Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Visit to Bluthner, Steingraeber and Schimmel

Eric,
Great report.
It looks like you had a good time.


Frank,
Yes, Christian Bluthner IS that tall.
Sometimes I wonder if the European piano industry have a 6'5 plus height requirement.

The super tall club includes Christian Bluthner and his brother Knut Bluthner (who is the designer and production manager for Bluthner), Andreas Kaufmann (head of Bosendorfer marketing), Veno Laul of the Laul Estonia piano factory (Indrek's father), and Christian Hoferl (formerly of Bosie and now of Brodmann) among others.

Double post.

Hi Eric--cool stuff. Thanks for sharing your personal impressions to us non-industry schlubs with limited travel funds.

And Alex, your post came off to me as defensive, insulting and condescending (in that order), and was particularly unwarranted since I saw nothing in Eric's description of Bluthner other than praise. Hopefully not opening a can of worms to derail this thread, but I thought it should be mentioned. Just an impartial observer here. Normally I enjoy reading your stuff.

While Steingraeber uses the traditional laminated inner and outer rim construction, there are a number of other things they do differently.

One is the strings in the treble pass through holes drilled in the capo bar, rather than passing underneath (sorry, no photo). Anything in the capo bar area has to do with power and sustain, but maybe Ori can explain their specific reason?

They also spread black sand on the soundboard and activate it, looking for areas where the sand collects showing inactive sections. They then contour the soundboard to even out the sand distribution.



There are other unique steps, including a very interesting optional hammershank knuckle and optional bridge termination. But, at Steingraebers heart is traditional, hand craftsmanship with a specific sound in mind, following design ideas developed over many years.

Bayreuth is, first, not pronounced as it looks, and, as I'm sure everyone knows, is the home of Richard Wagner and the annual Wagner festival held at the Festspielhaus that was built for him.


I took this photo the evening we arrived. The next day, even though it was April, we were there in a lovely light snow.

Here are a couple of short videos. I compressed them a lot but they still take a minute to load.

The first is of Wagners home Wahnfried

The second is of the setting of Wagners grave.


Wagner married Franz Liszt's daughter. Papa Liszt is also buried in Bayreuth.

Eric, thanks for this great thread and all the pics and info.
Very fascinating.
I also love living vicariously through your piano travels.

Putting sand on a vibrating sound board that distributes itself to show where the board needs to be modified for better sound is very clever.

Interesting that Steingraeber bass bridge is not cantilevered.
Don't all other makers cantilever the bass bridge on such a short piano?

Frank

My son really enjoyed the trip. His favorite parts were going over 100 mph for the first time:



and pretending that he owned a Trabi at the DDR museum in Berlin.



I also have a photo of him in Erich Mielkes office at the old Stasi headquarters in Berlin. It should be interesting when he gets to the Cold War in school

Exactly - you nailed it!

P.S. Wonderful report.....

Norbert

I'm going to touch on another of my themes, namely that, at this level, to say that one particular feature or construction technique is better than another is nonsensical. Each of these makers has had a long time to learn what works and what doesn't.

More importantly, each has dedicated themselves to a particular idea of how a piano should sound, and imbued their instruments with this specific, very unique personality. This is why somebody considering purchasing a high end piano should spend more time playing them than worrying about whether something is "better" or "worse" than something else. Each feature plays a critical role in that makers unique sound and personality.

Now, extending this a little, one can also see that this makes sense since composers, at least the ones that people remember, also have very distinctive personalities and sounds. That unique, distinctive, memorable sound is what allows us to identify Brahms from Schubert, regardless if we have any idea of historical styles or not. These high end makers have all had close relationships with the composers and musical styles of their times. The sounds of their instruments have a direct relationship with the experience the company has had with the culture and personalities of their time. This is what makes the world of high end pianos so much fun (at least to me, and at least a couple of other similar nut-cases).

So, extending this a bit further, this is why I have trouble accepting the idea that there is one particular piano sound that is best for all performers, all composers, all halls and all audiences.

But, that's just me.

Bose Eric posted, I think that this is what Norbert is referring to when he mentions "soul."

Boxer, I really didn't have a problem with Eric's first post I just thought the conclusion he came to regarding what makes a Blüthner unique needed to be clarified.

My curt response was to his now deleted second response which I quoted and have now deleted myself.

But in the end no harm no foul, I appreciate Eric's great pictures and fun descriptions.

Now that's worth quoting, remembering and repeating!

It's even more so: "identity"

The endless North American "who's the finest on the wall" is not exactly a European tradition where a great deal of manufacturers have always attempted to create something unique and lasting for/by themselves.

This "identity" was often very much influenced and shaped by the unique cultural surrroundings of a particular area, it's tradition of music, its composers, it's political and cultural make up, even religion, food and things like that.

Think of the 'clean' lines of the north, the more colourful shades of the South, the more romantic,almost melancholic tendencies as you move East.

Isn't it nice to have many beautiful flowers in one's rose garden?

This in essence, is what Europe is - and has always been - all about.

Norbert

N, your post and BoseEric's are well worth repeating. I've bookmarked this thread.

BoseEric,

I have been away but I have something to say after seing this thread for the first time.

Will you adopt me?

Seriously, tremendous post and great thread. Good show!

Also, both you and Alex have my tremendous respect and have always shown yourselves to be true gentlemen. I am glad this thread ended showing nothing but that.

Rich....does that mean you want this thread to end??

Blüthner and Steingraeber featured in the same thread. Wonderful! :p

"In a world of mechanization and low production costs, the reasons for spending a lot of money on a high end piano often get lost. These pianos represent culture, history, human craftsmanship and inspiration and still exist as real world objects of importance, rather than some museum oddity like a Faberge egg".

Truly beautiful words.
Thanks

double post - please ignore

BoseEric said:


No, no no!! Go on. Please go on.

I meant that the potential verbal sparring ended. You were both gentlemen.

Usually it is best to ignore me, BoseEric.

Just goofing on ya, buddy