Tag Archives: steinway

Steinway Vs Petrof Concert Grand Pianos

Today, we are going to demonstrate some fundamental differences in American and European pianos. Naturally, there is a tremendous variance of pianos within Europe as well as in the United States. However, what we are going to show is how it is necessary to approach playing American and European pianos with dramatically different techniques in order to get the sound you are after out of them.

You will hear the beginning of Debussy Claire De Lune on the 9′ 2″ Petrof Concert Grand. Then you will hear the same section performed on a Steinway Model D Concert Grand.

Next, I will play the Debussy on the Petrof the same way I approached the keyboard on the Steinway. You will notice that the Petrof doesn’t require the same support of the keys. A more delicate approach is all that is required to get the sound out. Like a fine sports car, the piano responds to the most gentle motions. Playing on the Petrof with the technique utilized previously on the Steinway creates a crass, overblown performance.

Next, I play the Debussy on the Steinway with the technique utilized on the Petrof. It results in a lifeless sound that lacks projection.

Each instrument has unique responses to touch. You must approach every piano in a unique manner in order to achieve the sound you are after. Even the room acoustics play a large part in the technique you must use in order to achieve the desired sound.

I am also a French hornist.

There is a parallel with American French horn playing versus European hornists.

Generally, in the U.S., people play larger bore horns with bigger mouthpieces than in Europe. More than that, American horn players like myself tend to play more on the F-horn side of the instrument rather than the B-flat side as European hornists do. The thumb valve adds around 3 feet of tubing to the horn! So, European horn players have a more open sound and an elegance whereas American French horn sound tends to be bigger and fatter.

The same is true of American pianos compared to European pianos. American pianos require more arm weight which is analogous to using more breath which is necessary on larger French horns. While European pianos have an open, clear sound and respond to smaller gradations of touch and require a more refined approach than American pianos.

Naturally, these are generalities and there are many exceptions such as Hamburg Steinways which are much closer to New York Steinways in sound than they are to other European pianos. You are welcome to comment on your experiences playing American and European pianos. Thanks for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com Your Online Piano Store info@LivingPianos.com 949-244-3729

What is the Steinway Bell? Steinway Pianos

This is something many of you might not be familiar with, it’s truly a topic for Steinway aficionados or those curious enough to look underneath their pianos. So what is the Steinway bell and what does it do?

If you have ever looked below a large Steinway grand piano, you would have noticed a strange piece of metal that is attached to the bottom of the piano. It looks like this:

As you can see, it has the shape of a bell – which is where it gets its name – but does it actually serve a purpose? The short answer is yes.

On larger steinway pianos this bell is attached securely to the rim and the plate of the piano to help maintain the “crown” of the soundboard. This is extremely helpful especially with older pianos because over time they tend to lose crown on their soundboards which is essential for good tone. The link above includes an article and video that explains the concept of crown with regards to soundboards in much greater detail. To describe it briefly, the crown of a soundboard refers to the slight upward arching of the soundboard within the rim of the piano. Over time the wood of a piano may warp slightly with changes in weather. If the rim isn’t stable, the rim’s support of the crown may diminish over time. This will affect the treble notes the most – impacting the projection, sustain, and power of these notes.

The Steinway bell is placed in a strategic part on the rim of the piano. It is designed to attach directly to the curved part of the rim of the piano and the plate to maintain the shape of the rim and prevent it from expanding over time. This will in turn help the piano keep its crown longer.

I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

Is There a Piano in The White House? Pianos and US Presidents

With President’s Day around the corner, I thought I would share with you the rich history of pianos in the White House!

From the very beginning there were pianos in the White House starting with George Washington. Early presidents had fortepianos like Mozart played and harpsichords in the White House.

Square Grand Pianos were popular with 6 presidents! These monstrously large pianos have been relegated to the footnotes of piano history.

Upright pianos have also been popular with 6 presidents owning uprights.

4 piano companies stand out for being very popular in the White House:

– Steinway: including one given to the White House by Steinway in 1938
– Baldwin
– Chickering
– Knabe

Below is an outline of what pianos were owned by presidents.

HARPSICHORDS:

– George Washington
– Rutherford Hayes (& upright)
– Grover Cleveland (& piano)

FORTEPIANOS:

– George Washington
– Thomas Jefferson

SQUARE GRANDS: 6 presidents

UPRIGHT PIANOS: 6 presidents

CHICKERING PIANOS:

– Franklin Pierce
– James Buchanan
– Abraham Lincoln (square & upright)
– Theodore Roosevelt (& Steinway)

STEINWAY:

Steinway grand piano with gilt American eagle supports. It was designed by Eric Gugler with gilt stenciling by Dunbar Beck (with help from Franklin Roosevelt) and was given to the White House in 1938 by the manufacturer.

Theodore Roosevelt (& Chickering)

Lyndon B. Johnson (& Knabe)

Ronald Reagan

KNABE:

– Woodrow Wilson
– Herbert Hoover
– Lyndon B. Johnson (& Steinway)

BALDWIN:

– William Taft
– Harry Truman
– Richard Nixon – accompanied singer Pearl Bailey in a performance in the East Room

Thanks again for joining us. If you have any questions about this topic or any topic at all please contact us directly: info@livingpianos.com (949) 244-3729

Is Your Piano Fake? Fake Steinway Pianos

It’s a scary proposition to think that something you’ve spent thousands of dollars on could not be what it appears to be. Believe it or not, this actually happens in today’s piano market all the time and it’s something everyone should be aware of. Thankfully, figuring out if a piano is genuine is actually quite easy if you know what to look for.

Here in the local Los Angeles market there are a lot of auctions that contain pianos. I’ve heard from some people that there have been pianos there that have the Steinway name on them that aren’t actually Steinway pianos at all. Unsuspecting buyers might be bidding up a particular piano with no idea what they are actually getting. This is clearly a fraudulent practice preyed upon unsophisticated buyers.

Many times in auction houses you will not be allowed to fully inspect a piano; you will only be able to look at it from a distance. Luckily, even from a distance you can spot a few things that signal a genuine piano.

The easiest thing to replace on a piano is the decal on the fallboard. You can order pretty much any piano company decal imaginable online. This is done so that refinishers can order decals when they must remove the original. Just because it has a particular name on the fallboard doesn’t mean that it’s the actual brand of piano. You can put any piano decal on any piano if you want to.

Luckily, there is an incredibly easy way to tell if a piano is genuine. A piano will almost always have the name of the company cast into the plate of the piano. If it is a genuine Steinway, Mason & Hamlin, Baldwin, Yamaha, or other major company they will nearly always cast the name of the piano into the plate.

There are a few exceptions I’ve seen in some European pianos that have small plates screwed into the cast iron plate after it’s cast. Grotrian in particular had to remove their name from the plates of their pianos when they were successfully sued by Steinway. They had been Grotrian-Steinweg since the 19th century. But after losing to Steinway, they had to remove the “Steinweg” part of their name off all of their pianos in stock at the time.

There are many times you will see plastic name plates attached to a plate. These are typically stencil brand pianos. Stencil brands are pianos that are created by a different company (mostly in Asia) and bought by a retailer who then places a different name on the instrument. Most of the time, the original manufacturer will simply create a blank plate that the retailer can then add their specialized name to. These pianos are not fake; they are pianos that are manufactured and repurposed for another company.

The name in the plate is pretty much the only easily identifiable way to tell if a piano is genuine. Almost all the major high-end piano companies will cast the name directly into the plate – with a few exceptions.

If you have any more piano questions please contact me directly: Robert@LivingPianos.com

My Father’s Steinway

This past year has brought many people and pianos together. But there is one that is set apart from the rest – my father’s Steinway. When my sister Coren and I were in high school, my father bought a new Baldwin 7-foot grand piano. So, my father’s Steinway baby grand (model S) went upstairs for us to practice on. This instrument had great sentimental attachment for my father. His father bought it for him in 1939 for $900 on credit. There were many times the struggle to make those payments cast in doubt keeping the piano.

When I moved from New York to study piano with Ruth Slenczynska in the Midwest, my father let me take the piano with me. Eventually, I lived in a home that had a piano. So, the piano went to my sister. My father gave the piano to my sister with the stipulation that one day she would have it restored to its original glory.

Flash forward several decades, this year that day came. Little did I know all those years ago that I would be the one responsible for the rebuilding of the piano! I got to live with this little gem of a piano for some time while working closely with our technicians refining it to a high level.

Just before it left, something motivated me to sit down and play my father’s Steinway. It was an unplanned, spontaneous inspiration that is recorded as a tribute for the honor of having been entrusted with this awesome responsibility. This is for you Dad – and Coren!

Is Teflon on Steinway Pianos Bad? Teflon and Steinway Pianos

This is probably one of the most fiercely debated topics regarding Steinway pianos. There is a ton of misinformation online as well as varying degrees of opinions. Not everyone is going to agree on this topic, but I will share my perspective from a lifetime with Steinway pianos. So let’s dive right into this hotly contested debate, is Teflon on Steinway Pianos bad?

In 1972 Steinway & Sons was sold to CBS and they owned the company until 1985. At some time during this period in Steinway’s history, the felt parts of the action were replaced with Teflon. Eventually, they abandoned this practice and went back to felt – not without some public outcry. Today, some people will see older Steinway pianos with Teflon and become adamant about replacing it, but is it really such a big problem?

There is no simple yes or no answer to this question. Teflon has many different characteristics then felt and one of the reasons Steinway decided to use it was that it is much more durable and robust then felt. One of the big problems Steinway ran into with Teflon is that many technicians didn’t know how to work with it. The vast majority of the world’s actions were built with felt and replacing it with a new material created some confusion. Unless a technician is familiar with Steinway Teflon actions, they might not be able to adjust it properly.

If you have a Steinway piano with Teflon in it and it’s in good shape, all you need is a good technician who can maintain it. There is really no reason to replace the Teflon if you have no problems. Now, there are cases where you will have to replace Teflon.

Teflon does cause some unwanted problems and if you are experiencing any of these you will need to get it replaced. Telfon is rigid but wood is susceptible to expanding and contracting with the weather. If you put a Steinway piano with Teflon in an extreme environment with wild swings in temperature – from dry to humid and from hot to cold – it’s possible the wood could crack. This can cause unwanted noises that could be created by the spaces between the Teflon bushings and the wood. This is what gave Teflon a very bad reputation; it’s not made for extreme environments.

If you live in a stable environment, you probably won’t have any negative issues with Teflon You will probably be fine as long as you have a properly trained technician.

If you feel that you want to replace the Teflon in your action, you can. If you have any concerns or qualms about it and you have the money, you should simply do what makes you happy. Does it need to be replaced? Unless you live in an extreme environment, the Teflon is old, or you can’t find the right technician, probably not. I personally don’t have any problems with Teflon parts but that’s my opinion and I’m sure there are plenty of varying viewpoints.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729