[pianotech] S&S B

[William Monroe]

Yes, folks,

I know CBS didn't manufacture pianos.  I clipped the description from my
clients email, and figured all you educated folks would instantly understand
what I meant.  I apologize.  As Will noted, that is precisely it.  Not from
the CBS era.  It is the client's opinion (wright or wrong) that pianos of
that era are unpleasant at best.  I tend to agree that S&S pianos from the
50's can be much worse, but as Ed mentioned, I've seen way too many truly
AWFUL actions from between 1960 and 1980-ish to consider picking one up
sight unseen.

In the end, it doesn't really matter a heck of a lot to me.  We evaluate the
piano for what it is and determine what it needs to be great.  That can be
anything from a new action only, to action, pinblock, board, bridges,
finish, trapwork, lyre, etc.  So, I guess my position is that I'd rather
work on any piano from any era so long as the client has a clear
understanding of what we're up against and what it costs to fix that problem
before they commit to buying it.  It's just that it sometimes simplifies
things a bit to hedge a bet against 19(50) - 1980(ish).

William R. Monroe




On Sat, Oct 8, 2011 at 2:08 PM, Al Guecia/Allied PianoCraft <
alliedpianocraft at hotmail.com> wrote:

> "Personally I’d rather work on a piano built during the CBS years than one
> built during the decade or two leading up to that time."
>
> Yes, the quality in the late 50's and early 60's was nothing to write home
> about and I don't really know why. It was probably because the work force
> was aging and new help was hard to find. Those that applied had to be
> trained. That was my opportunity. I started there in 1963 and trained under
> Fred Drasche for 1 year along with 4 other applicants. I was the only one
> that stayed with the company. I'm sure that had some effect on the quality
> at that time.
>
> As you read from other on this list, they think the opposite is true, but
> as you say, CBS pumped quite a bit of money into the company to make
> improvements. The thing that upset most of us working there, was when they
> took two to four weeks of inventory between departments and knocked it down
> to one. If there was a problem in any department, there wouldn't be enough
> work to sustain the following department. Other than that, steady
> improvements were made while I was there. The Tone Regulators I worked with,
> were very conscientious and truly tried to make a quality piano. But we had
> no old timers in that department. Most had already retired or went on the
> start their own business.
>
> Al -
> High Point, NC
>
>
> On Oct 8, 2011, at 12:51 PM, Delwin D Fandrich wrote:
>
> Until recently Steinway’s build quality has never been much to write home
> about. But the worst years came some before CBS purchased the company. That
> was the turn-around event for the company. CBS may have screwed with the
> finances but they also poured money into the company and set the stage for
> the company’s comeback.****
> ** **
> I started working on pianos in the 1960s so the Steinway pianos built
> during the last few years of Steinway family ownership were still new or
> relatively new. Their build quality had been going down for years and, in my
> view, it reached a low point during the late 60s and early 70s. I spent many
> hours with Steinway executives and I worked on literally hundreds of
> Steinway pianos from the 70s through the early 80s. There was a strong
> desire on the part of management and workers alike to improve the quality of
> the instruments. Management was trying a lot of different things; some
> worked and some didn’t. I didn’t work at the factory as Al Guecia did—I
> worked on the finished product—so I have no idea how various management
> decisions affected the various departments or the individual workers but
> during my visits to the factory the improvements in infrastructure were
> obvious. These were the result of CBS money and I remain convinced that
> without CBS money the both the factory infrastructure and the build quality
> of Steinway pianos would have continued to decline and we probably would not
> have a Steinway company today. Instead there was a turnaround during the CBS
> years, a foundation was laid for the company’s recovery and the pianos have
> been improving ever since. Their overall build quality is better now than at
> any time in its history.****
> ** **
> Personally I’d rather work on a piano built during the CBS years than one
> built during the decade or two leading up to that time.****
> ** **
> ddf****
> ** **
> Delwin D Fandrich****
> Piano Design & Fabrication****
> 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA****
> Phone  360.515.0119 — Cell  360.388.6525****
> del at fandrichpiano.com  <del at fandrichpiano.com>— ddfandrich at gmail.com****
> ** **
> *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Encore Pianos
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 08, 2011 8:58 AM
> *To:* pianotech at ptg.org
> *Subject:* Re: [pianotech] S&S B****
> ** **
> Hi Al:****
> ** **
> The perceived “insinuation” may not be on William’s part.  As a piano
> dealer for 7 years and someone who has bought and sold may Steinway grands,
> rebuilt and otherwise, it was my experience that many potential
> “knowledgable” Steinway vintage buyers were disinterested in any pianos from
> the CBS period.  I had many phone calls where the buyer would lose interest
> immediately when I informed them that a particular piano was from that era.
> Right or wrong, it’s a fact of life. ****
> ** **
> I did sell one 1972 Steinway B to a church.  It had a great board, lots of
> dynamics, and huge potential.  The Teflon action was in tough shape and it
> needed lots of other action work.  So I sold the piano on its potential and
> their faith in me that they would get a great piano after I rebuilt the
> action and voiced the piano.  They did.****
> ** **
> That piano did have some quality issues.  Action fitting and damper action
> fitting was not to Steinway’s best tolerances.  Bridge notching was not
> great.  I won’t extrapolate beyond that to all Steinways from that period,
> and I will say that mistakes were made in every era.  Anyone who has rebuilt
> for a while discovers dirty little secrets in every piano. ****
> ** **
> Will Truitt****
> ** **
> ** **
> ** **
> *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Al Guecia/Allied PianoCraft
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 08, 2011 10:44 AM
> *To:* pianotech at ptg.org
> *Subject:* Re: [pianotech] S&S B****
> ** **
> I don't understand what you mean by "not CBS manufactured". CBS never
> manufactured Steinway pianos, only Steinway manufactured Steinway pianos.
> They just bought the company and screwed with the finances. ****
> ** **
> I worked there during that period and the only thing that changed was the
> inventory between departments. They felt it was waisted capitol and what
> they accomplished by that move was layoffs for lack of inventor between
> departments. The pianos got through the factory fasted and didn't have as
> much time to settle, but we had the same management and the quality remained
> the same.****
> ** **
> Since I and my department were the last to work on and inspect those
> pianos, I take exception to the insinuation that the pianos were of lesser
> quality.****
> ** **
> Al -****
> High Point, NC****
> ** **
> ** **
> ** **
> On Oct 7, 2011, at 8:30 PM, William Monroe wrote:****
>
> ** **
> Hi List,****
> ** **
> Anyone have a Steinway B, unrestored, needing work, not CBS manufactured,
> 1920s through 1960s?****
> ** **
> Let me know if you do, I have someone looking for one.****
> ** **
> Contact me off list:****
> bill at a440piano.net****
> ** **
> ** **
> William R. Monroe****
> ** **
>
>
>
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