Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum MY NEW PIANO or KEYBOARD! - Share Your Story! My amazing piano restoration journey

This is a long post and has been a long time coming. I hope everyone enjoys it. In early 2013, I began my search for a grand piano. I’m a classically trained pianist. For several years, I played on a digital piano at home (a small condo in Atlanta, GA) and relied on outside venues (churches, concert halls, etc.) to get playing time on a traditional grand piano. As I approached 40, I began thinking it was time to purchase an instrument for myself. Thus began my search. Having played on hundreds of pianos in my time and probably as many “brands,” and knowing exactly what I wanted, I limited my search to meticulously restored (or rather, rebuilt) American pianos from the early 1900s. Soon after I started my search, I changed my course from looking for an instrument to looking for a restorer/rebuilder. After many phone conversations (interviews, if you will) with restorers from coast to coast and in between, I boarded a plane headed to Boston. I had had several conversations and email exchanges with the gentleman I was going to meet. In our phone conversations, he seemed to know exactly the answers to my questions before I could ask them. And he knew exactly what I was looking for. I had no prior knowledge of or any experience with his restored instruments. This was a leap of faith. I had read several posts and did some online research on this guy, Jude Reveley, at Absolute Piano Restoration in Lowell, MA.

I visited Jude’s shop in August 2013. He had one piano that was about 95% finished. As I recall, it was a total rebuild – a Steinway O or maybe a Steinway A, c.1918. I spent two or three days hanging out with Jude in his shop, seeing him and his colleagues work, and got a lot of playing time on the Steinway – it was a beautiful instrument. We talked in great length about instruments, what I wanted, and of course, my budget. In his collection of instruments waiting to be brought back to life, he had a STEINERT. I had never heard of a STEINERT before. This particular instrument was merely a beat up case with the original soundboard and plate attached. The strings, keyboard, action, etc. were already ripped out. Jude bought the instrument many years earlier. It was the first piano he bought to rebuild and never got around to rebuilding it. After learning about the STEINERT and its potential to be an amazing instrument and after getting to know Jude for several days, we wrote a contract rebuild the instrument. We planned for delivery to be March 2014.

After several delays, some because of me, others because of Jude’s other work, the piano was finished and delivered in November 2014. After my initial trip to Boston, I made 3 or 4 additional trips to see the piano’s progress. Every trip was so enlightening and fantastic. And it was so meaningful to know I was able to call many of the shots in the project. One particular trip was dedicated solely to selecting hammers for the instrument. We auditioned 8 or 9 different hammers. I know very little about piano hammers other than names; but I have excellent ears. We set up the hammer audition as a blind test. Jude would fit the piano with hammers without telling me anything about them (I didn’t want to be swayed by brand names or the type of felt, etc.). This was an arduous but amazing process. My final decision was a hammer I had never heard of before – Ronsen. And specifically, Ronsen Weickert Felt Hammers. It was processes like this that I knew I was getting a spectacular instrument that, in many ways, was re-created by a master craftsman according to what we both wanted to see come out of this process. A few spec highlights: new soundboard and bridges built by Jude; extended bass bridge; reinforced treble section; WNG Composite Action; Ronsen Hammers; Precision TouchDesign action; new Delignit pinblock; all the obvious stuff either completely new or restored. Welcome STEINERT #14429 (Model D, 6’2”) c.1926. It’s a remarkable instrument.

Here are some pics:






More pics at: https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/galleries/2437496/Restored_Steinert_#14429,_c.19.html#comments

David Mantooth
Atlanta, GA
Steinert D, 14429, c.1926, Restored by Jude Reveley, Absolute Piano Restoration, Lowell, MA

Congratulations! Jude does absolutely top notch work, and is a great guy to boot. Here's to many years of musical enjoyment!

Thanks Adam! It's a beautiful instrument. And yes, Jude is a great guy.

Congratulations! a beautiful grand piano.

what's the word "Boston" means?

Boston is just the town where Steinert was based.

I'm impressed by the apparent length of the back scale on the bass strings. That has to sound very nice.

Had you ever had any experience playing with the WNG action prior to this instrument?

Forrest

The bass on the piano is quite outstanding.

I had no experience with the WNG Composite actions. Jude and I discussed actions quite a bit and he highly recommended the WNG Composite action. It was another leap of faith for me, but I completely trusted his recommendation. I love the action.

Congratulations! I just finished the rebuild of my Baldwin L earlier this year, including installing the WNG action. I know how delightful it is to have an amazing custom built instrument. Now go play! :-)

Congratulations on your new piano!. Jude is a wonderful technician. Excellent hammer choice. You will find the tone of your piano will get better over time as they break in. Have the hammer spacing and hammer/string phase checked over in six months or so to make sure the wear patterns on the hammers are optimally situated. The W,N&G action is a marvel of stability and evenness. Enjoy! And thank you for sharing it!

A wonderful story and a truly precious piano! You'll have to tell us more about its tone and playability as you become more familiar with it.

Thanks for the advice, Ed. Much appreciated! Jude worked with me in locating an excellent technician in Atlanta and they confer about the piano's maintenance on occasion. I'll make sure to mention your advice.