That's our dream piano...looks wonderful!

How beautiful! I have enjoyed reading your posts throughout your search. Also, you have a lovely home.

Enjoy your new piano!

Jeanne,
I've lurked/read with interest the posts that detailed your search for a piano. Your Steinway is beautiful, as if you didn't know.

What I especially like is how happy you look and thrilled you obviously are with your new family member!

Best wishes for years of enjoyment.

John, Eh

Oh, Jeanne! This is a most wondrous event...I couldn't be more happy for you! The Steinway is beautiful and graces you as you grace it. How exciting to think of the years of exploration you and your Steinway will enjoy together...an instrument that will put no limits on your potential but constantly invite you to grow the breadth and depth of your musical experience, of your soul's great joy. A glorious day at a glorious time of year. Happy, happy holidays!

Congratulations, Jeanne! It is absolutely lovely!! And, my gosh, what beautiful home you have!

Someday, someday, someday... perhaps I will have either a piano and/or a home as nice as yours! In the meantime, I will have to be just green with envy!

Enjoy your piano!

What an interesting finish...in addition to being a great piano.

It is enchanting.

Congratulations

Skyblanche

I hope my Knabe comes back from restoration looking that good.

congratulation! beautiful piano, good size, and nice color. the piano match your wood floor jeanne.

Congratulations on such a beautiful piano!

My sentiments exactly!

Yahoo!!! It is beautiful! How does it sound? You might need a box of tissues to keep nearby..

Thanks, Everyone for all of the kind words!

My Piano… Oh - the tone is lovely and rich and robust! I'm IN LOVE with my piano!

Going from a spinet to a grand, I'm finding the tone is so rich and resonant I need to modify how I play. I need to pedal less and lighten up on the bass.

It is a bit more mellow than I'd like-sounds much more mellow in our house than at the rebuilders. I'm actually looking forward to it brightening up a tad so it takes on a bit more of an edge. (I'm surprising myself- I'm the one who likes "mellow".) The fact it's a bit mellow I consider a *plus* since I'm a believer in letting the hammers play in naturally as much as practical. The tone will get brighter.

As I posted previously, some other pianos out there have IMO a stronger treble than typically found on S&S's, but the high octaves on this piano are plenty strong and I suspect may grow stronger as the voicing brightens up.

Things I've played on my brightly voiced, unrobust spinet sound so different! On the spinet I swear I can hear individual notes in chords played in lower registers, now it's much more a mass of sound. (Noticed the same thing on the Grotrian I played.) I think this is something I just need to become accustomed to.

The action is heaver (natural for a grand) than I'm accustomed to - I'm going to have to strengthen my fingers. And I find I'm breaking fingernails on my right hand. (What's up with that?) Fast trills sort out so much better than on the spinet. Classical music has taken on a whole new meaning. I could never make much sense of it on the spinet, now it is a joy to play.

Had a bit of difficulty with the pedals the first day as far as playing without shoes on (which I often do). The pedals have short travel, are a bit stiff and a little higher than those on the spinet. (May see if this can be adjusted, but find I'm adjusting to it as well.) Pressing the sustain pedal with my bare foot was uncomfortable; I had to wear a shoe with a heel. Thought I'd have to get a pair of "piano shoes". Anyone ever heard of those? My next thought was, maybe I wouldn' t be having this problem if I had bigger feet. But next day it was fine. I just need to angle my foot farther up on the pedal. Has anyone else ever experienced this with the foot pedals? (I bet this is making for some very exciting reading. :rolleyes: )

She's acclimating to her new home and going in and out of tune - but still sounds great to me! It'd be nice to be able to keep a tuner in residence or on retainer. (My husband, Lloyd, says I can just forget about that.)

At rare moments I do hear a slight twanging of sorts. I rather like this. I feel like my piano is talking to me.

I'm having a super time playing my piano!

Jeanne W

P.S. Keith, she was born in 1920.

P.P.S. Just have to add…following an 8 month, 11 state Piano Quest, what a Great Guy I married (in more ways than one!) Lloyd went everywhere with me, even suggesting trips to various piano dealers. He's taken a great interest in pianos and the whole Quest process.

Sounds wonderful Jeanne! I may get to play on the Steinway at the college, but I'm not sure. I've played on two spinets and I prefer my upright to the spinets.

Hi, Curry!

How are you and that Bosendorfer doing? (You've got a 9 foot Bosie from Cunninghams in Philly, if I recall correctly.) Did you blast anything off the walls yet with the rumble and the roar?

We put a lot of thought into room environment for the piano. (Did you catch Lloyd's post a while back: "45% Humidity - Myth or ??" He did some calculations having to do with moisture content per cubic meter, etc. Got waaaay into technicalities.. ) We've decided on a portable room humidifier for now. After much research, we bought an Air-O-Swiss which works on the same principal as a Venta humidifier. These were our 2 top choices in humdifiers since they seem to be less maintenance than others. We're tracking heat and humidity inside and out. Humidity levels have stayed within a fairly narrow range. So far it's working out well. I do want to keep my piano happy.

You being a piano tech and all - don't worry about my piano. Direct sunlight from the French doors will *not* fall on my piano due to the path the sun takes over the house. There's also a large iron hot water radiator hidden behind the screen in the bookcase, but I think that'll be fine, too. It's a very gentle heat and the back side of the piano case *never* feels warm to the touch - the heat from the radiator does not reach the piano.

Jeanne W

P.S. Your old partner, the Baldwin that you sold when you got your new piano - that you put many hours of work into (I could tell)- that was a sweet instrument - it sounded and played great! I'm sure you're putting as much love and care into your new piano and your piano is very happy you took him (her?) home with you.

Congratulations Jeanne! What a beautiful piano!

Congratulations on the new piano![/b]

Great piano! Congrats!

A very nice house (outside AND inside)!

Maybe its just the angle from the picture, but did you put the piano smack dab in the middle of your living room? And no matter where it is in the house...why did you choose the location? It's always interesting to hear placement rationale.

Actually....yes! I rarely play without shoes on, but this past summer I tried it and found out my foot would get sore (sort of felt like an inner bruise or something). (And my pedals are not even hard to press.) So now I keep a pair of "flip flops" at the piano so I can slip them on if necessary.

Chris

Jeanne W writes:

That is so very true! Congratulations.

Dang!
I'll be right over.
What's for dinner?

Really, you gots one beautiful piano!
If it sounds half as good as it looks you done good!
Congratulations.

And it's an A3!
Isn't that the longest of the As?
Or is it the one with 3 bridges?
Or both?

Looks beautiful! Congrads!!

Enjoy your new piano! I hope the feeling you have now never goes away!

Congrats! A beatiful piano together with a beatiful home. Come winter though, I'll remember why I live in Dallas.

Jeanne,
How long are your nails? Do they click on the keys? My daughters' teacher has them keep their nails short. She is worried that they will catch a nail in between the keys and it will rip off. I guess it's a sacrifice that women pianists make. :rolleyes:

Hi Jeanne,

Beautiful piano!

Enjoy!

Happy Piano, Jeanne.... Have a happy life with it (and Lloyd, too)

I've enjoyed reading your posts during your quest - the ups AND the downs, and I really enjoyed the pictures you've posted of the new (old) arrival. Your captions made me chuckle out loud.

You should write stories in your spare time - if you have any, now that the piano has arrived!

Lucky piano!

Even though it's pretty enough for somebody to buy and use just to show off, this one will get a lot of playing and a lot of maintenance.

Congratulations!

Beautiful piano Jeanne. Nice pictures too. I see you "stole" my caster idea! Mahagony is definitely the right finish for your room. Black wouldn't look good.

Congratulations!

Derick

Jeanne, I wish had the concert grand. Rich G would be glad to sell me one. Alas, I only have a lowly Bösendorfer model 214.
One question though. What make of bass strings did the rebuilder use in your A? Custom Mapes or other.

Jeanne - I have to play with a soft slipper on too. My feet are very tender and need just a little bit of padding from the pedals. My hubbie calls them Grannie Frickert slippers. How big is the A3?

89th Key:

Our livingroom is 33 feet long - the piano is on one side of the room. I thought about angling it so the tail would be in the corner of the bookcase area, but the pianist would then be *facing out* into the room. God! I'm too shy to play that way, facing an audience even if only 1 or 2, so I placed the piano as is which I think has advantages. Whoever is playing can turn right around and talk to whoever's sitting on the sofa and chairs; this makes for nice tight conversation area.

I wonder what it's location might mean in terms of Feng Shui... Axtremus: Do you do Feng Shui consultations for locating pianos?

Jeanne W

Classical Girl: My fingernails are not super long - I haven't noticed them clicking on the keys or anything like that - they're bending over and breaking - I'm sure it's from the heavier action of the piano.

I guess I'll trim them way down, at least on my right hand, the left hand seems to be doing OK. This will allow better hand position, won't it?

Not having formal training, I really don't know much about *technique*. I slog along, mangling my way through countless pieces of music. Thankfully, most of what I play is my own stuff so Beethovan won't have to roll over too often.

(I'm looking for a good piano teacher, honest.)

Jeanne W