Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum What should be done to take care of a new concert grand?

Insha'Allah!

No, I won't zip it.

The OP is not a tech and that should have been apparent to all who read his question. He was not asking for rebuilding advice, he was asking the most simple and basic of questions.

I was not the first to point out the oddity of Akins' response. It was read as being sarcastic, by others. Please read my reply after the assertion was made.

When I am attacked, I will respond.

Qualified? One does not need to be a member of the PTG to answer that basic questions posed by the OP. One does not even need to purchase an Associate Membership. If you can fault the advice I gave, I would like to hear your counter.

Play away! The piano will benefit from being played, especially if it is receiving lots of attention from a skilled, qualified technician as it breaks in.

Be sure to get a thick padded cover for the D - and always cover the piano when it's not in use. I would also recommend that an expert measure the RH on the stage and the area where the piano will be stored. If it ever falls below 35% or goes above 55% I would install a dual-tank Dampp-Chaser humidity control system.

I would also install a fallboard lock, unless the security is extensive enough to obviate the need for it.

All pianos, especially new pianos, need extensive prep and touchup regulation as the parts break in. And with wooden parts, there will almost assuredly be a need to reregulate certain parameters over the first few years.

You need to find a technician that knows how to properly voice the strings to get the most energy into the soundboard. The strings also need to be leveled and hammers fitted properly for the best tone and sustain. The flanges need to be checked for consistent pinning - it's not unusual to have to repin an entire set of brand new hammer flanges, no matter who makes them.

We don't know how this piano was prepped or what kind of condition it was delivered in. But pro technicians that work on expensive instruments know that there is almost always something that can be improved or tricked out on any instrument, even without parts replacement.

Find a tech that understands the importance of this work, and make sure that it gets done. The sooner the piano is prepped the better it will be and the longer it will last.

And I agree about having it tuned regularly - especially if it's the same tech. Piano wire has a memory and it responds beautifully to consistency of tension. This also makes string voicing and string leveling more consistent.

Regarding Keith's suggestions, I can't recommend modifying a piano under a manufacturer's warranty, but I do agree that his proposed changes can often make a big difference with many pianos out there.

I hope they don't ban PW in Turkey because of this thread.

First a poster dissed that whole country's ability to tune a piano.

Then other posters attacked each other for giving Ozgur conflicting advice - assuming that Ozgur would blindly do anything he was told.

Guys, just because Ozgur is in a country we don't hear from very often doesn't mean he's a simpleton. He graciously thanked everyone for their advice; let's move on.

I would not recommend a fallboard lock. If security is a problem, get a cover with locking rings and lock it that way.

Thanks, rxd.

Having said all of that, I am still sitting here wondering how one could possibly improve upon a Fazioli. These instruments are as close to perfection as one can get. But really, no one has to improve on these. The manufacturer does it for himself.

What does any of this have to do with the thread topic?

Piano care isn't effected in a vacuum. It is two-fold: Care for a new piano must involve proper maintenance of the instrument itself, but always - always - with the pianist's desires in view. If he or she wishes to change Abel hammers with Renner or vise versa; if an MBA installation is requested, who are we to argue? Our responsibility is to listen, advise, and consent. If, for some reason, we cannot, then we can simply bid adieu.

My mistake. I should have read more carefully. I'm sorry.



I didn't notice the OP's location. Obviously the technical resources available to him are not likely to be what are available elsewhere. I mentioned this oversight in a previous post.



Two responses here . . .
1) Actually upgrading new cars is something that is understood in the automobile world -- unlike the piano world. People really do enhance their cars by throwing away the "stock" equipment. More common on lesser cars but also done on others. Also, even high-end auto manufacturers actually offer options -- rather than woodenly maintaining that the way they do it is the only way that it can be done, or is best for a given performance situation.

2) Comparing a S&S D to a Ferrari may be a bit of a stretch. They can indeed be fine instruments. OTOH, as one example of S&S factory train-wrecks, I can take you to a "D" in a university where the treble end of the long bridge is over the belly rail. From note 40 on down the piano sounds great. The upper half of the compass not so much . . .



I have not at any point offered a theory. I have spoken from a very much reality-oriented, success-based extensive amount of experience from my 50 years as an active piano technician (I got a young start). I've actually seen stuff and done stuff and along the way made a good number of piano owners happy when others hadn't. I stay young by being open to new ideas and realizing there is yet more to be learned.

Neither am I alone. I have a university tech. colleague who says this about his visits to New York with a faculty member to select a new "D" . "I just look for a loud one -- the rest can be fixed." He is the one from whom I got the term "piano kit" to refer to a factory-new S&S.



Splendid advice. I'll try to do better.

Thanks for the time you invested in your post.

A very valid point has been made that people all too often do not properly read the original post carefully in order to really understand the context and the question asked. They simply jump in and tell people what they want to tell them, without taking the time to perhaps put themselves into the situation of the poster..

Given the original question, quoted above by Beethoven, and the context: it is a pianist asking, and the instrument in question is a brand new Hamburg D, and the piano is located in Turkey, then yes, suggestions about action parts replacement and bridge modification are completely and totally out of place.

Suggesting anything which would result in an immediate voiding of a warranty of a $150,000+ brand new piano is really not helpful.
[where is that understatement emoticon when you really need it???]

When they banned YouTube, the statistics showed that there were no changes in numbers of visits made to YouTube in Turkey, thanks to the alternative DNS options. After that, they cancelled the ban... Hopefully bans don't stop people.

Ozgur, post a YouTube video of you and the new piano if you can! I'd love to see and hear it, especially since you play Brahms.

Thanks, I will when me and the s&s will be ready, will try to make it soon.

Yes fallboard locks are a problem in cas of fire, the notes cannot escape...

Most Steinway concert grand complaints are due to an action desparetley in need of regulation! If the action sucks, trust me the piano isn't going to perform and sound as it should

Really? - This is a very interesting and unusual concept.

Marty

I took Gary to mean that all new Steinways need regulation. After all they do not even bother to fit the legs - which is what this thread was all about!

Ian, The OP is more than happy with the way the piano plays and is not complaining of badly fitted legs or regulation. This thread is about how to treat this piano during the "break in" period. It is American tooners who are suggesting it needs all this work.

I notice you are close to London England. Where are all these new Steinway D's that you have seen that need so much work and the legs don't fit???? Where do you guess this particular D in question was made???

I hope you are not perpetuating information that you have merely overheard and have no direct experience of?. Many toonerds perpetuate rumours that they have no direct experience of.

Yes, rxd, I know, I've read the posts and was only tickling Marty's ribs. Did you see I quoted Ozgur writing about "putting the piano on its legs" before his gracious suggestion that some conservatories with pianos to spare might like to take Keith up on his proposals.

I am not sure if the piano is in Istanbul, where my mother grew up. She told me about going to hear Rubenstein and Solomon playing by the Bosphorous in summer recitals. I am sure she would have been delighted to have heard, and played, the new Hamburg D.

The piano would have come from New York when I first went to Turkey. There was a lot of American money around and I recall my uncle had a Studebaker.

What I often noticed when the legs are not tuned is that the casters are pointing in every direction.

I could suggest a "caster orientation kit" that allow the instrument religion. ys point the polar star, that have been recognized as the best orientation talion, tone wise.

Sorry to make humor, in the end the Op is lucky to be yet allowed to practice piano nd make music where in some other countries playing music is considered offense to religion.

I prefer to trust in humankind in that case, particularly young generations, but see to me lot of them will die before the society they wish will eventually arise.