5 ms·

Steinway also makes pianos in the USA, with a slightly different design than their Hamburg-built ones. I personally find them to be over-priced (since they hav

Steinway also makes pianos in the USA, with a slightly different design than their Hamburg-built ones. I personally find them to be over-priced (since they have a stage monopoly), and lacking the quality control that Bechstein or Fazioli have.

geff82 4y ago
You are of course 100% right. That said, the New York Steinway factory mainly builds for the American continent. Where I live, Steinways come from Hamburg, Germany.
Cupertino95014 4y ago
I had a conversation with a prof from University of the Pacific (which is in Stockton, go figure) who was in charge of their piano program. He strongly contested the "new Steinways are shit" trope, after playing a whole lot of them and buying them for his students. There's actually a book I read about the making of one particular Steinway concert grand, which is now retired after an illustrious career on stage at Carnegie Hall and other big places. I think this is it: https://www.amazon.com/88-Keys-Making-Steinway-Piano/dp/0517703564/ref=sr_1_1 https://www.amazon.com/88-Keys-Making-Steinway-Piano/dp/0517... (reviews are a little mixed, so read those before you buy it.)
- reikonomusha 4y ago
  Steinway produces a ton of pianos every year. The best of their pianos go to the concert stages and recording studios. The next best go to their top clients. The next best get reserved for their artists. The next best get put into stores for "normal" people to buy. Steinway, owned by a finance firm on Wall Street, has various quality control issues. They'll ship a six-figure piano with saw dust in it, lousy regulation, etc. Technicians know how to clean these up and work with them, but they don't hold a candle to e.g. the quality control of Fazioli. Steinway is the household name, and is ubiquitous in professional settings, so they can get away with it.
  - Cupertino95014 4y ago
    Usually you try out a piano before you buy it, and preferably you have a tech look at it, too. So wouldn't you notice if it had issues?
    - reikonomusha 4y ago
      If you hire a technician, they will tell you the problems the piano has, and tell you the qualities of the piano that will be practically immutable (e.g., aspects of timbre and resonance). The technician won't be able to tell you if the sound is what you prefer though. More likely than not, for the average Steinway in a store, the technician will suggest getting it voiced and regulated, which will carry a $1000+ price tag and a couple days' worth of work. Maybe that doesn't matter if you're already spending $200k, though.
      - pen2l 4y ago
        I think it's also true that different pianos bode well for different repertoire sets. I think Chopin is played well on Steinways because Steinways have heavy keys, meaning that exercising the full freedom of dynamics works out better for when you want to make very, very soft notes and then soft notes and then roaringly loud notes. I'm no Chopin's Ballades-level pianist but playing Steinway at the piano store I do find this to be true.
        reikonomusha 4y ago
        I don't think the difference in the key action has much to do with appropriateness of repertoire. Most top tier pianos will have a similar feeling action if their regulation were all attended to by a top tier technician. The construction, however, does have a lot to do with how repertoire sounds. Bosendorfers and their all-spruce construction causes more warmth and resonance, useful for traditionally played baroque music, but can lead to a blurriness in romantic (i.e., Chopin-era) music. Contrast with a Fazioli or Steinway which have a little bit of a tighter tone due to their hard rim cases.
        4y ago
fortran77 4y ago
People only buy Steinway for personal use because they can’t afford Bösendorfer.
- kashunstva 4y ago
  I’m a professional pianist. Undoubtedly this is true for some. But there are important tonal and other differences that may be the overriding factor. I regularly played a smaller Bösendorfer that I despised; its tone was ordinary and its action was uneven and imprecise. But a few years ago I performed on an Imperial Flügel that was spectacular. My own instrument for practice at home is a Steinway B, and I prefer it irrespective of whether more expensive pianos exist. But maybe that’s not what you had in mind for “personal use.”

geff82 4y ago

You are of course 100% right. That said, the New York Steinway factory mainly builds for the American continent. Where I live, Steinways come from Hamburg, Germany.

Cupertino95014 4y ago

I had a conversation with a prof from University of the Pacific (which is in Stockton, go figure) who was in charge of their piano program. He strongly contested the "new Steinways are shit" trope, after playing a whole lot of them and buying them for his students. There's actually a book I read about the making of one particular Steinway concert grand, which is now retired after an illustrious career on stage at Carnegie Hall and other big places. I think this is it: https://www.amazon.com/88-Keys-Making-Steinway-Piano/dp/0517703564/ref=sr_1_1 https://www.amazon.com/88-Keys-Making-Steinway-Piano/dp/0517... (reviews are a little mixed, so read those before you buy it.)

reikonomusha 4y ago
Steinway produces a ton of pianos every year. The best of their pianos go to the concert stages and recording studios. The next best go to their top clients. The next best get reserved for their artists. The next best get put into stores for "normal" people to buy. Steinway, owned by a finance firm on Wall Street, has various quality control issues. They'll ship a six-figure piano with saw dust in it, lousy regulation, etc. Technicians know how to clean these up and work with them, but they don't hold a candle to e.g. the quality control of Fazioli. Steinway is the household name, and is ubiquitous in professional settings, so they can get away with it.
- Cupertino95014 4y ago
  Usually you try out a piano before you buy it, and preferably you have a tech look at it, too. So wouldn't you notice if it had issues?
  - reikonomusha 4y ago
    If you hire a technician, they will tell you the problems the piano has, and tell you the qualities of the piano that will be practically immutable (e.g., aspects of timbre and resonance). The technician won't be able to tell you if the sound is what you prefer though. More likely than not, for the average Steinway in a store, the technician will suggest getting it voiced and regulated, which will carry a $1000+ price tag and a couple days' worth of work. Maybe that doesn't matter if you're already spending $200k, though.
    - pen2l 4y ago
      I think it's also true that different pianos bode well for different repertoire sets. I think Chopin is played well on Steinways because Steinways have heavy keys, meaning that exercising the full freedom of dynamics works out better for when you want to make very, very soft notes and then soft notes and then roaringly loud notes. I'm no Chopin's Ballades-level pianist but playing Steinway at the piano store I do find this to be true.
      - reikonomusha 4y ago
        I don't think the difference in the key action has much to do with appropriateness of repertoire. Most top tier pianos will have a similar feeling action if their regulation were all attended to by a top tier technician. The construction, however, does have a lot to do with how repertoire sounds. Bosendorfers and their all-spruce construction causes more warmth and resonance, useful for traditionally played baroque music, but can lead to a blurriness in romantic (i.e., Chopin-era) music. Contrast with a Fazioli or Steinway which have a little bit of a tighter tone due to their hard rim cases.
      - 4y ago

fortran77 4y ago

People only buy Steinway for personal use because they can’t afford Bösendorfer.

kashunstva 4y ago
I’m a professional pianist. Undoubtedly this is true for some. But there are important tonal and other differences that may be the overriding factor. I regularly played a smaller Bösendorfer that I despised; its tone was ordinary and its action was uneven and imprecise. But a few years ago I performed on an Imperial Flügel that was spectacular. My own instrument for practice at home is a Steinway B, and I prefer it irrespective of whether more expensive pianos exist. But maybe that’s not what you had in mind for “personal use.”