by Stephen N. Reed, updated on 1/6/23
You’d really like to buy a grand piano, but your space is limited. What to do? A baby grand can be the perfect piano for the buyer who has a room in their home that is too small for a full grand but which can accommodate a piano that is a little bit smaller.
The term “baby grand” has been prevalent for decades but without universal agreement about the exact size of this kind of piano. The consensus is that a grand piano under 6′ in length is in the baby grand category.
In addition, the smaller size allows for some savings in the cost. The case and the soundboard all require a lesser amount of expensive materials.
While a baby grand piano can’t deliver the power of a full-sized grand, it usually produces more volume than an upright piano. So the buyer comes away experiencing many aspects of a grand piano, just in a smaller size and cost.
But what does a baby grand cost? That depends on whether it’s new or used, what brand it is, how old it is, and what condition it’s in. We’ve seen many baby grands at M. Steinert & Sons. We have been helping customers for 160 years to find the best piano for their needs.
By the of this article, we will give you a better idea of what kind of baby grand piano you can buy across a range of prices. It’s worth noting that in 2022-2023, the piano world experienced increased costs across the board, resulting in price increases ranging from 5% to 10%.
The used piano market is enormous. Some buyers will try out different used pianos at other piano stores, hoping to find a great deal while securing a piano with most of its life still ahead.
Others with less money look at “for sale by owner” types of pianos, including baby grands. These are not certified and typically are sold “as is,” as the individual seller is usually not interested in making repairs. They want to get rid of the piano, so they are willing to offer it for a low price.
“Free pianos abound in our marketplace,” says Steve Hauk, Sales Manager for M. Steinert & Sons. “Hire a reputable guild technician to assess it before accepting it.”
You can usually find a $500, or even free, baby grand without much effort. But the internal condition of such pianos is often so poor as to have no musical value whatsoever. We’ve written an additional article on the questions to ask before accepting a free piano.
A 2023 look at the Boston-area Craigslist shows the kinds and qualities of baby grands at the next lower end of the price spectrum, $501 to $10,000.
For example, the year 2000, Petrof Chippendale for $7,900 with a player system (using floppy disks).
A 1988 Samick Grand in Gloss Walnut for $3900.
On any given day, one can find a baby grand with questionable or fading musical value in this price range.
The main problem with baby grands in this price range is that unless you bring a qualified piano technician along, you may never know how little you’re getting until you bring this sizable piece of furniture home. That is true whether one buys a new or used piano.
This is not to say that decent used baby grand pianos don’t exist. They do. But they are more likely to be found at an authorized piano dealer that provides some warranty coverage.
Certified Pre-owned pianos offered by authorized dealers are typically not older than 30 years and in good condition, having been checked by a professional piano technician. Certified Pre-owned pianos can run into the $20,000-$60,000 range and more for newer reputable brands and models.
Also, this range incorporates new Essex baby grands, the most affordable of the Steinway-designed pianos. A new model in this line is possible in this price range. Read more about their smaller grands here, like the EGP-155C Classic Grand and the EGP-155F French Provincial, starting at $15,900. Or you could look into the small Yamaha GB1K Baby Grand Piano, starting at $15,299.
Many take their chances on a used Steinway in this range without a technician’s opinion – this could make for a very dubious investment.
In this range, some good, new mid-high brand baby grands are available. For example, if you want to move up to a higher quality Steinway family piano, a new Boston baby grand, the 5’1″ GP-156 New Performance Edition II can be bought for $25,400.
A 5’3″ Yamaha Model C1X lists for $37,999
A 5’11” Kawai Model GX-2BLK list for $46,495
Some good, used Steinways can be found in this range with some effort.
Once the range is between $40,001–$85,000, much higher quality baby grand pianos are possible. For example, a Steinway Certified Pre-owned baby grand piano under 6′ falls into this range at different places depending on the age and condition.
The quality advantage of getting a Certified Pre-owned model comes from knowing that all Steinway parts have been used in any repairs. Steinway Authorized Dealers only certify pianos that are 30 years old or less.
This upper range of cost yields several advantages to the buyer who is in a position to pay more for a new baby grand. A new baby grand has a longer life, as it is freshly made. Plus, many piano companies offer a warranty with a new piano.
Steinway & Sons also offers a trade-up policy for any new Steinway, Boston, or Essex piano purchase. When you purchase any new or Pre-owned Steinway, you will receive 100% of the original purchase price in trade toward a new Steinway or Steinway-Designed piano of greater value for the lifetime of the instrument.
Prices for high-quality new baby grands start within this $40,001–$85,000 range and go beyond it, too. Within this range, a Bechstein 160 costs $73,900. A Mason Hamlin B is $86,035. A Model S from Steinway costs $86,600. The cost for other new baby grands can go well beyond $85,000, as with the Fazioli F-156, which costs $135,100.
In the meantime, enjoy reading some additional information and our video about how a baby grand can often fit in the same space as an upright piano:
by Stephen N. Reed
Longterm piano maintenance may seem like one of those topics that get everyone nodding in agreement–but with many forgetting its importance beyond regular tunings. However, with an investment as significant as a quality grand or upright, understanding the different forms of maintenance is essential.
After all, what could be worse than spending many thousands of dollars on a quality musical instrument, only to have serious problems later because inexpensive longterm maintenance practices weren’t followed?
In this article, we will review the main forms of longterm piano maintenance and their importance to the overall condition of the piano. You’ll learn that such maintenance goes well beyond regular tunings.
The one piano maintenance question everyone knows is: So how long should I have my piano tuned? Generally, a piano should have a tuning twice per year.
However, you may well need to tune your piano more frequently due to greater humidity in your area, especially as it gets older. But for the vast majority of pianos, a tuning about every 180 days will take into account changes in weather.
The one other exception to this two tunings-per-year rule is a new piano. In its first year, a new piano should be tuned up to four times to help it settle and to stretch the strings. Pianos tuned four times in the first year generally hold tune better going forward.
Jonathan Kotulski, a piano technician for M. Steinert & Sons notes that there are serious risks of not getting your piano tuned.
“If you go many years without tuning the piano, besides being musically useless, the piano may go flat a little bit each year making the tuning worse and worse,” says Jonathan. “When it comes time to get the piano tuned, a pitch raise will have to be performed, to get the piano roughly back to standard pitch, then followed by a fine tuning.”
When it comes to pianos, humidity is important to consider year-round. Pianos don’t like extremes. Pianos do better when temperatures are moderate, neither too hot nor too cold. A piano’s wood responds to its environment and does well when humidity is stabilized.
Otherwise, moisture in the air can be absorbed by the piano’s action, causing the wood in the action to expand and contract. Additionally, the felts in the action can harden, tuning pins can loosen, and even the steel strings can start to rust.
A lack of moisture in the wintertime has its own problems, like the possibility of a dry soundboard cracking. Moisture can dry up when the piano owner turns on heaters in the home. As a result, the smart piano owner will not place their piano near heating vents, fireplaces, radiators, drafty windows, and direct sunlight.
What is the result of all these changes due to unstable humidity? Tuning can become unstable, and what a longterm problem that can be for a musical instrument for which you paid many thousands of dollars.
As a result, a further, smaller investment in your piano in the form of a humidity control system is well worth it. Such a system protects your investment by extending the life of the piano and helping it to hold tune. Such a control system can help keep the piano’s environment to the ideal of 40-45% humidity year-round, with as little fluctuation as possible.
Using a humidity monitor to monitor the levels in the piano room can be helpful. Our piano technicians at M. Steinert & Sons can give you more information about selecting the right kind of humidifier for your piano. They can offer custom recommendations for the customer’s specific piano room and climate situation.
In order for a piano’s action to play well, 37 adjustments per key within the piano’s action are needed. Over time, all of this activity for the entire 88 keyboard can make the piano’s touch feel differently after a lot of playing, expansion, and contraction of action parts due to humidity, and loosening of strings.
Regulating your action helps the piano to play again as it did when it was new. This can take the place of individual regulation adjustments or a total action regulation. Such regulation of your piano’s action can extend the length of your piano’s life and keep it enjoyable to play.
Other specific benefits of regulation include evenness/consistency/uniformity of the experience of touch at the keyboard, increased power and tactile control of the tone, increased dynamic range (quieter quiet dynamics and louder loud dynamics), and increased speed of repetition at all dynamic (volume) levels. Finally, regulation can also be customized to the touch preferences of high-level pianists.
Some piano action’s felt hammers can harden over time. The repeated contact with the strings causes the felt to become compressed, with grooves created from contact with the string. The result can be a bright, even harsh tone. The piano can even lose its ability to play softly.
However, the leading issue that voicing addresses is when there are notes that do not fit in with the overall tonal character of the instrument. Bringing out the character of the piano and getting this evenness and consistency across the scale is part of the aim of voicing.
Enter the procedure called “voicing.” Voicing corrects the tension of the hammers’ felt, which should be of good quality. The piano technician uses needles to reduce the bright tone by making the felt less hard.
A greater range of musical expression occurs with this kind of longterm maintenance.
While most longterm piano maintenance deals with the inner workings of the piano, protecting your piano’s finish is important–and not just for keeping it looking good as the centerpiece in your home’s parlor or living room.
Like the piano’s action, its wooden case can expand and contract with changes in humidity. This, in turn, can lead to cracks in the finish as well as its overall stability.
Obviously, to avoid scratches or other damage to your piano’s finish, avoid putting objects on your piano, especially drinks. Additionally, common furniture polish should not be used on a piano’s finish. The action of a piano can be damaged if any aerosol cleaning spray gets into it.
Thankfully, a polyester finish is being increasingly used on new pianos. It protects pianos better than the finish on older models.
A good piano technician will be on the lookout for other issues when they are giving a regular tuning. This is not to rack up problems that create more business for them. This is part of their role as a professional wanting your piano to have a long and healthy life.
When a piano owner comes to understand more about their piano, they will typically take better longterm care for their instrument. A good piano technician will have customers who want to keep their piano in excellent condition–first for the joy of playing a quality instrument and second to protect their investment.
At M. Steinert & Sons, we have two full-time piano technicians in Jonathan Kotulski and Zack Brines, both of whom are experienced in examining a wide range of grand and upright pianos. If you have need of any of the longterm maintenance issues addressed in this article or have other questions of your own, please contact Jonathan or Zack at our Boston location.
To see what kind of costs are involved when the lack of longterm maintenance contributes to major repairs in pianos, click here.
by Stephen N. Reed
Piano lessons hold a storied image in American life. For generations, submitting to the expertise of one’s piano teacher, has been a cultural rite of passage for millions of young people.
Like everything else, piano lessons have increased, in some places dramatically. In this article, we will explore the range of piano lesson costs nationally and in the Greater Boston area. We will also address the value of such lessons for students, whether or not they make a career in music.
Nationally, the cost of piano lessons typically ranges between $15 and $50 for a 30-minute lesson. Lesson rates can vary depending on things like where you live and your teacher’s expertise.
According to M. Steinert & Sons piano consultant Patrick Elisha, piano lessons in the Greater Boston area typically range from $30-to $75 per 30-minute lesson. These piano teachers often have exceptional educational and performance credentials. Other factors also affect lesson costs including:
The benefits of working with a private music teacher are obvious: you get one-on-one professional guidance, a customized lesson plan, and a teacher to hold you accountable to your musical lessons and goals.
A qualified piano teacher will help their student in the process of learning how to open the door into and traverse the vast world of music. It is important to find a balance in what this mentor can provide, both in their pedagogical capacity and in their capabilities to accentuate the mostly solitary practice of learning how to play the piano.
Unlike other instruments which have the clear opportunity to engage in orchestral repertoire through local youth symphony orchestras, piano playing is like a “Swiss Army Knife” in terms of the varied mediums carried by the instrument.
Collaborative piano in its many forms should include but not limited to accompanying and chamber music should be an integral part of early learning. Quite often, the latter is only available at summer music festivals.
Consequentially, if the pedagogical method or venue can’t provide these opportunities, the teacher needs to inspire the artist and their family to engage in summer music festival programs, “extracurricular” ensemble learning, and performing.
Performing is as integral to the art of piano as practicing. Imagine a world where we prepare for an athletic event such as a basketball game, practicing each day with our team, only to realize that there never really is a game to look forward to. The “game” is the opportunity to perform, on a consistent, semi-annual, or quarterly basis with performances set up by the teacher or school associated.
A good piano teacher helps their students understand the mathematics around how music works. This is key to a developing artist’s voice and analytical capability. This more cerebral part of piano learning is both fun and a core tenet of a complete piano education.
Like any language or dialect all of these elements, from learning solo repertoire to understanding the world of collaboration with others, performing and music theory are needed in order to offer the learner the best opportunity in learning the art of piano.
The more complete the education, the more likely one is to continue and maintain this art in one’s life, allowing this craft to endure with their own children and families as time goes on.
“Anyone who makes a distinction between entertainment and education doesn’t know the first thing about either.” So said Canadian social philosopher Marshall McLuhan.
Like all good teachers, a gifted piano teacher knows how to challenge students while making learning fun. Without piano playing having an element of enjoyment to it, a student is not likely to stay with it for long.
Whatever the rate that a given piano teacher charges, if they are capable both technical mastery of playing the piano and finding fun and interesting ways to engage their students, then they are probably worth every dollar they charge.
For not only will they be opening up the world of music to their students but will be building up their sense of self-discipline, self-confidence, and intellectual curiosity as to how subject areas like mathematics and music intersect.
Piano playing is on the rise, as people turn to music making at home during different periods of the pandemic. Read more about that in piano teacher Elizabeth Reed’s following essay:
“How the Pandemic brought life back into our living rooms.”
by Stephen N. Reed
To be sure, the rich, warm sound of a Steinway & Sons piano has several factors. However, the use of the Hard Rock Maple in their grand pianos is one of the most important components used to create the legendary Steinway sound.
The rigidity of the Hard Rock Maple rim contains the huge sound of Steinway grand’s Diaphragmatic Soundboard, made of Sitka Spruce, the most resonant of woods.
In short, Steinway pianos combine the resonance of Sitka Spruce with the rigidity of Hard Rock Maple to intensify the richness of the sound.
At M. Steinert & Sons, we have sold tens of thousands of pianos to satisfied customers with an eye towards helping them find the best piano for their needs.
In this article, we will examine Steinway’s use of Hard Rock Maple and its contribution to the unique Steinway sound. We hope you’ll come away with an appreciation for the materials and level of craftsmanship that Steinway puts into its handcrafted grand pianos.
So what’s the difference between Hard Rock Maple (also called Sugar Maple) and soft maples? As its name suggests, Hard Rock Maple is a considerably harder wood. The Janka Hardness Index is about 700 for soft maple and about 1400 for hard maple. But Hard Rock Maples are not only harder than soft maples but are heavier and more straight-grained.
Because of its rigidity, Hard Rock Maple has traditionally been seen as more challenging to work with, though it has maintained popularity not only in piano making but also in furniture and flooring, including bowling alleys. It is resistant to scratches and polishes well, plus it ages more slowly than other woods, like cherry.
To make their wide-tail rims, Steinway uses between 12 to 18 Hard Rock Maple and Mahogany laminates, depending on the model. These laminates are then glued together and bent into the rim shape, creating a single, powerful piece of wood.
The process of gluing and bending is a favorite one to watch by visitors to the Steinway & Sons Astoria, New York factory. Each Hard Rock Maple laminate is placed by hand.
Then the work involves heavy-duty wrenches and the collective strength of six strong men. Once the layers of laminates are bent, the rim is fixed in place by a large clamp. Hard Rock Maple can withstand pressure well and project sound
Why is Hard Rock Maple the wood of choice for Steinway rims? First, the rim of a concert grand piano needs to withstand up to 45,000 pounds of pressure created by the grand’s strings tightened to the piano’s pin block.
Second, Hard Rock Maple is indeed a huge factor in the sound quality of the instrument. A softer wood in the rim would absorb sound, but Hard Rock Maple laminates project sound much more effectively. Hard Rock Maple is simply the best wood to project sound out of a piano without affecting harmonic richness or absorbing the sound.
All Steinway grand piano rims are laminated in this way. Each laminate piece is inspected by hand, insuring that only the very best of hardwoods are used. Steinway’s smaller grands use fewer layers of laminates since there is less pressure coming from the strings.
“Hard Rock Maple is resistant to fluctuations and temperature and humidity,” explains Patrick Elisha, a piano consultant for M. Steinert & Sons.
“It is put in places of the instrument that require that kind of stability including the rim and the bridges,” explains Elisha. “Those are key structural points that respectively reflect the sound back into and through the soundboard, and also transfer the sound for the bridges from the strings most effectively into the soundboard itself. Hard Rock Maple is strong enough not to succumb to the immense pressures that are put on it.”
So why is a 100% Hard Rock Maple inner and outer rim better than the mixed wood, Luan/Mahogany frames used by Yamaha or the frames the Matoa/Calophyllum wood used in Kawai grands?
Simply put, the hardness of the wood adds to the projection of the piano’s sound and adds greater sustain. How? A rim made of Hard Rock Maple throws most of that vibrational energy back onto the soundboard thereby producing longer-lasting sustaining tones.
Hard Rock Maple is almost 3 times the hardness of Luan and Matoa /Calophyllum. That means that the Hard Rock Maple rim can both contain the sound produced by the Steinway Diaphragmatic Soundboard while projecting it further into the audience than other pianos.
So why doesn’t every piano company draw upon Hard Rock Maple for their rims? It’s a function of cost. Hard Rock Maple is expensive and can’t be found in the rainforests where Luan and Matoa woods are found for use in Japanese pianos.
One of the great innovations Steinway developed over the years for its grand pianos was its wide-tail rim, producing more sound than other pianos.
The combination of the width of the rim and the Sitka Spruce soundboard creates such an enormous amount of energy that a hardwood was needed to balance it out: to first contain that powerful sound and then to project it well into the audience.
That is where Hard Rock Maple comes in, an American hardwood well-regarded for centuries as a favorite wood for flooring and furniture that not only could withstand pressure but also avoid abrasions and even polish well. Hard Rock Maple must have seemed like a godsend to the Steinway engineers who were looking for just that kind of durable hardwood.
We welcome you to come into either our Boston or Newton showroom and examine some Steinway grand pianos with their Hard Rock Maple rims yourself. Experience the tone, the Steinway sound that the Hard Rock Maple contributes to significantly.
Meantime, read more about the qualities that go into the Steinway sound.
by Stephen N. Reed
With an investment as significant as a grand piano, customers understandably are curious as to how long they can expect their grand to last. As with so much in life, the answer is “It depends.” However, over the years some general conclusions can be drawn, based on the materials, assembly, and level of care given to a grand piano.
Knowing the ways to keep your piano healthy through placement in the home (e.g. away from windows), regular tuning, avoiding heat registers that can dry out the soundboard, dealing with seasonal changes, and carefully moving the grand piano when needed can all help to extend a grand piano’s life.
Even so, to avoid disappointments as your piano is passed down to your children, you need to know that the average manufactured piano lasts about 30 years, whereas a handcrafted piano like a Steinway can go well beyond 50 years.
But even just for the present generation, the buyer wants to know that their grand piano is going to be playable for years to come. Purchasing a piano is a significant investment for any home. Naturally, people want to know how long does a grand piano last?
At M. Steinert, we’ve been helping customers get answers to piano questions like this for over 160 years. We want our customers to be informed buyers so that they know what they’re getting. Understanding the different factors that play into the longevity of a grand piano will help a buyer appreciate their purchase more.
When we ask the question, “What is a grand piano’s lifespan?”, what does “lifespan” mean in a quality piano context? Obviously, if you want a grand that still has a quality musical presence, that’s different than a piano that merely is capable of making any kind of sound or one that is barely standing on its legs.
For the purposes of this article, we will discuss how long a grand piano lasts to refer to its playability and basic musicality.
Experience has shown that new grand pianos (without rebuilding) maintain their playability between 10 and 50 years, depending upon numerous factors expanded upon below. Note that “playable” is highly subjective between pianists.
One person’s playable is another’s musical disappointment. Over the years we’ve found that many have never experienced a high-quality piano sound and touch – and simply don’t know what’s possible!
Factors that can affect the musical quality of a grand piano over time include:
Some manufacturers, like the Steinway-designed Boston, specify certain woods in critical areas (maple in the rim, and spruce in the soundboard), that have been proven to increase overall durability and tone quality.
Grand pianos are like people. Some may have a single health care concern, while others may have multiple issues. As a result, while each of the factors above can affect an individual grand piano’s lifespan, each one will have its own lifespan curve.
Take a look at this chart that shows piano musical quality over time for a variety of pianos:
Again, while each grand piano has its own individual path toward establishing its ultimate lifespan, examining grand pianos over time has yielded some general conclusions about the different phases of a grand piano’s life. The following is a summary of what can happen to a piano as it ages and is published with the permission of the Piano Technicians Guild:
FIRST-YEAR
The pitch of a new piano drops considerably, as the new strings stretch and the structure settles. If the piano receives the manufacturer’s recommended three to four tunings during this time, it will stay at the correct pitch, allowing strings and structure to reach a stable equilibrium. Without these important first tunings, any later tuning will involve a large pitch raise, leaving the piano unstable.
TWO TO TEN YEARS
The pitch stabilizes, assuming regular tunings (and additional climate control devices if needed). The mechanical parts of the piano’s action wear and settle too. This causes two changes: first, the touch of the piano becomes less responsive as the parts go out of adjustment.
Secondly, the tone changes as the hammers flatten and grooves develop from repeated collisions with the strings. Periodic regulation and voicing, important parts of a complete maintenance program, correct these changes.
TEN TO THIRTY YEARS
Wear of action parts continues, the extent depending upon how hard and how often the piano is played. Normal regulation and voicing will maintain a good tone and touch if usage is moderate.
If the piano suffers wide temperature and humidity swings, it will being to show permanent deterioration during this time: loose tuning pins, rusty strings, soundboard cracks, and aging of the finish.
THIRTY TO FIFTY YEARS
After years of playing, the hammers and other action parts will be quite worn. Years of seasonal changes cause bass strings to sound dull and treble tone to lose clarity. Eventually, adjustment alone will not correct these problems, and some parts will need replacing to restore the original tone and touch.
OVER FIFTY YEARS
A few geographic areas with mild climates have older pianos still in good condition. Well-built, well-designed pianos can still be playable at this advanced age if they’ve had good care and moderate use.
However, at some point in a piano’s life, an important decision must be made:
Eventually, it simply becomes less practical to continue maintaining an old piano. The end of a piano’s life comes when the repair cost exceeds the value of the repaired instrument.
Happily, almost any piano that has received reasonable care will have served the art of music for decades by the time its days are over.
We encourage customers to try other brands, including those that make manufactured grand pianos. Then come to one of M. Steinert’s showrooms in Nexton or Boston to make an appointment to talk with one of our seasoned sales consultants and to play some Steinway models.
In preparation for your appointment, consider reading more about some of the popular models of Steinway grands in the following article. It will give you a closer look at 6 Steinway grand piano models so that you begin to see which ones may suit your needs best.
A review of 6 Steinway piano models: Which is the best grand for me?
By Stephen N. Reed
For over a century, player pianos have had the remarkable ability to play without a pianist sitting at the bench. The earliest mechanical systems used a combination of industrial era techniques, ranging from pumps to levers to pumps to cue each note from holes in paper rolls.
Fast forward several decades. A new player piano renaissance was coming into being. In the 1980s and 1990s, several companies began digitizing the player piano experience.
The Yamaha Disklavier, the PianoDisc and QRS systems were the main players. In these systems, a series of solenoids are activated under the keys, a real revolution in player piano technology. In 2016, the Steinway Spirio entered the player market as well.
The first player pianos lacked dynamic range. Today’s player pianos have surprising nuance and exceptional dynamic range due to the new technology available.
If you are potentially interested in a player piano experience, then understanding the different modern player piano systems is key to making the best possible piano selection. After all, the addition of a player piano system is a significant investment, and the last thing you want is to choose a system that doesn’t meet your needs.
Long before acoustic piano companies began to embrace digital technologies, we at M. Steinert built our reputation on helping customers select the best piano for them.
For an increasing number of our customers, that means including a player piano system. As a result, we are constantly learning about the various playing piano options as they roll out.
By the end of this article, you’ll understand how player pianos work, what they cost, and will also be introduced to Steinway’s Spirio player piano, which now accounts for over half of Steinway’s sales today.
QRS and PianoDisc are the main competitors in the custom installation world. While in macro similar, they each have their unique attributes, installation procedures, and technologies. The most obvious differences are in their user interface and the music library.
Either system can be added to almost any acoustic piano not over 20 years old (this is a recommendation due to increased wear and tear, not an imposed restriction). Adding one to a piano costs between $7,000 and $11,000, depending on the models and options selected.
Adding a player system involves shipping the piano to a qualified installer to make the modifications needed to install and test the system. Player system installations should not be attempted by an inexperienced piano tech.
Here is a look at other similarities and differences between PianoDisc and QRS:
QRS uses fully encased solenoids with Teflon impregnated solenoid plungers to deliver control over the range of motion. A longer plunger and solenoid deliver greater accuracy and the necessary dynamism to support this feature.
PianoDisc solenoids are shorter than those on QRS, which some feel reduces performance due to the physics of solenoid engagement.
Both QRS and PianoDisc allow upgrades to both their hardware and software components. The latest PianoDisc system is called the Prodigy and the most recent update to QRS is the PNO3 (Pianomation 3).
QRS uses an embedded web app system, where you effectively ‘login’ to the piano, and once connected have full control of the piano from any connected device.
In the first year of QRS ownership you access to all l 15,000 songs from the QRS library – which are pre-loaded into the system. After one year you get to keep 1500 without additional payment–and you can order more through the app.
Over 4,000 songs in all music categories have been recorded for PianoDisc. You can download music from PianoDisc’s music store via iQ.
Both the QRS PNO3 and PianoDisc iQ systems are retrofit and can be easily installed in any piano.
Both systems allow songs/tracks to have additional audio accompaniment. The balance between the piano and this additional audio can be mixed from the app controls.
With PianoDisc, music is mostly purchased as an entire album, while QRS allows users to purchase singles.
Demand for the modern player piano experience continued to grow. Yamaha rolled out their Disklavier player piano in 1987. See the article at the end of this article for details on the Disklavier and how it compares to the Steinway Spirio.
After several years of research and engineering, Steinway introduced the Spirio High-Definition Player Piano in 2016. Spirio set out to redefine the player piano experience in terms of both quality and ease of use.
In addition to having the player piano technology installed in the factory before the sale, three additional factors help to set them apart:
The cost to add Spirio’s Playback system technology to a Steinway & Sons’ Model M or Model B grand is about $27,500. To further add the Record technology is an additional $15,000.
In 2019, Steinway introduced the Spirio | r, allowing the capture, archival, and editing of live performances in high-definition. Spirio | r offers exclusive high-resolution recording, preserving all the music: every nuanced dynamic level from infinitesimal gradations of hammer velocity and every shade of resonance from proportional pedaling.
The Spirio | r adds a total of $45,000 to the new Steinway Grand Model M, B, or D (the Model D Spirio is only available in the Spirio | r version).
Continued interest in add-on player piano systems like QRS and PianoDisc, as well as brisk sales of Yamaha Disklavier and Steinway’s Spirio, are proof positive that modern player pianos are here to stay.
The fact that well over half of new Steinway sales are for Spirios confirms the increasing popularity of this intriguing combination of classic acoustic design and modern-day digital technology.
At M. Steinert, we encourage you to try all four major player piano systems before purchasing. Investigate PianoDisc, QRS, Yamaha’s Disklavier, and Steinway’s Spirio. Only then will you be able to make the most informed choice for your modern player piano.
Make an appointment to discuss these options with one of our seasoned piano consultants at M. Steinert. In the meantime, read more about the differences between Disklavier and Spirio in this article:
Spirio vs. Disklavier: Which is the better 21st century self-playing piano for you
by Stephen N. Reed
Practicing the piano requires regular effort. However, if the player is a family member, a college student, or anyone else who shares their practicing area with other people, a natural conflict can arise between the player and others who can hear his or her playing. Even a well-played piece can be a distraction for those who need a quieter place to live, work, and sleep.
Remedies for this shared space conundrum have evolved. For example, in the 1980s, piano companies like Yamaha made their middle pedal a “soft pedal,” muffling the piano’s sound considerably. However, the resulting sound wasn’t that helpful for the serious piano student. What the “soft pedal” models gained in quietude they lost in clarity.
As a result, a solution was sought that allowed for a high-quality, acoustic piano that produced a rich sound yet only heard by the person playing. This way, the player could play anytime, night or day, as loudly as needed, without interfering with others in the same shared space.
If you have a situation where shared space with a piano player could be an issue, understanding top-quality silent piano systems is critical as you determine the best piano and silent system for you. The last thing you want is to invest in a silent system that doesn’t meet your needs.
Steinert & Sons has been in the business of helping people find the right piano for them since 1860. We have carefully followed the rise of piano enhancements like silent piano systems and can help you compare the better ones.
Naturally, we stand by the silent system we sell, PianoDisc QuietTime, but we appreciate other high-quality silent systems, as well, and are conversant regarding their capacities.
By the end of this article, you will have a better understanding of how silent systems work for the piano, how some of the better systems compare with one another, and their cost.
A silent piano, also known as a “silent system,” may sound like a whole new kind of instrument. However, it’s simply a standard acoustic piano with the ability to stop the piano’s hammers from striking the strings.
So how do you hear the notes being played if the hammers do not strike the strings?
Early silent system models detected key movement by using mechanical sensors that affected the touch and produced a clicking sound. But in more advanced, modern models, optical sensors are used that do not affect the feel or sound of the piano.
When the silent system is activated, digital sensors pick up the piano key movement. The key movement is then converted into a MIDI signal, which is then picked up by an electronic sound module. As a result, the piano player can hear their playing through headphones without distracting others.
Such modern silent systems can have full MIDI capability to send signals with the ability to link to a computer for use with notation software. The pianos also have full MIDI capability for sending signals and can be linked to a computer for use with notation software.
Kawai’s silent acoustic pianos are known as their “AnyTime Pianos” line, with a built-in silent system. They market the “AnyTime” name to denote that these pianos have a digital capacity that allows them to be played at any time without affecting others. They are available in a range of models.
One popular model is the Kawai K200-ATX3, which the company pitches as being user-friendly compared to other brands. It features a small, built-in screen on the left side of the keyboard that works similarly to a smartphone. The ATX3 features 27 voices to create the effect you wish, plus a large number of pre-set songs.
Cost of the Kawai K200-ATX3: $12,095
Yamaha’s SH2 and SC2 silent pianos offer a lesser number of voices and pre-set songs as Kawai’s ATX3. Instead of a built-in screen, Yamaha uses a separate interface–an iPad/iPhone or Android tablet. As with the aforementioned Kawai AnyTime models, a Yamaha silent piano has its silent system built-in.
These models have a particular standout feature: they offer binaural sound sampling for a fuller piano experience. Binaural audio mimics the natural human form to create a rich, stereo sound.
Cost of the Yamaha C2X SH2: $57,899.
Cost of the Yamaha B3SC2: $13,099.
Steinway went in another direction and does not make pianos with a built-in silent system. Instead, Steinway dealers like M. Steinert offer a silent system, the PianoDisc QuietTime is one such system, that can be installed in any piano of your choice–even one you already own.
As with the Yamaha and Kawai models, QuietTime connects the player to the digital world through USB or Bluetooth MIDI.
Beneath the keys, special optical sensors capture the motion of each key and translate this for playback by the digitized piano sound in the control box.
Once QuietTime is properly installed and adjusted by a trained piano technician, the keys will have the feel like a traditional, acoustic piano even when the mute feature is activated.
Cost of installing the QuietTime system on any pianos: $3,380.
Here at M. Steinert & Sons also experimenting with another silent system, the Kioshi Silent system – and will update in a future article about our experience with this new product.
If ever there was a piano buyer who should try some different models before purchase, it would be the buyer seeking a silent piano. After all, a silent piano has multiple constituencies to please.
On one hand, the piano player wants to make sure that they can still hear what they’re playing through the headphones. On the other hand, those in the same shared space with the piano player want to know that the silent feature is going to actually be quiet, so as not to distract their other activities.
Many buyers bring their whole family to test these key aspects of silent pianos, whether they are pianos with built-in systems or ones that can be installed after the piano is manufactured.
At M. Steinert, we encourage you to try other brands’ silent pianos and then come to us to learn more about the QuietTime system. We want you to get the best piano for you. This is best achieved after a buyer has a thorough process of comparing silent piano models and silent systems.
For more information, view these two videos that give more details as to how the QuietTime system works:
Steinert & Sons and the Quiet Time ProRecord
Steinert & Sons and the Quiet Time ProRecord (cont’d)
by Stephen N. Reed
The used Steinway market is a maze of options and opinions. With each passing decade, new myths evolve and fade. After more than 160 years as the world’s leading piano brand – this was bound to happen!
In addition, Steinway, like other piano manufacturers, make changes to their various models for various reasons. These are worth investigating, as well. Some changes may impact the overall performance of the instrument, while others may not.
In Steinway & Sons pianos, changes are made to improve the performance of the instrument, rather than for purely economic and cost-saving measures.
One issue related to how Steinways were made in the period of 1961-82 involve the Teflon bushings the company used in their pianos. At M. Steinert & Sons, we strive to be transparent regarding the bushings issue, having examined it carefully for customers for several years.
It bears noting that pianos of this vintage may have other significant issues due to their overall age. It is almost universally agreed that pianos over 30 years old will need significant work.
By the end of this article, you will understand what went on during the years that bushings were made and whether they are years to avoid in selecting a used Steinway. Additionally, you’ll learn how to safeguard against older Steinway issues by using programs like the M. Steinert CPP program for certified used pianos.
It all began with a legitimate interest in lessening the servicing needed from one season (or climate) to another. In 1962, the Permafree action was introduced by Steinway. This new action replaced the wool cloth that had lined (i.e. “bushed”) the tiny holes in the wooden flanges into which the center pins were inserted and upon which the action’s moving parts pivot.
Because the wool bushings can swell in damp weather and shrink in drier conditions, the action’s moving parts they are attached to can start to slow or loosen. Steinway has always emphasized improving every aspect of their pianos, so the new Permafree action had new bushings, with Teflon replacing the traditional wool cloth.
This seemed like a good fix, as Dupont had made Teflon tough plastic that would not change during temperature and humidity variations. In addition to changing out the bushing material, a new center pin was created, which required new tools and additional training for Steinway piano technicians.
The new Teflon bushings had a mixed review. Sometimes the wood around the bushings still swelled and shrunk, even though the Teflon did not. This caused some of the Teflon bushings to loosen in more humid seasons, causing a clicking noise when affected keys were played.
Action parts could also put additional pressure on the bushings during drier weather, causing those parts to move a little slower.
Fortunately, a Teflon bushing could be replaced without difficulty. However, with over 900 bushings in a single piano’s action, the engineers eventually went back to wool bushings in 1981.
Obviously, prospective used Steinway buyers want to know if it is wise to buy a used Steinway during the “Teflon bushing years” from 1962 to 1981.
The good news is that, for average piano use in the home, the used Steinways from this era have shown themselves to work well. Piano technicians with long experience in these instruments note that, after any Teflon bushings are replaced during the piano’s first few seasonal changes, generally few problems occur.
As long as the piano technician takes special note of the humidity conditions during the servicing, a used Steinway from this era should work fine for home use.
A piano that must endure heavy use, like those in schools or concert halls, should consider returning to cloth bushings. This would require replacing not only the bushings but the entire action, as well.
As the world’s oldest Steinway dealer, M. Steinert developed solid experience with the Teflon bushing years, starting in 1961.
“Our conclusion was that once the ‘clicks’ were discovered and remedied, the pianos worked very well,” says Paul Murphy, President emeritus of M. Steinert & Sons. “The main problem seems to have been a prior generation’s limited ability to service them, which is not an issue now. Today those pianos probably have more age-related reasons to avoid them, like cracked soundboards, loose tuning pins, and worn actions.”
One way to ensure that the piano you are buying has good quality is to buy through programs like M. Steinert’s Certified Pre-owned Piano (CPP) program. A used piano that passes M. Steinert’s 88-point inspection is going to be in solid musical condition. We delve deeper into the CPP program in a prior article.
Steinert gets trade-ins frequently and understands that not everyone is in a position to buy a new Steinway. That is why the company created this CPP program.
“It comes down to this,” says company president Brendan Murphy. “You know what you’re getting with a Certified Pre-owned Piano from M. Steinert & Sons.”
While almost any piano can be serviced, as a piano ages beyond 30 years it becomes harder to keep it musical without significant work. For this reason, we suggest the following guidelines for Steinway piano selection:
To learn more about M. Steinert’s Certified Pre-owned pianos view the current ones in stock in our Used Piano section. Select the “Certified” option in the Status filter.
Also, learn more about used Steinways by reading the following articles:
by Stephen N. Reed
Both grand pianos and uprights can be exceptional instruments, but some significant differences exist, both in terms of design and style.
By the end of this article, you will know the main differences between these two types of pianos, helping you to determine which kind of piano is best for you. Knowing these differences is important so that you don’t make the mistake of a poorly-informed piano purchase, one that disappoints you soon after you bring it home.
| MAJOR DIFFERENCES SUMMARY: | Grands | Uprights |
| How measured | Horizontal – Keys to tail length | Vertical – Floor to top of cabinet |
| Action | Gravity Reset | Spring Assist |
| Pedals | 3 – Including Full Sostenuto | 2 or 3, typically not Full Sostenuto |
| Sound Projection | Controlled and targeted through lid | Smaller reach |
Grand pianos are measured by the length from the front edge of the keys to the tail end. Their measurements are:
All grand pianos, regardless of length, are about 5 feet in width.
Grand pianos have a fuller resonance, more nuanced tonality, and a broader dynamic range than uprights. The combination of these features allows pianists to express themselves fully. Additional advantages of the grand piano over uprights include:
These features combine to allow a pianist to infuse more emotional expression than is possible with an upright piano.
One key aspect to grand pianos is their exceptional action. All grand pianos utilize gravity to return the hammer to rest. The action and strings are placed horizontally into the piano case.. When a key is pressed, the hammer strikes the piano string vertically.
Once a key releases, gravity naturally resets the hammer and the damper. This natural reaction makes for a more responsive action than that in the upright piano. The action on the grand piano responds faster, as it is reacting naturally to gravity.
This rectifies the inherent problem with upright pianos, to be discussed later in this article. Gravity reset offers more control of dynamics, repetition speed, and overall piano tone.
Uprights are compact pianos that remain popular due to their smaller footprint. Uprights have brought high-level music to millions of middle-class homes over the years, to families who could not afford a grand piano.
Sometimes called vertical pianos, they are named this because the strings and soundboard are positioned vertically, perpendicular to the floor.
Uprights come in several height variations, all of which have a unique sound. No matter the height, upright pianos take up the same floor space of roughly five feet by two feet. Upright height sizes are:
Spinets used to be a popular option for home use, but these days, manufacturers produce more studio or console uprights as the smallest option.
Uprights do not have the advantage of gravity and utilize a spring action to allow the hammer to rest. When a key is pressed, a mechanism causes the hammer to strike the string horizontally.
Once the key is released the hammer is enabled to reset thanks to a built-in spring. Here’s the issue in terms of action responsiveness in the upright: before one can restrike the key, it has to raise a particular distance to reset the spring.
Uprights generally do not have the rich tonality of grands, as a sensitive action is more difficult to produce when hammers move sideways instead of upwards against gravity. Nevertheless, newer uprights are doing better on this score.
In addition to the actions, another significant difference between uprights and grands is in the piano pedals.
For example, the left pedal on the grand, called the “soft pedal” or “una corda pedal,” shifts the entire action to the right. This softens the volume but also makes nuanced changes to the piano’s tone. The left pedal on the upright simply moves the hammers closer to the strings, making the volume softer but not affecting the instrument’s tone.
The middle pedal, known as the sostenuto pedal on the grand, raises the dampers, keeping them away from the strings, allowing for select notes to be sustained. But in the upright, the middle pedal is known as the muffler pedal. When pressed, a think piece of felt is placed between the hammers and strings, muting the sound.
The right pedal is known as the sustain or damper pedal in both the grand and the upright. In both pianos, the right or sustain pedal, also known as the damper pedal keeps dampers lifted even after the key is released, sustaining all notes that have been played.
With differences ranging from greater resonance, a more responsive action, and greater sustain in the pedals, one may well wonder if an upright can ever be preferable to a grand piano.
While grand pianos have traditionally been seen as the superior instrument versus the upright, exceptions can be found. A quality, new upright will certainly outperform an old, spent grand. One can always find quality uprights that are more expensive than lower-quality brands. Materials and craftsmanship can always make a difference between pianos.
In short, a high-quality upright piano will outperform and outlast a poorly made, inexpensive grand piano.
Moreover, depending on the buyer’s needs, particularly in terms of available space in their home, a quality upright can be the obvious choice for smaller rooms.
Especially if your budget is in the area of high quality uprights and smaller grands, a visit to different piano stores, featuring various brands and models of uprights and grands.
Only by testing a range of uprights and grands can you find the piano that is best for you. You may find that a quality upright meets all your needs, from tone to smaller size. Or you might find that a stretch up to a baby or medium grand piano is worth the further investment.
Spending time with a seasoned piano consultant like those at M. Steinert & Sons can help you narrow down your best options, based on your budget. Making an appointment to visit one of our showrooms will give you time to sample enough uprights and grands to be a much more-informed piano buyer.
In the meantime, learn more about uprights and the smaller grands by reading the following articles:
by Stephen N. Reed
As you tour the Astoria, New York Steinway factory, the fact that a Steinway piano takes nearly an entire year to complete begins to make sense.
The painstaking attention given by the many factory craftspeople, the time involved in preparing and drying the woods involved point to this handcrafted process being one that simply cannot be rushed.
Without the knowledge of all that goes into a Steinway piano, buyers would not be able to appreciate fully what they have purchased. As the oldest Steinway dealer in the world, M. Steinert & Sons has been tracking the various Steinway models for over 150 years.
Knowing the Steinway handcrafted process and its improvements over the years is a key part of our business.
The entire process of creating a Steinway piano actually takes longer than the actual factory process. By the end of this article, you will understand how a piano made of specialty woods and by highly-skilled craftspeople is made, beginning with the materials involved. As we’ll see, some of those materials go back a very long way.
Here is a look at the different stages involved and the duration of each in this handcrafted process will explain why it takes 11 months to make a Steinway.
Steinway carefully dries all the wood brought to the factory to build their pianos. Some wood is dried for up to two years before being used in the assembly process, first air-dried, then kiln-dried to prevent warping.
Only the best of the woods brought to the factory are used by Steinway. One wood is particularly special for conducting sound: the Sitka Spruce.
In the quest to build “the best piano possible,” Steinway evolved to use the Sitka Spruce from the Pacific Northwest for their patented Diaphragmatic Soundboard, which we will discuss further later in this article. This tightly-grained wood is exceptional for conducting sound.
Sitka Spruce is known for its high strength-to-weight ratio. Its excellent flexibility is essential for a piano soundboard that is meant to amplify sound and resonate with the vibration of a steel wire.
Steinway became convinced that no tree was better than the Sitka Spruce for their soundboards. Each of these trees is at least 200 years old when cut for use by Steinway.
As a result, there is another answer to the question, “How long does it take to build a Steinway?” In truth, this complex process begins at least 200 years before work starts for a year at the Astoria, NY factory.
Once the wood is dried, the building of a new Steinway can begin.
The Steinway Bent Rim is a key innovation that sets Steinway apart from other luxury pianos. Having a one-piece continuous Bent Rim, 2¾” thick, is one of the most significant technical innovations in piano building.
The rim provides the foundation for the stability of each Steinway grand piano and provides the structural integrity that enables a Steinway piano to endure for generations.
The rim of the Steinway Model B is comprised of 16 layers of Hard Rock Maple glued together, with both inner and outer rims being pressed together in a single operation. Five Steinway craftspeople bend the wood on a rim-bending press. They have to shape the rim within the time that the glue begins to dry, about twenty minutes.
After that, the rim is conditioned for two months.
An additional design feature involving the rim bears mentioning. To increase the surface square inch volume of the soundboard and thereby increase the overall resonance of the grand piano, Steinway widens the rear or “tail” of its larger grands.
To increase the surface square inch volume of the soundboard and thereby increase the overall resonance of the grand piano, Steinway widens the rear or “tail” of its larger grand pianos to accommodate more of a vibrating surface area composed of the resonant spruce wood.
Once the labor-intensive rim building is completed, the rim, soundboard and cast-iron plate can be placed into the piano’s case. After this, the Steinway piano is beginning to take shape.
Now work turns to the Steinway craftspeople responsible for building the piano’s braces, which undergird the piano and all of its intricate parts. This takes about a week to complete.
The braces beneath the grand piano establish the structural foundation of the piano, much like the cement foundation of a house and will, in tandem with the cast iron plate above them, perform the primary function of withstanding the 40,000 pounds of string tension within a piano.
Spruce provides tensile strength with less weight. Maple dowels fasten braces to the rim producing a single homogenous foundation upon which is built the entire tonal component.
A Steinway piano is built in the Astoria, NY factory from the inside out. Steinway’s assembly begins with skilled craftspeople creating and tapering Steinway’s patented “Diaphragmatic Soundboard” from the best planks of Sitka Spruce.
Steinway is particular about both the selection of the wood and the soundboard’s design. To meet the highest quality standards, Steinway uses only superior Sitka spruce with a close grain and a prescribed number of annual growth rings.
The result is a quarter-sawn Sitka Spruce soundboard, which has exceptional stability and vibrance under stress and vibration.
Steinway’s Diaphragmatic Soundboard is based on a 1936 patent to achieve optimum performance in dynamic range and maximum sustain. Under this patent, the soundboard is gradually tapered from the center to the edge, permitting freedom of movement and creating a sound of unparalleled richness and sustain.
Created like the soundboard of violins to give a free and even response throughout the entire scale, the Steinway design permits complete freedom of movement while displacing a greater amount of air, creating a richer and more lasting tonal response.
An essential aspect of Steinway’s overall design is to precision cut the soundboard to fit the rim of the piano. Since small variations exist between rims, a precision laser-guided saw is employed to yield a perfect final fit on a per-piano basis.
Great care is taken during the process of creating the soundboard. If it is damaged, the experience for both the player and the listener is altered. A soundboard can be cracked or have a fallen crown. Such repairs can be quite costly.
All told, Steinway’s soundboard takes about a month to make, with the last week being in a specialized conditioning room before installation. This is performed by a skilled artisan called a “bellyman” over the course of a full day.
The assembly process next moves to the bridge. Steinway’s popular B and D models feature a single-piece bridge. This is sometimes called the “shepherd’s crook” bridge, a continuous bridge from the highest treble to the deepest bass.
This continuous bridge enables the instantaneous transfer of the vibrations of some 233 strings throughout the bridge and the soundboard, creating more color, more resonance, and more sustain.
Steinway constructs its soundboard bridges exclusively from vertically laminated hardwood with a horizontal grain, capped with solid maple.
Each bridge is notched by hand for precise, individual string-bearing–just one advantage of a handcrafted piano. This design ensures optimal sound transmission from the strings to the soundboard, resulting in a sustained, resonant tone—creating the unique “Steinway sound.”
Bridge work takes a couple of weeks to complete.
Next in the production sequence is stringing the instrument. A particular part, patented by Steinway, is a key reason that Steinways hold tune well.
In 1963, Steinway introduced the Hexagrip Pin block, which is engineered to enable pianos to hold their tuning longer and with great precision. This comes from 7 carefully selected and arranged layers of quarter-sawn rock maple.
The exclusive design provides end grain of the wood surrounding the tuning pin and allows smoother movement under torque, a more uniform retaining action, and a piano that holds its tuning longer. Between wood selection, laminating, curing, fitting and drilling the Hexagrip Pin block takes approximately one month or more to finish.
Another part of the production process involves the piano’s action. Steinway’s hammers are made at the Steinway factory in Astoria, NY. Craftspeople ensure the action’s uniformity in terms of a piano’s keys striking the newly-placed strings.
The Tone Regulation Department at the Astoria NY factory is where a Steinway develops into a musical instrument. Here, each of the piano’s keys is adjusted by hand to ensure an even tone for the piano overall.
The action’s hammers are either made harder by applying lacquer to the hammer’s felt or softer by pricking the felt with a needle. The right tone for a Steinway is bell-like, even, and well-rounded. This process of installing the piano’s action and subsequent tone regulation takes 2 weeks.
The Steinway piano is now assembled. Steinway’s yearlong process is almost complete.
The final step in this elaborate handcrafted process is the exterior finish. Six coats of paint are applied with a precise amount of time between each coat.
After Steinway craftspeople have completed the painting, the case stands for a week, allowing the paint to harden, thereby protecting the piano’s finish. This finishing process takes 3 months.
Depending upon the finish of the piano, including whether it’s ebony polished, ebony satin, or a crown-jewel wood veneer, this step can vary in duration and order in the production process
Testing of the Steinway piano can now commence through a series of double-checking, fine-tuning, adjustments, and breaking in the keyboard.
For example, the Astoria, NY factory has a Pounding Room where each of the piano’s 88 keys is played over 3,000 times. All of these tests and adjustments are aimed at perfecting each piano’s sound before heading to market and take about a week to complete.
After 11 months, the world has a new Steinway that’s ready to be played.
The nearly yearlong Steinway building process is the work of scores of the Astoria, NY factory’s craftspeople in each stage of the piano’s creation.
Once this process is completed, the new Steinway model is shipped to one of Steinway’s dealers in the Western Hemisphere. The company’s Hamburg, Germany factory ships their new Steinways across Europe, Africa, and Asia.
With the current, industry-wide piano shortage, this year’s Steinways may have less time than usual on the showroom floors.
However, Steinway is working to produce more of their renowned handcrafted pianos so that more people can enjoy the Steinway touch and tone, perfected by the team at the Astoria and Hamburg factories.
For more information about the Steinway factory process, click below for a helpful article:
What is a Steinway factory tour like?
