1969 Steinway L CBS?

[Richard Brekne]

Well, its nice to know that you are talking strictly about one model of
Steinway instruments, and an upright at that. I got the feeling that the
discussion carried on by others was a bit more inclusive then that. But
seriously Terry. I have seen at least a hundred 1098's in my years over
there, and never ran into the severe problems you talk about. Certainly
not more then I see in other decently put together instruments. So all I
can say is that my own experience with these instruments is quite
different then yours. While I am not a particular fan of so called high
end uprights to begin with, I certainly wouldnt hesitate in recommending
the fine Steinway name to anyone.

btw... where is it well documented that Steinway grands have "poor
action geometry" ?

RicB

Farrell wrote:

> Yes, I bought a new 1098 about five years ago. I don't think "went
> bad" is correct. If it "went bad", it occurred before Steinway sold it
> to me. IMHO, it was made bad (1/4" reverse crown with lots of
> downbearing?). > ... you had some bad experience in
> > dealing with their service department as well ?? (seem to remember
> you
> > saying something about this a while back.. am I wrong ?) IMHO, very
> bad, rude ("you'll get used to that dinging noise"), unsatisfactory
> (to put it mildly). Yes, this has been addressed in the past. > And
> from this
> > and from your experience base you feel justified in condemning what
> the
> > vast majority of pianists clearly recognize as the best sounding and
>
> > playing instrument available for purchase these past 120 years or
> so. This aspect of this thread started out addressing vertical pianos
> from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. I am only speaking of vertical pianos.
> MHO is based in part on my 1098 that had serious defects and they were
> unwilling to fix properly, but mostly MHO is based on the group of
> maybe 20 or 30 Steinway verticals that I have run across over the past
> few years while servicing pianos. Almost every one (and I can't recall
> one that didn't) had some portion (some, multiple items) of a
> combination of cracked bridges, lots of excessive string noise, poor
> hammer alignment (and other action components), way out of regulation,
> poor string terminations, poorly performing dampers - the type of
> things that one sees while tuning and lead one to feel that the piano
> is quite worn out for its age. Yamaha verticals that I see from this
> era are mostly in very good condition, with few if any of the
> aforementioned problems, or at least to a significantly less
> degree. Again, I am strictly speaking to my own observations. Who
> knows, maybe the brand Y are in such good condition because they are
> miserable to play and sound bad so no one plays them, while brand X
> sounds so nice and plays great so that everyone plays it day and
> night. I don't know that to be the case though. Except for the few
> specific and well documented problems some Steinway grand pianos
> exhibit (verdigris, Teflon action centers, poor action geometry), I
> have much respect for their grand pianos.
> > I know people who CHOOSE not to buy a BMW..... not because they dont
>
> > think of it as a good car... but because its tempermental and needs
> lots
> > of looking after.  Then I also know people who think BMW's are lousy
>
> > cars..... because they are tempermental....Well, I guess if you want
> a piano that is often not quite working well, and that has
> ".....faults in each one that can be discovered and cherished over the
> years", then go for it!   :-) Again, all this seems to be clear from
> my observations based on a few tens of pianos. I'm not a statistician.
> Perhaps that is not enough of a sampling. If not, ignore everything
> I've said. You may choose that route anyway!   ;-) Terry Farrell
> > --
> > Richard Brekne
> > RPT, N.P.T.F.
> > Bergen, Norway
> > mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
> > http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html
> >
> >




--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html