7 ms·

Steinway's 600,000th piano, the Fibonacci

104 points by scottcha 11y ago

chki 11y ago
With a european (or at least german) IP address this redirects to "http://eu.steinway.com/de/" http://eu.steinway.com/de/". "http://eu.steinway.com/de/news-events/pressemitteilungen/steinway-sons-600000-fluegel-fibonacci/" http://eu.steinway.com/de/news-events/pressemitteilungen/ste... would be the link for Germany. Edit: Spanish: "http://eu.steinway.com/es/noticias-y-eventos/notas-de-prensa/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/" http://eu.steinway.com/es/noticias-y-eventos/notas-de-prensa... French: http://eu.steinway.com/fr/nouveautes/communiques-de-presse/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/ http://eu.steinway.com/fr/nouveautes/communiques-de-presse/s... Italian: http://eu.steinway.com/it/notizie-eventi/comunicati-stampa/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/ http://eu.steinway.com/it/notizie-eventi/comunicati-stampa/s... Russian: http://eu.steinway.com/ru/novosti-i-sobytija/press-relizy/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/ http://eu.steinway.com/ru/novosti-i-sobytija/press-relizy/st...
- odabaxok 11y ago
  ...and English: http://eu.steinway.com/en/news-events/press-releases/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/ http://eu.steinway.com/en/news-events/press-releases/steinwa...
  - witty_username 11y ago
    Thanks, after opening the link in the tile I was pretty confused.
- peterjmag 11y ago
  Thanks. That's a really obnoxious behavior.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
IshKebab 11y ago
Maybe should have had more than one small photo...
- odabaxok 11y ago
  True. Here are more photos: http://www.classicfm.com/instruments/piano/steinway-fibonacci/ http://www.classicfm.com/instruments/piano/steinway-fibonacc...
supercoder 11y ago
Is there a Kickstarter ?
valera_rozuvan 11y ago
Google cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NRjch1bJp44J:www.steinway.com/news/press-releases/steinway-sons-marks-a-historic-milestone-with-the-unveiling-of-the-companys-600000th-piano/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ua http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NRjch1b...
whafro 11y ago
"As I considered the number 600,000, the Fibonacci spiral came to mind." Maybe I took this too literally, but 600,000 isn't a fibonacci number, and neither are 6, 60, or 600. Anyone have a better read on what he means by this?
- amon41amarth 11y ago
  I think he was just thinking about numbers in general to get ideas, and Fibonacci was one that he knew by name, so it came to mind.
- mattyohe 11y ago
  Maybe he's looking at the number 6 and seeing a spiral?
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Looks that way to me. If you take that picture of the piano and rotate it, it looks like a big number 6: http://i.imgur.com/YnuV0YY.jpg http://i.imgur.com/YnuV0YY.jpg
    - odabaxok 11y ago
      Add the five circles to it in the spiral and you get 6OOOOO.
- witty_username 11y ago
  I feel they're just manufacturing statements for better advertisement.
  - willis77 11y ago
    If you haven't seen it, Fibonacci Flim Flam is a fun read - https://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm https://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm
    - 11y ago
spoiledtechie 11y ago
Its sad to see that the piano is dying culturally. If i believe a dealer I met just 6 months ago, Steinway makes less than 500 a year. Its a dying form and its going the way of the dodo bird.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- irl_zebra 11y ago
  I agree. I love piano music and large concert halls. A bit of a non-sequitur I love this piano video of Benjamin Grosvenor playing with David Gray interrupting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IPkNbuaSAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IPkNbuaSAg
- hudibras 11y ago
  I have no evidence, but that figure of 500/year can't possibly be correct. Maybe 500 of their largest, concert hall-size grand pianos, but not their entire line.
  - matheweis 11y ago
    In fact it is not that far off, and accurate for uprights; 2,000 grand pianos / yr, 500 upright pianos / yr. Credit to: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10147054 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10147054
- dublinben 11y ago
  This process has been going on for over a century. Ever since the introduction of the phonograph, the social importance of sharing music around a piano has been in significant decline.
  - uxcn 11y ago
    I'm not sure I agree entirely with this. Historically, pianos haven't been widely owned, and performances haven't been widely attended. Although I would guess ownership is probably more evenly distributed now than ever before (especially considering high quality digital pianos). Piano (orchestra in general) does seem to infiltrate common culture fairly pervasively (at least american) through movies. Maybe it could even be argued that it's more culturally prevalent, but just less prominent.
sizzzzlerz 11y ago
In 2013, PBS broadcast a show titled Note By Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 which followed the construction of one of these grand pianos from the selection of materials to the final tunings. The skills required in the construction are very diverse and Steinway has employees who've been doing this work for decades. It is highly precise work. As has been said before, any one can chisel away wood; its knowing what wood needs to be removed that matters.
- gtrubetskoy 11y ago
  http://www.pbs.org/program/note-by-note/ http://www.pbs.org/program/note-by-note/
sam 11y ago
If you're in NYC I highly recommend the tour of the Steinway factory in Queens. You need to make reservations months in advance. It was an absolutely amazing to see the entire process from start to finish. The tooling involved in piano making is unlike anything I'd ever seen.
- makeset 11y ago
  But skip their Manhattan showroom if you'd like to maintain any respect for the brand. The sales staff was obnoxious enough to make me walk out, checkbook in hand, over to the Bösendorfer store.
erikpukinskis 11y ago
To me, this is the worst kind of "design". The article only talks about decoration. No mention of music or how the object will be used, whatsoever. Just how fancy the inlays are. </grumpy interaction designer>
- knieveltech 11y ago
  Focusing on the details that differentiate it from a "standard" model seems reasonable. We all agree that it is a piano, and as such is capable of being played to make music. What, specifically, were you hoping for here?
  - Roodgorf 11y ago
    Agreed. My guess is they didn't really do anything different internally. Aside from speaking subjectively about stuff like its particular timbre which may be affected by the type of wood used, but wouldn't be that insightful to just read IMO, there's not much else to mention aside from cosmetics.
    - knieveltech 11y ago
      Pretty much. They could have replaced all of the text with: "Piano, now with 5000% more bling. Because 600,000th." and then added like 50 more pictures to the page. That would have been ok in my book. Perhaps I spend too much time on Reddit.
- justicart 11y ago
  The general "design" of a piano hasn't changed too much in over 300 years. And from a company that is known for making some of the best pianos, selling the way the piano sounds isn't much use. I remember a while back someone made a clear piano. I thought it was dumb, but how else are they going to differentiate? They can't make them easier to play (without adding player piano components) or increase the resolution of the sound.

104 points by scottcha 11y ago

chki 11y ago

With a european (or at least german) IP address this redirects to "http://eu.steinway.com/de/" http://eu.steinway.com/de/". "http://eu.steinway.com/de/news-events/pressemitteilungen/steinway-sons-600000-fluegel-fibonacci/" http://eu.steinway.com/de/news-events/pressemitteilungen/ste... would be the link for Germany. Edit: Spanish: "http://eu.steinway.com/es/noticias-y-eventos/notas-de-prensa/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/" http://eu.steinway.com/es/noticias-y-eventos/notas-de-prensa... French: http://eu.steinway.com/fr/nouveautes/communiques-de-presse/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/ http://eu.steinway.com/fr/nouveautes/communiques-de-presse/s... Italian: http://eu.steinway.com/it/notizie-eventi/comunicati-stampa/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/ http://eu.steinway.com/it/notizie-eventi/comunicati-stampa/s... Russian: http://eu.steinway.com/ru/novosti-i-sobytija/press-relizy/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/ http://eu.steinway.com/ru/novosti-i-sobytija/press-relizy/st...

odabaxok 11y ago
...and English: http://eu.steinway.com/en/news-events/press-releases/steinway-sons-600000th-piano-fibonacci/ http://eu.steinway.com/en/news-events/press-releases/steinwa...
- witty_username 11y ago
  Thanks, after opening the link in the tile I was pretty confused.
peterjmag 11y ago
Thanks. That's a really obnoxious behavior.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

IshKebab 11y ago

Maybe should have had more than one small photo...

odabaxok 11y ago
True. Here are more photos: http://www.classicfm.com/instruments/piano/steinway-fibonacci/ http://www.classicfm.com/instruments/piano/steinway-fibonacc...

supercoder 11y ago

Is there a Kickstarter ?

valera_rozuvan 11y ago

Google cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NRjch1bJp44J:www.steinway.com/news/press-releases/steinway-sons-marks-a-historic-milestone-with-the-unveiling-of-the-companys-600000th-piano/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ua http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NRjch1b...

whafro 11y ago

"As I considered the number 600,000, the Fibonacci spiral came to mind." Maybe I took this too literally, but 600,000 isn't a fibonacci number, and neither are 6, 60, or 600. Anyone have a better read on what he means by this?

amon41amarth 11y ago
I think he was just thinking about numbers in general to get ideas, and Fibonacci was one that he knew by name, so it came to mind.
mattyohe 11y ago
Maybe he's looking at the number 6 and seeing a spiral?
- mikeash 11y ago
  Looks that way to me. If you take that picture of the piano and rotate it, it looks like a big number 6: http://i.imgur.com/YnuV0YY.jpg http://i.imgur.com/YnuV0YY.jpg
  - odabaxok 11y ago
    Add the five circles to it in the spiral and you get 6OOOOO.
witty_username 11y ago
I feel they're just manufacturing statements for better advertisement.
- willis77 11y ago
  If you haven't seen it, Fibonacci Flim Flam is a fun read - https://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm https://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/pseudo/fibonacc.htm
  - 11y ago

spoiledtechie 11y ago

Its sad to see that the piano is dying culturally. If i believe a dealer I met just 6 months ago, Steinway makes less than 500 a year. Its a dying form and its going the way of the dodo bird.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
irl_zebra 11y ago
I agree. I love piano music and large concert halls. A bit of a non-sequitur I love this piano video of Benjamin Grosvenor playing with David Gray interrupting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IPkNbuaSAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IPkNbuaSAg
hudibras 11y ago
I have no evidence, but that figure of 500/year can't possibly be correct. Maybe 500 of their largest, concert hall-size grand pianos, but not their entire line.
- matheweis 11y ago
  In fact it is not that far off, and accurate for uprights; 2,000 grand pianos / yr, 500 upright pianos / yr. Credit to: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10147054 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10147054
dublinben 11y ago
This process has been going on for over a century. Ever since the introduction of the phonograph, the social importance of sharing music around a piano has been in significant decline.
- uxcn 11y ago
  I'm not sure I agree entirely with this. Historically, pianos haven't been widely owned, and performances haven't been widely attended. Although I would guess ownership is probably more evenly distributed now than ever before (especially considering high quality digital pianos). Piano (orchestra in general) does seem to infiltrate common culture fairly pervasively (at least american) through movies. Maybe it could even be argued that it's more culturally prevalent, but just less prominent.

sizzzzlerz 11y ago

In 2013, PBS broadcast a show titled Note By Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 which followed the construction of one of these grand pianos from the selection of materials to the final tunings. The skills required in the construction are very diverse and Steinway has employees who've been doing this work for decades. It is highly precise work. As has been said before, any one can chisel away wood; its knowing what wood needs to be removed that matters.

gtrubetskoy 11y ago
http://www.pbs.org/program/note-by-note/ http://www.pbs.org/program/note-by-note/

sam 11y ago

If you're in NYC I highly recommend the tour of the Steinway factory in Queens. You need to make reservations months in advance. It was an absolutely amazing to see the entire process from start to finish. The tooling involved in piano making is unlike anything I'd ever seen.

makeset 11y ago
But skip their Manhattan showroom if you'd like to maintain any respect for the brand. The sales staff was obnoxious enough to make me walk out, checkbook in hand, over to the Bösendorfer store.

erikpukinskis 11y ago

To me, this is the worst kind of "design". The article only talks about decoration. No mention of music or how the object will be used, whatsoever. Just how fancy the inlays are. </grumpy interaction designer>

knieveltech 11y ago
Focusing on the details that differentiate it from a "standard" model seems reasonable. We all agree that it is a piano, and as such is capable of being played to make music. What, specifically, were you hoping for here?
- Roodgorf 11y ago
  Agreed. My guess is they didn't really do anything different internally. Aside from speaking subjectively about stuff like its particular timbre which may be affected by the type of wood used, but wouldn't be that insightful to just read IMO, there's not much else to mention aside from cosmetics.
  - knieveltech 11y ago
    Pretty much. They could have replaced all of the text with: "Piano, now with 5000% more bling. Because 600,000th." and then added like 50 more pictures to the page. That would have been ok in my book. Perhaps I spend too much time on Reddit.
justicart 11y ago
The general "design" of a piano hasn't changed too much in over 300 years. And from a company that is known for making some of the best pianos, selling the way the piano sounds isn't much use. I remember a while back someone made a clear piano. I thought it was dumb, but how else are they going to differentiate? They can't make them easier to play (without adding player piano components) or increase the resolution of the sound.