What would Steinway do

[RicB]

Aprapo all this talk about pianists attachment reasonable or not with 
Steinways.

I had a very interesting experience this evening in preparing a Boston 
215 for concert use with an Israeli pianist originally from the Ukrain. 
She had played on one of our towns Steinways D's (Hamburg) a couple days 
ago and was compared it to the Universitys CF III.  She did not like the 
CF III.  As it turns out she just plain did not like Yamahas in general. 
But she loved the Steinway citing the large dynamic range it allowed 
for, the subtle nuances of play she could achieve.

Now I happen to know both of these instruments quite well.  The Steinway 
is very poorly regulated, having been neglected for several years. Nor 
is it voiced well at all. Very uneven in all registers. The action 
shifts with too much accompanying noise and hammers are not alligned so 
many tones do not get the proper effect when the shift pedal is engaged. 
Damper stop rail is way to high... etc etc etc.  The Yamaha on the other 
hand is in prime condition, nearly new and is in its best period so far 
since we bought it nearly 4 years ago now. 

Now this is a world class pianist we are talking about... so prejudiced 
or not her opinions about pianos also carry the weight of HER vast 
experience and critical expertise.  But, like us all... she is also human. 

It became obvious to me quickly that there was nothing to be gained in 
confronting her with some of the facts about these two pianos.  
Besides... the general response picture these two instrument present ARE 
quite different...even looking through as it were the regulation 
problems the Steinway has.  How am I to know for sure how much of her 
reaction is prejudiced based, how much is based on what overall response 
picture she likes ?

I've learned through years that pianists often look way past regulation 
problems that I would, from a pianotechnical perspective gawk at.  As 
long as they can get good speed and repetition, and the overall response 
picture they want..... hey the piano is good.  Its difficult at best to 
know what to do with that fact IMHO. But I certainly have come to know 
what not to do.  That the world expects a reasonable amount of diplomacy 
from me is not in the end too much to ask for me thinks.

We had a very interesting discussion really all in all, and I got a good 
feel for what she liked musically from pianos, and what she didnt.  She 
liked the Boston btw... quite a bit really.

Cheers
RicB