Steinway

I must admit that I have a somewhat dysfunctional relationship with Steinway. The dynamic for me is much like a friendship that has had so much history that there are bound to be hiccups along the way. However, there always remains a very strong underlying foundation of respect and appreciation. My opinion is that everything we have today is due to Steinway, just as the great artists of contemporary jazz will give credit to pioneers like Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker and so on. To me, it's much the same with Steinway.

Steinway is still the most prominent "best" piano in the world, a place they have held for almost a century which is nothing short of remarkable. Only in the last 15 years or so have I seen any real competition come up (mainly from Fazioli and a bit from Shigeru Kawai) in what was considered a sewn-up stronghold amongst pianists. Bösendorfer has been an alternative for decades, but I've always thought, as do many others, it lacked the projection and clarity Hamburg Steinway has. Hamburg Steinway continues to dominate, but not like it used to. Times are changing.

So, the love/hate relationship: Love the great ones, hate what I consider to be the less than great ones, but that are still portrayed and accepted by many as the best. I have a real problem with that. To me the name on the fallboard should only be the start, the beginning – it's what's behind the fallboard that should clinch the decision. Love the history, the contribution to the music world, hate what seems to be arrogance (this may be my temperamental, overly sensitive, biased side coming through) towards artists, technicians and dealers. I guess when you have owned a market so tightly, it may be hard or even counterproductive to be humble; but I still don't like it. I think it can and usually ends up biting you. I have found in my experience, the dynamic with Fazioli or Bösendorfer or Shigeru Kawai is so different, and frankly for me, more refreshing and enjoyable. Maybe those in second place do have to try harder.

One of the most important, and misunderstood issues about Steinways is the differences between the New York Steinway and the Hamburg (German) Steinway. My European experience had convinced me that the workmanship and finishing is much higher on the Hamburg instruments; an opinion that seems to be vehemently denied by the American-owned company based out of Long Island City, New York, but shared by some artists and technicians around the world. "The Piano Book", by Larry Fine rates Hamburg Steinway and Fazioli in the same first place category, while New York Steinway is two quality levels below. In my experience, some New York Steinway dealers downplay this consumer information and go to great lengths to ensure prospective buyers that New York and Hamburg are the same. Hamburg Steinways are not available in North America as they were in the mid 80's, probably due to the fact that when they were side-to-side, everyone wanted Hamburg Steinways – hello? So I assume in order to keep the New York production moving along, they banned Hamburg Steinways from being available in North America.

So, I will focus on the New York product. I have worked on a huge number of new and used New York Steinways. They are generally very stable and ruggedly built. With enough work and ongoing maintenance, some of them can be pretty good and in rarer cases very good. You will hear different opinions from different people, but it is not uncommon and is becoming increasingly more common to hear many highly regarded technicians and artists express their frustration over the substantial inconsistencies and quality control among New York Steinways. Again, "The Piano Book", by Larry Fine, published by Brookside Press has a lengthy section on Steinways that I find accurate and in total harmony with my own experience. A recent survey conduced by Fine of 115 Steinway grands found the following:

    "as in past surveys, technicians indicated that Steinway grands are inconsistent in how they arrive from the factory. Many are quite free of problems, needing only normal servicing, but quite a few pianos in the current survey initially had small, and sometimes unusual, problems to be corrected... Other normal prep work on Steinway grands might include eliminating noises caused by the occasional bad bass string, buzzing treble string, or noisy action part; taking care of friction problems... and correcting some just plain sloppy workmanship, such as poorly shaped hammers, rubber lid buttons that have fallen off, and random other small problems that may appear from time to time"

The survey continues with:

    "the [survey] technicians initially found many, mostly small, flaws in the pianos, and some technicians, even as they extolled the brand's virtues, expressed dismay that such an expensive and prestigious brand would be so poorly or inconsistently prepared at the factory. Remarked one technician: "I'm probably more critical of Steinway than other instruments because they are so expensive and because they claim to be the best. Two B's bought by [the school] had [gold lacquer] overspray on the strings, cosmetic imperfections all over the place, some trapp work put on so cockeyed I had to take it off and plug holes and re-drill to mount it correctly. [However,] the thing I like about Steinway is that the pianos really repay the work you put into them, whereas a Yamaha is about as nice as it's going to get right out of the box."

Another part of this section on Steinway that is worth noting as well:

    "My impression is that it takes quite a bit of servicing to uncover the potential of the Steinway, and that the expertise needed is very specific to the brand. When shopping for one, therefore, I suggest hiring a piano technician who is experienced in servicing modern Steinways. Very careful inspection and selection with the help of such a technician should help you sidestep most problems."

My biggest complaint is that for the same price, you can get superb workmanship and materials, and for a bit more almost perfection. In a recent supplement Fine published in June 2007, there is even more evidence that the New York Steinway lacks the consistency of their German counterparts, which has been my opinion for years. In his latest supplement he placed pianos that he considers concert quality in category one with three sublevels A, B and C, (A being the finest money can buy, C being good, but of lower quality). Fazioli, Bösendorfer and Hamburg Steinway were placed in category one A, and New York Steinway category one C. Fine goes on to state that "New York Steinway... relative to the others in this group..., the worst workmanship...". Although New York Steinway has the potential to sound very good, according to Fine they are very inconsistent. "They vary, but if you bother the salespeople until they get their technicians to prep them, you can find some really nice ones".

So for me, and again in my opinion, Steinway has lost a tremendous amount of it's luster due to, what I believe is, inconsistent quality control. When one markets a product as the indisputable best, prices it as such and then projects a tone of superiority to propagate that story, each and every one of those products should be a physical manifestation of that claim. In reality, more and more people are fed up with the disconnect between the claim to be the world's undisputed best and the reality as is reflected in the aforementioned quotes. In my opinion, it is only the reputation of the Hamburg product that is keeping the Steinway allure propped up and is only a matter of time before it comes crashing down. I can say with complete confidence that out of 10 Bösendorfers, 10 Faziolis, and 10 Shigeru Kawais, 10 out of 10 shipped around the world from one of those factories right out of the box will be at a superb level of quality requiring only tuning and simple adjustments. I can also say with complete confidence that this is not the case, not even close to the case, with New York Steinways. I also find it appalling to leave it up to the local dealer to finish off the product to satisfy the specifications of the customer.