[CAUT] Mythbusters

[Albert Picknell]

Somebody at Steinway is listening.  NY is already producing pianos with a high-gloss finish.  Also, Kent Webb was here at the Banff Centre a few weeks ago, and he basically told me that NY is likely going to adopt the Hamburg sostenuto and cheek-block hardware systems in the very near future.  However, they have no intention of changing anything at either factory directly related to tone production (bellying process, hammers, etc.), as they want to maintain the distinct tonal qualities of the two instruments.

Cheers,
Bert

--- On Mon, 3/8/10, Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu> wrote:

> From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu>
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] Mythbusters
> To: caut at ptg.org
> Received: Monday, March 8, 2010, 2:37 PM
> Word in NYC a couple years ago was
> that the belly mounted system of Hamburg was very much under
> consideration, and that the Steinway basement guys were
> lobbying very strongly against, because of what they
> considered the relative ease of service for all elements
> taken as a whole (especially ability to pull underlevers
> much more easily). But Hamburg will probably prevail. There
> is no question that they are working seriously on
> consolidating manufacture (as in NY Steinway producing all
> action parts, Kelly producing all plates, Kluge producing
> all keyboards) and eliminating differences in design and
> production where possible. Which raises lots of questions,
> as, for instance, what to do about hammers. The NYC plant
> has invested a lot in hammer manufacture over the last
> several years. I'm sure they would love to produce all
> hammers there, but the different philosophies (and sonic
> results) each have their passionate proponents. So that's
> not likely very soon.
>     But things like sostenuto and keyframe
> glides are likely to be consistent fairly soon, or that is
> my strong impression from various conversations. With a
> Hamburg guy now running the show, it may happen faster.
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> University of New Mexico
> fssturm at unm.edu
> 
> On Mar 8, 2010, at 12:14 PM, Greg Granoff wrote:
> 
> > This just in--- at the Pacific NW and Western Regional
> conference just ended
> > in Bellevue Washington, Ulrich Gerhart of UK Steinway
> operations was asked
> > during his day long concert prep demo about that (sost
> rod and abandoning
> > the NY mounting style at long last) and his answer was
> a cryptic "stay
> > tuned".........
> > 
> > Greg Granoff
> > HSU
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: caut-bounces at ptg.org
> [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org]
> On Behalf Of Ron
> > Nossaman
> > Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 10:08 AM
> > To: caut at ptg.org
> > Subject: Re: [CAUT] Mythbusters
> > 
> > reggaepass at aol.com
> wrote:
> > 
> >> Seeing these two points consecutively begs another
> question: Whoever
> >> thought up mounting the sostenuto rod on the
> action brackets; if it's
> >> such a great idea, why don't others do it
> (including Steinways made in
> >> Hamburg);
> > 
> > An excellent question. Why is everyone so eager to
> copy tuned
> > duplexes, but not an action mounted sostenuto -
> including...?
> > 
> > 
> > and there plans to unify sos. rod location between the
> two
> >> Steinway factories?
> > 
> > Each is quite willing for the other to follow their
> superior
> > example. <G>
> > Ron N


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