[CAUT] Steinway or Forgery?

[Fred Sturm]

On Apr 18, 2009, at 1:14 PM, Ron Nossaman wrote:

>>>
>>> In both the piano in Reno, and the one in Rochester, Ron used a  
>>> stock Samick laminated *panel*, not belly. The string scale,  
>>> bridges, rib scale, cutoff bar, and whatever additional bracing he  
>>> did to the rim were his own, and decidedly not stock. Yes, I was  
>>> impressed.
>>    I thought the one in Reno was based on a rim with board already  
>> glued in (ribs as well) and the stock plate. Then he made  
>> modifications, including thinning the edges of the board and  
>> fooling with front bearing, etc, etc. Maybe I got it wrong.  
>> Certainly the one in Rochester was more his own.
>
> Or maybe I did. I'm old, and lose track. Maybe he'll post in and  
> straighten us both out. In any case, what he did to the piano was  
> far beyond anything I'd call "prep".
>
> Ron N

	My recollection (and my memory is also a little hazy after 9 years,  
though I have a pretty vivid memory of that particular piano) is that  
Ron O told me he had taken a stock Samick piano and thrown away the  
action. Obviously he was using it to show off his own action. He did  
some modifications to the belly and terminations and whatnot,  
including routing troughs around the rim in some areas (and you could  
see it was a laminated SB); changing the front termination to be a  
shallow angle (my memory says between 10 and 15%, but I wouldn't swear  
to the figures; in any case a relatively low angle) with open "front  
duplex" in quite short segments; and weight(s?) attached to the bottom  
of the treble bridge in the high treble area.
	So, yes, beyond "prep," but taking a stock piano in stock design and  
modifying it without that much redesign or investment of time and  
effort (assuming you know what you're doing, and he obviously did).  
Quite impressive sustain and power, to my ear.
	My point in bringing up the example was in the context of brands/ 
designs of pianos, and to say that the original design is not  
necessarily "_the_ determining factor." Design (and the materials and  
execution associated with it) is important, and may be a limiting  
factor, but what a technician does to the physical instrument may be  
much more important to how it is perceived by the pianist. All of  
this, in a round about way, relating to brand awareness and all those  
other issues. Steinway, Yamaha, Bosey, Sauter, Kawai EX, Bechstein,  
Knabe, etc: the name on the decal doesn't mean as much as who has been  
taking care of it (or whether it has been taken care of).

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu