound
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You see below, the Sitka
Spruce sound board, specially made for this piano from some of the finest
Alaskan wood available.
Not only is the Sitka variety the exact kind of wood Steinway uses, but it is very hard to come by, especially from older trees which have tighter grain. The grain on this soundboard exceeds 18 grains per inch which is higher than Steinways own specification. And much higher than the old wood that was removed.
The decal is the identical one used in 1922
These original ebony dampers are freshly painted
The original harp, re-guilded and ready to be installed. This iron plate, when strung on the piano will hold close to 100,000 pounds of tension between the pin-block and the acoustic bridge. |
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The home stretch
Here the recently strung piano is tuned for testing. The sound is sweet, deep and rich.
This small box contains enough Ivory slices to re-key the whole piano. Those old plastics are coming off and being replaced with these legally sanctioned Ivories, from a tusk cut in the 1950's
Even the bench of this piano got a lot of special attention. It was in the worst possible shape, with cracks, splits and missing pieces.
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Already 5 months into construction and you can see the spectacular
beauty this piano will have
The detailed carvings all over the piano show off their old-world craftsmanship
I selected this decal to go on the fall-board. It's one of the ones Steinway used at the time
Here the re-assembled bench is strong, and ready to go to the finish shop. |
case parts like this lid were strewn all over the workshop
Although it's very dusty, you can see the beautiful gloss finish in lacquer
The book-matched Mahogany veneer on this piano is in excellent condition. |
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