Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum restored 1880s Steinway B, is it worth it?

It's perfectly reasonable for someone to only want a Steinway(or any other make). One simple reason could be a preference for the Steinway tone.

This is not meant to imply that I necessarily think the Steinway tone is the most desirable.

You said they were asking "almost $20k," but the relisted price is 27.5k. So, perhaps the work is legit, and your crazy seller has realized it's worth more, or perhaps he's just crazy...

I don't think your budget is likely to get you into genuinely restored Steinway territory. It might get you into original but decent condition territory. It would probably also get you an awesome Baldwin SF-10 in great condition, but I know you've indicated your preference for a Steinway, which is ok. I just suspect you're gonna have to pony up more bucks to get what you want, or lower your expectations accordingly (just my opinion).

There were a few strange things in that ad. The seller says this Steinway has a "double plate" which is somehow superior. He also says Steinway switched to the 88 note model because it was less expensive to make. I'm virtually certain the last statement is false.

Whether Steinway 85 note models have problems I'm not sure about. In my experience they sell for around 10K less than rebuilt Steinways with 88 notes.

Also, unless I missed it, he doesn't explicitly call out that the piano only has 85 keys. He vaguely alludes to it when he mentions the switch to 88 keys, but unless you're rather familiar with pianos, I don't know how many people would catch that. Either he thinks it's an obvious inference (and I would argue that it's not) or he is purposely dancing around the issue.

Edited to add: there are also no pictures of the keyboard, which makes me think he is purposely being vague.

There are a lot of high quality pianos out there that don't have a Steinway label on them. A lot depends on the tonal style you enjoy, and the amount of effort you are willing to put into the original purchase and maintenance of the instrument over its lifetime. It also depends on how much you play the instrument and the style of music you play and the space the instrument will occupy. As you play more instruments in your buying process, you may discover that the label is less important than the individual characteristics of a particular instrument.

I usually find that the amount of work I do after purchasing the piano to get it to work well in a particular performance space outweighs the original cost of the piano in many cases. Think of action regulation and tonal finishing in the space after the piano is in place as just as important as the original piano purchase.

Dishonest seller. Beware.

Curiosity got the better of me- I had to look at the link. Any time I see "moving sale" I move on. Akin to the oriental rug merchants who do the same.

As was suggested by another poster, started looking at other brands. Prefer German made if not Steinway. Came across this posting on eBay for beckstein model b from 1917, restored 20 years ago.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/231884280586

Going to look for a local tech to review it for me.

If I can get it for under $10k, could be a good option. Thoughts?

hi Deen
My thought is that I would not buy a piano that I had not personally played... since you live in NY, why don't you limit your search to what you can play yourself? Even if this piano passes the tech inspection, you may not like the tone or touch. Yes, this means the search may take longer, but you would eventually have a piano that is what you want... both from your playing it and from an inspection.

In addition, your ears and fingers will give you information ... for free'. why pay for an inspection for every 'maybe'? you have the potential for wasting your money... over and over.

I agree, to a point, and perhaps we don't even disagree. I would say, though, that once a used piano is found that meets all of the player's criteria and one that s/he is prepared to buy, it is still a good investment to have a technician check it out for potential problems that the average pianist might not be able to uncover.

Regards,

Hi Bruce
We completely agree that there needs to be a tech inspection... but it should be seen and played prior to the inspection. Why have something inspected that doesn't even pass your own personal inspection? There have been many 'promising' pianos from ads, that were a dud once seen.

EVEN if new, I would not buy without playing it first. A piano is very personal... the touch and tone I love, someone else might hate. Thanks for clarifying the inspection is important... just not first.

As a rule, I wouldn't consider an old Bechstein that has had the soundboard shimmed. While I've no doubt that there are some good ones, many of them have really terrible crown problems in the soundboard, meaning the tone has a real brittle quality to it in the treble, and a booming bass, and general uneven tone.

It may well be a good piano, but you have to be sure that the soundboard crown is fine. If you actually like the sound of the piano then I guess it isn't an issue whether the board is good or not.

The other thing with old Bechsteins is a lot of them have cracks in the frame (plate).

They can be rebuilt with new soundboards and the frame repaired, and they turn out really well, but it's better to buy a piano you like to start with.

Definitely do not get an 85 key piano. You dodged a bullet there.

Why?

It's disorienting to play on a piano that does not have the standard amount of keys. It's like a handicap. Fine if you have no intentions of performing on other pianos, but it would still probably lead to bad habits. 20k for bad habits? No thanks- even if the tone was to die for. For that money you have many other options- with the standard 88keys.

Dunno how those synth players cope, then, with their 5-octave keyboards. I guess they just wilt when they have to switch to a larger (or smaller) keyboard. Same with those poor saps who are playing those Stuart and Sons pianos with the extra notes top and bottom - they must go to pieces when they switch back to a boring old Steinway or whatever.

It would only be disorienting if the keys were a different width.

Paul.

Oh please. It's not impossible to play on instruments with a varying number of keys. It just makes it harder. You spend hours practicing a sonata, then go to play on an instrument with a different spatial awareness- you'll still play it well but it would not feel as natural.

And yes, key width is also important.

My guess is most would get used to the 85 note keyboard very quickly. Buying a piano is a compromise for all but the most wealthy people, and a Steinway 85 offers the advantage of usually being around 10K less than a comparable 88 note model.

I took a semester of harpsichord lessons back in college. The model I played on had two keyboards, both smaller than a standard piano, and narrower keys. I didn't really like switching back and forth between piano and harpsichord because it was disorienting, but it wasn't actually a problem. I found I adapted to the different sizes pretty quickly.

I really don't see why not having the top three keys would lead to a different spatial awareness. Spatial awareness is all about the relative positions of the keys, and for the first 85 keys that is exactly the same.


I would say they would get used to it instantly.