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Originally Posted By: Norbert
... P.S. what does 'perfect' actually mean?
Excellent question. To bad there is not an equally excellent answer....

Though a piano is a physical object and must obey physical requirements in order to function well, there are emotional aspects to this business which often tend to overwhelm the basic physical realities.

In many ways spending the kind of money that the purchase of a nice piano requires, is really really hard, even for a dedicated musician to justify. After all, a piano has "no apparent utilitarian value". Its purchase can seem awfully close to frivolous pleasure seeking. Financial resources could/should, we are told, be spent more prudently on "less frivolous" items. You "need" a car to get to work...but you don't "need" a piano for basic day to day existence (except of course for those who, like me, who would shrivel up and lose compass without that sound to energize my life).

In order to convince even fine pianists to spend the kind of money required in the purchase of a fine piano, they need to get past the nagging voice labeling the purchase as "frivolous". This requires motivation which the recitation of engineering specs and manufacturing efficiency does not provide...folks need to have their mystique genes turned on.

We may be designers, rebuilders and fine physical technicians, but we can't remove ourselves from the emotional needs of our clients and customers, and their needs seem to require some level of mystique. This can tend to leave manufacturers and technicians needing to believe in the mystique and branding themselves...a bit of a grand neural loop.

All this tends to take us away from some very simple physical design facts into la-la land...but there you have it...its the human brain,and that's all we have to work with.

In this business, one ignores the need for mystique at one's own peril. The trick is to acknowledge the mystique openly, while focusing clearly on the physical realities that will actually help create instruments that will satisfy the essential musical needs that inspired a client to purchase a piano in the first place.

Jim Ialeggio

...but let me give what might be somewhat of a counter example. The example is the success of Yamaha. Their pianos have decent tone quality, but most people don't find them exceptional. However, some things they do have are

So here's a good natured question for you regarding the above. Why do you own a Steinway rather than a piano which "just works"?

They could update and make changes to various systems and design aspects in their pianos either with or without fanfare as per the desires of their marketing department. Had they consistently done so, their new pianos might be sufficiently better than their old pianos that they wouldn't be competing with all the Steinway rebuilds out there.

Roy, are you able to say what changes you would make? Signor Fabbrini has "upgraded" Hamburg Steinways from excellent to outstanding for Maurizio Pollini and others. Is that the sort of thing you have in mind or something more radical?

I can list some ideas, but first, a big caveat. I am not an industry professional, but a knowledgeable amateur. There are many who post on Pianoworld that know far more than I do. Also, my experience involves working on one 1956 M--I don't know what Steinway may have changed since then. Having said that, here are some things I think Steinway ought to update and improve.

The damper action is old fashioned and has neither spoons nor adjustable capstans. The pivots for the damper trays are not coaxial with the pivots for the damper levers, which can cause a subtle problem. Look at the damper action developed by WN&G so see a design that addresses all these issues.

The pedals and trapwork have lots of poor and/or old engineering, IMO. Using felt pivots in the pedals and then lining the pedal box with felt is labor intensive and is a design prone to variation and compromised durability. Modern bearings can do a better job more consistently and with something approaching infinite lifetime. Parts cost might be marginally higher, but labor costs would be much lower
The down stop for the sustain pedal should have a capstan rather than a nonadjustable block of felt.
Transmitting the motion of the sustain and sostenuto pedals through a dowel fitted into a felted hole is prone to friction and binding. Look at a Yamaha or Kawai to see an improved method.
Do we still need to use metal/wood bearings in the trapwork?
Many people complain about the difficulty of removing the cheek blocks and fall board from Steinways. The same operation is so simple on some other pianos.
Why does Steinway continue to mount the sostenuto rail to the main action, when everyone else mounts it to the damper action? It can work well both ways, but is easier to adjust when mounted to the damper action.
Steinway hammers are more difficult to adjust to the strings because of the odd fluted brass action rails they use. Action rails that solder together and which are, additionally, nonadjustable seem counterproductive. No other company uses anything like them to my knowledge, and the patent is long gone. Jim Iallegio, who has posted in this thread, has mentioned that the action rails are often not straight.
I find it amazing that the balancier springs have no screw adjustment, but must be bent. In fairness, other piano companies use the same method. Visit the Renner USA site to see what appears to be a better solution.
Steinway continues to use compression-crowned soundboards even though it has become generally acknowledged that such a system can cause early soundboard failure (Del has addressed this issue in many posts). I think it's fair to say that most companies have switched to rib-crowned or hybrid boards.
Many techs on this site have discussed some scaling deficiencies in various Steinway models. Much has been learned about scale design in the last several decades, and Steinway could avail themselves of that knowledge.
Steinway pianos are also quite inconsistent. Many knowledgeable people say that if you're going to buy a new Steinway you should take a tech who really knows Steinways with you, lest you get a subpar piano. Given the money that Steinway charges, this situation seems disgraceful to me.

Those are some items that come to mind. Again, remember that these are only the opinions of an amateur.