Steinway flat board

[Les Smith]

Hey, Wally! What a provocative post. I understand your questions and
your concern. Never being one to avoid a controversy, how about the
two of us walk on over to a hornet's nest, kick the hell out of it
and see what happens just for fun. Here goes :)  I would suggest that
there are some very fine piano technicians on this list, fully capa-
ble of responding to your post, who would be willing to express an
opinion in private, but would be reluctant to express that opinion
to the entire list. Gee, I wonder why?

Let's get down to it. When I first read your post, I thought that
you had made a mistake when writing it, and had meant an *1889*
model B and not a *1989* model B. It was only when I read it a sec-
ond time that I realized that you were talking about a Steinway that
was only eight years old and NOT one that was 108 years old. Silly
me , for making a mistake like that!

Unfortunately, you're up you-know-what creek, in a leaky boat, without
an oar to row with, and sinking fast on this one. Do you know why?
Well, for over 100 years Steinway offered a ten year warranty on their
pianos. If you had bought that piano in 1889, eight years later it would
still would have been under warranty. But your 1989  model B? Sorry
Wally, only five years.:(  Which, of course, brings up the question,
why did they shorten the warranty from 10 years to 5? The answer that
was given to me by Steinway several years ago, was, and I quote; "Les,
we build them so good now, we only have  to give five years!" Now I'm
only expressing an opinion here, but I would suggest that if one buys
that explaination, they not only put out a plate of cookies and glass
of milk for Santa Claus on Christmas eve; get up early Easter morning,
hoping to catch the bunny filling the baskets; and put their loose
teeth under the pillow, hoping for the Tooth fairy to pay them a
visit during the night; but they probably are also waiting anxious-
ly for the day when Steinway announces that they have perfected the
art of piano-making to such a degree that they are now able to eliminate
the warranty altogether! What a red-letter day that will be!

Now, Wally, answer your own questions. You say the board is flat and
exhibits no discernable crown, right. Further that this eight year old
instrument has numerous cracks at the pins in the treble bridge and has
a noticable loss of tone in the lower treble. How much did the customer
pay for the piano? Would you, yourself have paid that much for that par-
ticular piano? Do you think the crown will return to the board in time?
That the small cracks in the bridge will eventually go away? That the
deadness you hear in the lower treble will get better as the years go
by? If you answered yes to all of the above, then maybe the piano real-
ly was a good deal. If you answered no to any of them, then maybe it
wasn't such a good deal, after all. But what are you going to do now?
"read 'em and weep", that's what. I doubt that the dealer is going to
give you any relief at this stage in the game, and down the road, say
five, ten, fifteen years when more serious problems perhaps start to
show up, is anyone going to care, besides you and your customer? What
do you think? There, of course, is a lesson to be learned here. I have
repeated it over the years maybe a ZILLION times, but I'll state it
again. HAVE THE DAMN PIANO INSPECTED BEFORE YOU BUY IT, NOT AFTERWARDS.
YOU are in control of the situation UNTIL you plunk your money down.
After that, it's probably too late. We remember best those lessons that
cost us money. And the more money they cost us, the better we remember
them. You and the customer probably aren't going to forget this one for
quite a while, eh, Wally? :)

Having said all the above, let's try to be fair to Steinway for a mom-
ent. Once that piano was sold, they had no control over the environment-
al conditions under which it was kept. New England winter's often are
brutal, and the changeover from excessively dry heat in the winter-time,
(assuming the previous owner didn't use a humidifier) to high humidity
in the spring and summer, can wreak havoc with soundboards, bridges and
pinblocks. Since this piano is already exhibiting problems that COULD
have resulted from being placed in an unstable environment, such as
described above, I believe that it is of paramount importance that you
get a humidity control system in place as soon as possible. It won't
stop the inevitable, but at least it might help slow down the process.

Then, too, the piano might not be as bad as it now appears. This is
winter-time. The heat has been on a long time. If the piano's cur-
rent owner isn't humidifying, contraction of the soundboard and a
subsequent loss of tone may just be a seasonal phenomena. Reinspect
the piano in late spring. You may find that the soundboard has re-
sponded to the increasedd humidity by once again displaying measur-
able crown and that that area in the low treble which appeared
to be "dead' hs come back to life. If so, it just reinforces the im-
portance of getting a HCS in place as soon as possible!

I hope this helps.

Les Smith
lessmith@buffnet.net







On Tue, 18 Mar 1997, Wallace F. Wilson wrote:

> I recently inspected a 1989 vintage B that a customer of ours just purchased
> -- won't say from where.  The board was FLAT.  Downbearing adequate in most
> places, but not so much that it should squash the board.  Treble bridge
> riddled with little cracks  by the pins.  Sound not that bad - a bit of
> deadness in lower treble, but that's not all that unusual.  Ours is a
> climate that is quite damp in summer (90-98 degrees, 90% + humidity) and
> quite dry in the winter.  The piano came from New England.
>
> My question: do they have a real problem that they should take up with the
> dealer?  Is this common?  Acceptable if the tone is pleasing?
> Wally Wilson
>
>