A Tour of Steinway

Bob Berger (l), director of quality at Steinway & Sons, gave a tour of the Steinway factory to  J. D. Kelly (r) and Chip Averwater (c) in March.  Dr. Kelly is a retired piano professor at Arkansas State University, a proud owner of a Steinway concert grand, and a long-time fan of Steinway pianos.  Chip is chairman of Amro Music Stores in Memphis, Steinway dealer since 1963.

Bending of the rim. People often ask how the curved rim of a grand piano is made.  18 layers of hard-rock maple, each 22 feet long, are coated with glue, stacked, and pressed into shape in a rim-bending press as above.

 Raw piano rims.  When removed from the press, the rims look like these.

 The veneer room. Millions of dollars of precious veneers, including East Indian Rosewood, Kawazinga Bubinga, and Figured Sapele, are stored under strict temperature and humidity control.  They'll soon be the classic piano finishes of Steinway pianos.  To insure perfect matching, all the veneer for a Steinway piano comes from the same tree.

 Bob explains the powerful bracing of a Steinway grand.  The heavy fan bracing supports the iron plate and helps the piano stay in tune.

Craftsman apply the glue that will hold the soundboard in place.  Before gluing, the piano frame and the soundboard are hand-fitted to insure a perfect, continuous connection between them.

 The soundboard is taken from a special temperature/humidity controlled box for installation in the piano.  Steinway soundboards are made of close-grained, quarter-sawn spruce and its thickness is tapered from center to edges for the most faithful projection of the string vibrations.

 The soundboard being placed in the piano. The fit of the soundboard into the rim is critical for good piano tone.  The soundboard is "crowned" (inserted under pressure so the center creates a slight dome) to insure solid connection with the strings and best tone production.

 The soundboard is clamped into position.

 Finishing of the soundboard and preparation for the plate.  The soundboard is hand shaved to assure a tight fit with the plate.

 The cast iron plate is lowered into the piano.  The plate weighs over 300 pounds, and helps the piano sustain the nearly 40,000 pounds of pressure the strings will put on the piano. 

 A craftsman installs the strings.  The string is threaded into the tuning pin and wrapped to 3 coils.  The craftsman then places the tuning pin into one of the more than 200 holes in the plate, drives it into the pin-block, and turns it to put tension on the string.

 Bob explains the intricacies of the Steinway action.  Over 5,000 pieces of wood, felt, leather, and other materials are assembled and carefully adjusted to create a precise and uniform response.  Each of the 88 keys is individually weighted with lead to make the touch identical from key to key.

Steinway president, Ron Losby, and Dr. Kelly.  Dr. Kelly is holding action parts that Bob and Ron gave him as souvenirs.

After the tour J.D. and Chip agreed that it was clear why Steinway pianos are the best in the world and today's Steinways are the best Steinway has ever made.

For a more in-depth tour of the Steinway factory, the excellent PBS video "Note By Note: The Making of Steinway L1037" is available online as well as through Netflix and other video sources.