What Steinway Doesn't Want You To Know (Stein-Was)

Steinway has created a powerful marketing narrative that if even one out of 12,116 parts isn't from Steinway, the piano is no longer a genuine Steinway but a Stein-Was.

If their claim is correct, buyers will believe they can only purchase a genuine Steinway piano from Steinway & Sons and from no other seller.

However, if their claim is not true, a world of options opens up for the buyer (since over 600,000 Steinways have been made) that are simultaneously cost-effective without reducing the quality and authenticity of the instrument.

[the_daily_ping]

I work with all three of these pianos on a regular basis and can attest that this video truly does show off the differences between these pianos extremely well. Bravo for such clear examples. My experience as a technician has overwhelmingly shown though that most pianists have an easier time connecting with Steinways. However, something that this video does superbly well is to show how each piano has its strengths and that the piece being played can dictate which piano sounds best.

[jennifer]

The controversy in this video is about the brand name, not the instrument. Similar to the phenomenon of "The Vanishing Rembrandts" where some Rembrandt paintings were discovered to be only partially painted by Rembrandt, then finished by one of his hired pupils, and dubbed NOT a genuine Rembrandt, a similar brand controversy exists here. Over a period of more than seven decades, as a pianist I have played just about every brand, style, type, size and condition of piano ever made since the last century. I've played hundreds of Steinway

& Sons pianos. Each had its own characteristics and personality. Generally, there has been little consistency with the musical identity of Steinway pianos, except through their recorded sound, which was always carefully prepared. The Steinway factory makes the pianos, but requires the dealer's technicians do the final preparation before the pianos are sold or put into circulation.

Forget the brand for a minute and look at only the instrument. I've played some really awful old and new Steinway pianos. I've also played some Steinway pianos which I loved so much I wanted to steal them. The key to the success of any piano is not only the original design and factory assembly, but the technical care given to the piano after it is bought. In the basement of the old Steinway Hall in New York, there were a variety of concert grand model "D" pianos, which every great pianist would play before selecting one for a concert at Carnegie Hall.

Each "Concert and Artist" piano in their collection had different technical care over the years, and each was moved, disassembled, moved again, reassembled, then tuned, re-tuned and voiced. Pianos are in a constantly reactive mode, since they react to humidity, temperature, seasons and atmosphere. If a technician uses non-Steinway parts in order to make the piano play better, or sound better, it doesn't change the brand of the piano. Ask any concert-level piano technician. They often have to improvise using parts or techniques which they fashion themselves. Sometimes this works better than factory original.

Once, at a private piano shop I played a very cheap Chinese-made Pearl River grand piano, which impressed me as much as any Steinway, Bosendorfer, Fazioli, or Bechstein. The technician, who owned it, told me he had worked on this piano for over six months to get it to sound and play the way it did. He also admitted that it wouldn't hold its tune very long, and its action would become uneven within a week of regular playing. But, he proved to me that in the hands of a great technician, any piano can sound and feel great....at least for a short while. The world's fine pianos, Steinway certainly included, will be able to sound good and play well, and hold up over years, decades, and even into another century in the hands of skilled technicians or piano re-builders.

I also played the "Concert and Artist" Steinway model "D" # known as Vladimir Horowitz' own personal piano. The "503" was touring around the world, being flown, trucked, moved, set up, torn down, stored, handled and played by pianists in many countries. I was amazed that this piano was able to play at all, given the amount of climate changes, moving, handling and rigorous abuse it endured over the years. Yet, with good technical care, it played very well and sounded good, even with replacement parts as they were needed.

I worked personally with Franz Mohr, Steinway's Chief Technician, and personal technician to Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, and many others great pianists. He told me that he often improvised all kinds of things to the "503" in order to get it to sound and feel good to the maestro. Was it Steinway? of course it was !!


A final note about the pianos heard in this video. Most of them do not have the characteristic Steinway sound, since all but a couple are very badly out of tune and greatly in need of voicing. They are also recorded with non-professional equipment in rooms which are not acoustically welcoming. The authentic "Steinway " sound is the sound of a model "B" (7 foot) or a model "D" (9 foot) grand.

These pianos are finely tuned and voiced before any recording is made, and re-tuned during the recording sessions. They are professionally recorded in acoustically prepared studios, often using several microphones, and often a bit of EQ and reverb added for depth. This is the sound we usually expect from Steinway, because it has been the most-recorded piano sound since the 1940's and 1950's when long-playing records first evolved. That same sound is recognized when hearing a model "B" or model "D" in person, but only after a fresh tuning and voicing.

[hoareg]

Don’t understand the mindset of Steinway. They should be proud that their hundred years old pianos can be restored and work perfectly instead of bashing them. This is pure greedy and stupidity from their side.

[handyatmusic]

The audio quality of some of these recordings is not very flattering to the tone of the piano.

Hard to tell Lindeblad's position from this video. Steinway's approach to this issue is extremely heavy into pure marketing, even propaganda. The assumption that only genuine Steinway parts are good enough is very much open to debate, especially considering newer technologies such as WN&G composite action parts. The claim that wood action parts are always superior, end of story, is a marketing move, plain and simple. I'm sure you'll hear all about that from any Steinway dealer. Steinway remains very much stuck on what they portray as their winning "traditionalist" formula but I fear may be falling farther behind the times vs. some other innovative high-end manufacturers. Unfortunately, Steinway has even tried to go after independent piano techs, telling them if they rebuild with anything other than "genuine" parts, they may not bill that piano as a "Steinway" when they go to sell it. Sorry, at that point it's out of your hands. Makes you look petty, too, fighting innovation and trying to protect some kind of faded glory. Meanwhile they have such a shortage of parts supplies that techs often cannot even get Steinway parts.

[justaviewer]

Well I suppose this means even brand new Steinways are "SteinWAS" too because even THEY don't use all Steinway parts in the building of brand new Steinways. They buy some pretty significant parts off the shelf and they're the EXACT SAME parts that go into many different brands. Ignore that "SteinWAS" garbage, just make sure if it was rebuilt, that it was rebuilt correctly. Lindenblad IS one of those companies that does it right. Oh, the other lie the dealers love to pedal is that Steinways always go UP in value, LOL!

[philosophicallyspeaking]

Consider from philosophy the 'ship of Theseus: If a disreputable mechanic (shipwright) replaces, overtime, every piece of your car, despite the fact that the parts were not broken, and then uses those parts to build an entire car for himself, who then has 'your' car? Steinway would have you believe that it is only a Steinway when it is sounding its best, so that by definition, there are no bad sounding Steinways, because every Steinway transitions to becomes and Steinwas at the hands of 'non' Steinway technicians. Philosophy has that identity problem covered too by the concept of 'the transitional statement' which is illustrated by the Sorites Paradox, which states that it is impossible to build an amount the size of a 'pile' of sand if you undertake to do it one grain at a time, because if a single grain wasn't enough to turn an 'amount' of sand into something that then constituted a ''pile' at an earlier point if the building of it, then by definition it never could...and yet piles of sand materialize despite an accounting being made of the 'transitional' moment when that was made to happen by the addition of that declarative grain.

[RonSchneider-njon]

Nice video but how about tuning the piano before demonstrating how it sounds?

[callmeal]

There is an inherent clarity potential in a particular instrument. Technicians will comment on this as they wrestle with the "flesh and blood"of ANY instrument in pursuit of a tonal ideal. More than a couple of technicians have made very favorable comparisons between my little 1969 Baldwin L and a lot of Steinways. Side note, from an acoustics standpoint the L is the biggest piano I would want in a home. To me it's sad all the golden era Steimway concert grands cooped up in university offices...

[deborahyeh]

What is the name of the piece @3:51? Thank you!!!!

[Hearts]

They know the new ones don't equal the pianos of a hundred years ago, so are stooping to scare tactics. Similar to hundred-year-old houses; they cannot be made that way today. They are treasures from a time gone by, gems still shining today. 🎹

[poly_hexamethyl]

Steinway's marketing BS is as bad as Debeer's "a diamond is forever" to discourage people from buying/selling on the used market.

[DLover]

I have to say it, but the Yamaha sound is a more modern dynamic sound and they are on a good thing. The tone is still great. You can get a new Yamaha for the right price. No problem.

[soaringvulture]

I don't understand a bit of this. I was shopping for a piano once and tried out a rebuilt Steinway in a local shop. It was magnificent: the tone, the action, just everything was excellent. What did it matter how it got to be that way? The piano spoke for itself.

[maxkat]

are they having trouble selling Steinways now? there are several of these videos that look like fakery to bring back Steinways.

[ericostling]

This is very silly. It's like saying if I put an Aston Martin V12 into my 1989 Fox Body it's no longer a Mustang. Really? No real piano lover will listen to that kind of pickup line, everyone knows you are tweaking these instruments the minute you get them off the showroom floor, wherever you bought them. It's all about the people keeping these instruments maintained after that.

The best piano I ever played was a re-built 'B' sitting in a famous technician's shop in Boston, George Crawford of Aardvark restorations. Complete with new soundboard (old one had cracked beyond saving), while sporting an unsightly awful yellow paint job covering the entire exterior, ouch. But then, no instrument I've ever played anywhere else could touch the sound and its expressive potential. Meanwhile it screamed that famous old-school Steinway artistry with every note, kudos to George on this one.

[susank]

Through an unexpected stroke of good fortune, I have an 1887 NY Steinway C in my living room -- never thought that would happen. It needs a lot of work, but I'm interested in what it still has. I'm keeping the soundboard, for instance, and duplicating the action parts and geometry.

[tannerwinchester]

As a classical pianist of 20+ years, Steinway made an excellent piano back during their “golden era, ” but now their pianos lack the same sense of craftsmanship that made them popular. Ten years ago, I had the opportunity to buy a Steinway grand, and passed it up to purchase a new Schimmel grand. Unfortunately, many of the Steinway buyers today end up buying into the brand hype from the dealers, and automatically assume it’s a superior instrument because of marketing and price. In my experience, new Steinways are far over priced for the mediocre quality instruments they are now producing. Couple that with dealers who are salespeople and not musicians… and they really don’t know the instruments they are selling. Overall the modern Steinway marketing scheme is geared to wealthy individuals who are looking for a status symbol in their home.

[careycrowson-udpx]

I could go on and on about Steinway's weaknesses but the kool-aide drinkers would ignore it. There are many pianos which leave Steinwas in the dust. Mason and Hamlin comes to mind. The Steinway arrogance is striking

[samnelsonorganist]

Does somebody say a restored Steinway is not a true Steinway? Why does this video exist? Arguing against a point that nobody has brought up.

[studentjohn]

Steinway salesmen refer to my Bechstein as a "piano-shaped object."