There is a lot of conflicting information about this topic floating around online. When it comes to rebuilding a piano or buying a rebuilt Steinway piano, you will encounter a lot of different opinions from various sources.
There are some people who believe that if you rebuild a Steinway with different parts (other than those provided by Steinway directly) the piano shouldn’t even be considered a Steinway anymore. This might sound a little extreme but there is some truth to this claim. If you replace the soundboard on a piano, it is a fundamentally different instrument. The soundboard is responsible to a great extent for the tone of the piano. Replacing it changes something intrinsic to the instrument. Much like removing the top of a Stradivarius violin means it’s not a Stradivarius anymore. The same rule applies to pianos – if you remove the soundboard it’s no longer the same as the original piano.
However, there are a lot of other parts on the piano besides the soundboard. What about strings, hammers, felts or one of the dozens of other parts on a piano? There is a lot of misinformation out there about this subject and I will do my best to clear this up.
There are two reasons you will hear people dissuade you from purchasing a rebuilt piano or rebuilding one of your own. On one side you have people who are generally trying to help customers avoid making mistakes. There are some rebuilders out there who will use substandard parts or not deliver the quality of instrument they really should. This is not a common practice but it is something to be aware of and why you should really have a technician check out any rebuilt instruments if you’re buying from an unknown source.
On the other side, the largest competitor to new Steinway & Sons pianos are used Steinway pianos! The market for used Steinway pianos is very strong because there is a large market for Steinway pianos in general. New Steinway pianos often cost a significant amount more than used Steinways and many people have their minds made up that they will only purchase a Steinway piano. Instead of breaking the bank, a lot of people will purchase high quality used pianos. It is in Steinway’s interest to sell as many new pianos as they can and dissuade buyers from purchasing used Steinway pianos.
So when it comes to the original question, do you need to rebuild a Steinway with Steinway parts? Yes, if they are the right match. There is a big caveat to rebuilding with only Steinway parts; they are not actually a parts manufacturer. The only parts they have on hand are for pianos they are currently building. So let’s say you had a 1932 Steinway Model M and a novice rebuilder wants to replace many of the action parts. They might call up Steinway and ask for parts for a Model M. After the rebuilder finishes and installs the parts, he might find out that the specifications are not correct for that particular piano. Some of the new parts won’t match what they had made in the past: the action weight could be off, the geometry might be wrong, there is a whole host of possible issues.
In some cases, Steinway parts are not the appropriate parts to use. For example, you could purchase Abel hammers or parts from Renner that could match the original specifications much closer. In fact, Renner provides all the action parts for Steinway pianos made in Hamburg, Germany. So no, it’s not wrong to use other parts from high quality manufacturers many of which will provide parts that match particular vintages of pianos better than what Steinway may have available at that time.
The biggest factor in rebuilding a piano is to use high quality parts that are the right match for that particular piano. It takes a knowledgeable rebuilder who has worked with Steinway pianos a great deal to make the right choices.
Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com
7 thoughts on “Does a Steinway Piano Need Steinway Parts?”
Thanks for this message!
Jim
Hi Robert,
Thanks for this good article on rebuilding! You and I have spoken in the past about pianos and my search for an early American piano – which came to an end last September and I briefly want to share that with you. I must say during my search process, my opinion on rebuilding, and specifically soundboard replacement, changed. And that was in part due to my rebuilder. Not being fully satisfied in the rebuilt instruments I was finding in the market, I decided to focus my search on rebuilders. I researched and interviewed rebuilders coast to coast and in between! In the end I contracted with Jude Reveley, one of the country’s most innovative and skilled rebuilders, out of Lowell, Massachusetts (just outside Boston).
Regarding soundboards, Jude is on the side that fully believes in soundboard replacement. We had several discussions about soundboards and the idea that the soundboard is the soul of the piano. He conveyed to me that the soundboard is not the soul of the piano, but instead, more like the heart of the piano and replacing the heart does not change anything. For example, a person getting a new heart is still the same, authentic person he/she was before the relacement and the same goes for pianos. And with a new heart comes a renewed life. Instead, what is the soul of the piano is the harp. The design of the harp by the maker sets for the design and scale of the piano – and it is that which determines and sets forth the unique unchangeable quality and character of the instrument.
The piano Jude is rebuilding for me is one he had in his collection waiting to be rebuilt. It is a Steinert, Model D from 1924 — extremely similar in design and scale to a Steinway A. A little history: Steinert was a boutique builder in Boston and only built pianos for about 15 or so years in the early 1900s. They were also one of the first retailers of Steinway pianos and still are (Steinert Hall on Boylston Street in Boston). Their build quality was outstanding and easily rivaled that of Steinway. In part, that’s one of the reasons Steinway forced them out of the manufacturing business – they were modeling pianos after Steinways designs, only doing it better!
The piano I’m getting is literally a from-the-ground-up rebuild: New soundboard constructed by Jude, new strings, new action (composite Wessell Nickel & Gross), refinished keyboard, refinished harp and case, new hammers by Ronsen, Stanwood action geometry / touch weight design, new pinblock, I’m sure I’m missing something… . The piano is completely customized to what I want in an instrument. I recently spent two days at the shop in Lowell auditioning hammers for the piano. I did blind auditions with 6 or 7 hammers (Steinway NY; Abel; Steinway Hamburg (Renner); another Renner; two Ronsen hammers) and ended up selecting the Ronsen Weickert because of its gorgeous tone – afterward I learned that most high profile early American rebuilds have Ronsen hammers. I now can see why. I will return to Boston in a month for several days to play the finished product and make any final adjustments before the piano is shipped to me in Atlanta.
As a classical pianist, it was paramount for me to have a piano in my home (a rather small condo) that can meet the demands of the literature I play, and also have that vintage, complex sound and character that early American pianos are know for. The journey has certainly been fascinating and in the end will be almost a year in the making. But it’s been more than worth the wait. We’ve extended deadlines several times, because, as you know, it’s work that you would never want to rush. Turning 40 soon, I sought out exactly what I wanted so I wouldn’t have to do it again. I’m confident in saying this piano will meet that expectation.
Regards,
David Mantooth
Two Steinways, a 1919 Hamburg B and a 1921 A3, both restored with Bolduc soundboard pinblocks and bridges.
It would be unfathomable that anyone would think the tone on either of these pianos to be anything less than a Steinway. In fact, the openness and dynamics, clarity is orchestral in nature.
Even brand new pianos from the same maker, and the same model have distinctively unique sounds due to the handwork of the soundboard and bridges, which create the geometry of each specific piano. In the hands of a great belly man, an older piano that has lost its vibrant tone can be restored to be as good or better than it was when it was new! It all depends on who’s doing the work and the quality of the materials.
Each piano has to be assessed for what it offers. There are some hundred year old pianos that have fantastic sound and some brand new pianos don’t!
We had spoken a few years ago when you had the A3 for sale. I was disappointed with my L and wanted to replace it. It would understandably be difficult for me at least for buying a piano online without playing it. I love your recordings, but frankly you can’t tell much from them.
As fate would turn out, I saw one advertised locally , a complete rebuild and virtually everyone says that and never has any particulars to share. So I press the issue, and goth the names of the technicians who did the restoration. One was Alex Marcovich, and when I heard the name my pulse quickened, wondering if this could be real, short story is the piano sat in some sort of a hole in the wall I never even knew existed, rebuilt by two of Steinway’s most renouned factory technicians. So now it sits where the L was, and the L is sharing a room with the B which was restored completely 6 years ago by Faust Harrison.
The L is the only one which is untouched Steinway, and for what it is it has a massive and clear dynamic sound. But both the A3 and the B are so much more than that. Alex will be doing a voicing and reg on the A3 in a little ove a week, and I hired him to do the same for the B.
Want to stress that to get any quality piano to the point of being a real concert instrument, everything has to be done absolutely correct from the point when the first pieces of bridge are attached to the soundboard and when the soundboard is set. If not up to snuff, nothing you do later one will help it. But even when everything is done right, you need the skill of someone who can voice the instrument impecably. They need to go through 3 or more levels of needling for each level of playing. The B sounds like an orchestra, the bell like shaping of every note at every intensity level.
But back to the soundboards, the L has the red spruce as per original steinway, perfect condition, the B and the A3 have canadian white spruce, and the finishing is superior to the Steinway L. All three have a sound which emulates the quality of what made Steinway so much a choice for pianists.
Hope you enjoy your piano! Our piano recordings are very high quality if you listen back on decent speakers or headphones. Some people come and visit before buying as well which we welcome.
As always, a pleasure speaking with you, Robert! I wish you the best of the New Year.