Steinway K worth the price?

[Jeff Tanner]

>Dear List:
>I just got off the phone with a customer who wants me to evaluate a one
>year old Steinway K (traded back in toward a grand piano) from the local,
>prominent Steinway dealer.
>The price: $21,000.
>Any thoughts from list members? Happy recent purchasers of Ks?
>
>Patrick



I have mixed reviews on the Steinway uprights.  When I was at the
University of Georgia, earlier this year, we had 5 newish (1995) K's in
some faculty studios.  The pins were so tight, you felt like you would turn
the piano over before they would move.  You couldn't tune two back to back
without significant rest.  And the "mushrooming(?)" created by the tight
pins made it EXTREMELY difficult, if not impossible, to achieve tuning
stability.  On top of that, false beats in the treble were so bad that even
when you could hear to tune them they sounded awful after you got them
done.  (Yes, we settled strings at every possible bearing point which did
help a little)  We had several new 45's as well, which had the same
characteristics (except that false beats were generally even worse) in
addition to an occasional (or more than occasional) loose tuning pin (I
mean floppy loose!).  I did not know of any loose pins in the K's however.
Something in the action also bothered me (I never had the time to fully
investigate, but it was in the hammer travel), you often couldn't get a
good hard blow for tuning.  The harder you hit the key, the softer the
tone.  I don't know why, but it seems like S&S sends the uprights right on
through the QC department.

On the other hand, they seem to last forever.  We had 25 - 35 year old 45's
which sounded and played almost like the new ones with very little
maintenance, for the most part, other than tuning.

Quality control at S&S of their upright models coupled with the factor of
high cost, is the main reason that Carolina purchased other brands of
uprights when they selected pianos for their new facility (same time as
UGA) in 1994.  They did (as do I), however, prefer S&S grands (11 B's, 2
D's) for piano area teaching studios and performance hall.

Your piano may be an exception, but if they're going to charge that much
for them, I wish they would spend more effort on them.  If I had that much
money to spend on a piano, I would spend a little more to get the grand.
For any upright, I think that is too high.  But then, I'm not taking into
account the cost of living, market, etc., where you are.

Strictly my opinion, based on the few K's I've seen (but I have seen a
bunch of 45's, a similar animal).
Jeff

Jeff Tanner, Piano Technician
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
(803)-777-4392 (phone)
(803)-777-6508 (fax)