Rebuilt Steinway...The General Issues

[Ron Nossaman]

>Deb Rogers wrote:
>>It does not have a damp chaser system.  I was under the impression that 
>>Steinway does not recommend them
>
>
>In fact, Steinway's web site makes absolutely no mention of DampChasers.

But then more people have more impressions, contradictory and otherwise, 
about Steinway than about any other piano I know. But maybe that's just my 
impression. And what's on the web site isn't indicative of much, since they 
can't practically include every detail of every policy they have regarding 
everything we might want to know about. In other words, absence of a 
statement isn't a statement, one way or another.


>  They recommend maintaining the room environment at between 45% and 65% 
> by the use of room humidification, dehumidification and 
> air-conditioning.  My experience has been that Steinway has been 
> extremely reticent in recommencing the use of DampChasers, as they have 
> no control over the quality of the installation, nor the dependability of 
> the product itself.

Which I'd consider to be a pretty reasonable approach.



>So...what ARE our expectations regarding soundboard splitting?  Would we 
>be willing to recommend the purchase of a new piano, off the showroom 
>floor, with a split board?  Why not?  How many splits are OK?
>
>David Skolnik

I wouldn't, any more than I would, or have, recommended the buying of new 
pianos with concave crowns and/or negative bearing. A soundboard that was 
properly designed, properly built, properly installed, properly loaded, and 
not destructively abused between factory and showroom floor wouldn't have 
these problems. A soundboard crack probably won't, in itself, produce any 
tone production problems. It is, however, an indication that some limit 
somewhere between the drawing board and the showroom, has been exceeded.

Used pianos are a different thing.

Ron N