Beautiful system.

All, three, Blüthner, Steinway and Bechstein were companies founded in the same year i.e. 1853. And no one in Europe has ever heard of Pacific Piano Supply, which is why no one over here would call them the best. If something is broken on an ancient piano of historical value, you re-create the broken part by using your own supply of spare parts and do the needful thing.

Merci ! getting ready :o)

Thank you.

Thank you for viewing this video. If you have any questions about your piano, do not hesitate to call at 818.503.0800.

A master In his domain thank you Sir

It's funny how he's charging all this money but he's still using a cheap ass drill press (Central Machinery) from Harbor Freight.

Let's just say that this video is a conglomerate of nonsense regarding piano tuning. Let's clarify a couple of things: * Any modern tuning software such as TuneLab or PianoMeter is better than any aural tuner at laying a true equal temperament * Same goes for calculating the stretch by correctly calculating and representing the inharmonicity of a specific piano * Tools need to do their job properly and when it comes to tuning, the tip is the most important thing. If it doesn't fit the pin, it's useless and the rest of the hardware plays no role. * Experience is 80-85% trial and error i.e. time spent alone at the piano without any guidance. What you call experience is in fact an incredible waste of time. With a right teacher/mentor and constant supervision, you can basically eliminate that completely useless overhead and instead focus on getting a superb tuning job done right. Case in point: The current technical director of Kawai in France is 23 years old and he has enjoyed daily supervision by his dad who is one of the best concert technicians in Europe. * Not mentioning regulation is a sign of ignoring the fundamentals of an action and its influence on the way a piano feels and sounds like. Without proper regulation, any tuning will be worthless. * Not mentioning voicing and its preparation such as mating strings to hammers and key frame to keybed is a sure sign that your tuning does not have any value. A really good tuning only can show its true value and character on a well regulated and voiced piano. * And finally: The cherry on top of a really good tuning of a piano, especially a concert grand, is tuning the unisons by ear and doing so by listening to those major thirds three and four octaves above the fundamental. No mention of that in your "lecture". Let me simply state that unless you get your ears down to tuning those high overtones/partials, your tuning will sound amateurish and closer to honkytonk than to that what a concert grand needs. I have just turned 60 and only touched a tuning hammer for the first time five years ago. I have since then tuned numerous concert grands and documented most of them on my youtube channel. Enjoy various Steinways, Bösendorfers, Bechsteins, Erards and others. I haven't broken a single string in any of those pianos and my tuning has been appreciated by both master piano makers in Germany and Austria as well as by numerous concert pianists. Your air of superiority by doing things the same way for the past 30 years is downright offensive, but above all it should ring a danger bell of reconsideration on your part of what a really beautiful and stable tuning consists of. Different from you, I have actually recorded numerous pianos that were tuned by myself, so before you'll start putting me down with my lack of experience, you should do the same. Sorry to rain on your parade, but this posting was necessary in order not to leave your video as a piece of wisdom, which it is not.

I like your videos. They are very interesting and sometimes I learn something from you. Pianotuning can be easy, if you know how to do it. And at every piano I tune, I learn something new, also on those Pianos I tune every year at the customers. And in the meantime I learn a lot of american Pianos, Baldwin, Chickering, Lakeside, Story and Clark and and and. I have lot of american customers with there pianos and I like the Families. I'm a German pianomaker and I repair and tune pianos. I'm living in the near of Ramstein Air Base. I hope I see more videos from you. They are very informative. All the best to you. Regards, Rolf

Thank you for your videos, I would add that there has never been any conflict between aural and electronic tuning. In fact even on a guitar there are people who can't tune it properly by ear. But if you have a good ear, there is nothing wrong with electronic tuning, to the point that we should actually test ourselves: in a blind test, can we spot a piano tuned by ear vs the same piano tuned by an electronic device? Talking about damage in a piano, if they move or force the pin like a buffalo in the wrong direction, tuners can crack the wood. Another damage in the long term could be also using superglue between the pin and the wood.

With great respect, this talk can be taken as the message from a venerable old-timer leaving only limited scope for the young generation of upcoming technicians. I'm an old-timer which is why I recognize the features. But we need to embrace and develop the talents of the young; otherwise we will soon end up with no decent tuners. A piano is not the only precision-made artefact in human experience. It has weaknesses and character. For sure the human aural approach will remain pre-eminent. But improvements will come with new young specialists. In other Pianosxxi videos we can see our expert using tooling devised and built by himself, which surely advanced the art beyond what was the prior practice. You must have done that as a young tiger! Others will follow. Maybe they will employ cyber-tuning. Not on my piano! I'm too old and so is my piano. All that said, thankyou for these exquisite videos. They elevate the almost celestial virtue of the craft of the gifted artisan. Thank you

EXCELETE. GRACIAS POR.COMPARTIR

Very clever solution.

Greetings from Virginia USA. Not a piano restorer but a handyman/maker type who enjoys watching others work and their setups to accomplish a task. Very good. I enjoyed it

🎹🎹🎹❤❤❤

Very Nice! I always tell my son there is a proper tool for every job and sometimes you can't buy that tool so you will have to make it!

Мой дорогой Дроссельмеер. Когда ты что-то придумываешь то всем остальным потом кажется как это просто. Успехов, Генка!

Immediately subscribed

Hold the tritones on mine...

Are batteries included?

Wtf is this shite advertisement?

Pomnu-pomnu kak ti rasskazival pro etot instrumemt. Skolko vremeni i sil vlojil v nego. Voshischayus toboi!

is the lady's voice integrated? Sorry, I just imagine that every time you open the piano lid the lady tells you about the advantages of this grand piano.😂

Thanks for a very informative video. Only last week I had the problem of making the touch lighter on a Yamaha U1 upright. I achieved this by: 1) Increasing the key-dip from 10 mm to 11 mm, and 2) By adding lead key-weights to each key (excluding the upper treble where there are no dampers). I set the touch at 52 grams, which is a lot lighter than it was before. I did discuss the option of installing smaller hammers, but partly because of the cost, and partly because she didn't want to go to such an expense, we decided to stick with the above measures. My customer is now far happier when she plays Rachmaninoff preludes and Chopin Nocturnes - or anything else, for that matter.

Awesome, can you use release agent on the harp, then use epoxy fill between wood and harp, then it will be perfect fit?

It’s for sale one of a kind!

where can i buy the tools? not the bench saw ,thanks.

Not excellent. Technical overkill and deficient in areas that matter. The pin block is not clamped down sufficiently and sometimes comes up at an angle when retracting the drill. This for sure ruins the hole by making it too large.

Where did you purchase your angled cutters for removing the backcheck?

Compared to your shop my tools are very crude. You must be an accomplished machinist, or have one on staff to provide yourself with such precision instruments. I make my jigs and fixtures with pieces of pine, dowels, and what every I can CA glue together quickly. Oh well…..it gets the job done. My weak area is refinishing. Since there is no good finishers in my area that I can expect to get the quality ‘piano finish’…..hand rubbed satin patina….I have had to learn to do it myself. It’s a long and tricky job but I am getting better. Again….finding an expert to learn from is just about impossible…..sadly.

I’ve been restoring, refinishing, and all the associated aspects of piano maintenance for over 30 years now…..most of my restorations are with Steinways, and a few Baldwins. My latest projects was a 1915 Steinway A3. The soundboard was busted up quite a bit, but I was able to pull it back to the ribs and shim it up. I put new Renner hammers and action parts in it, and I must say……this is probably my favorite scale. Warm….powerful….but whispers when you want ppp sounds. I am enjoying your video VERY much. I wish, however, I had started my career with an expert teacher. As it was…..I had to learn 90% of my work by just doing it. I could have saved myself from a host of mistakes had I learned from the expertise that you have.

Very interesting! ❤❤❤

Amazing tools! Great job

You're not alone. This guy is a mechanical engineer by profession and designs his own set of tools for faithful restorations. He just did a marvelous job on my 1887 Steinway D and next on the list is an 1861 Bechstein concert grand (267cm). kzbin.info/www/bejne/animi2eIjapge9k

I'm very thankful that there are people in the world such as yourself. You saved a thing of great beauty and your reasons can't be measured by the cost. The piano has a wonderful rich voice and you have preserved it for the next generation to appreciate. I will remember you.

I’ve been in the piano restoration business for many years. The majority of the instruments that I take on as a project are Steinway…..mostly from 1900 to 1940. I think this could be called the golden era for Steinway production based on what I have seen since then. You are right when you say that we don’t restore them to their original condition, but we do try to maximize the tone and touch so that the instrument will always be there for the performer. It is a challenge but usually I am not disappointed.😊

I’ve been in the piano service biz for 45 years…..I tune and voice a LOT of instruments of which I almost always try to do something with the voicing with every tuning I do. When I am replacing hammers on a Steinway it is always a challenge to find the perfect voice. I’ve used every brand of hammer from Renner, Abel, and Steinway factory hammers. Each one has its own texture, and I’m always trying to push the tone to fit the most balanced sound for the instrument. I don’t suppose you’d care to opine on the perfect hammer choice would you?

Excellent video, I’m currently working on a similar Bluthner and this is most helpful.🙂🍃

Can't believe the sostenuto still exists...

If you reconsidered disallowing external links in comments, I would then be able to point you to three highly interesting webpages that give you further information on the origin of the piano and the changes that were introduced by Theodore Steinway in 1884. I have images and a video of an 1882 Steinway similar to yours and I have links to an article by Theodore Steinway himself (in German) where he goes into detail into the design and scaling of the Steinway grands around 1885. Feel free to visit my youtube channel and browse the videos. There you can find at least four different Steinways from the 1880s, one of which is exactly the same as yours in build i.e. different scaling and no treble bell.

@PIANOSXXI This particular model does not have the same scaling as a real B manufactured after 1884/5. It's easy to see that the grouping of the front duplex scales in your piano is 3-4-5-5 and 5-6-6 in the two capo fields. My 1886 B, however, has 6-5-3-3 and 4-4-3-3-3 respectively. You can read all about it in the Kehl/Kirkland reference book. Next thing: Look under the piano and you will not find a treble bell. Easy to spot on the plate, because it lacks the distinct screw nut below the first plate web cooling hole. Search for 1882 Steinway in the forum of pianoworld and you will see a similar instrument. This is where you can find a similar model from 1882 that I found in Austria. Absolutely untouched, in pristine condition. There are more HiRes images in this posting in a German piano forum: but you need to register to actually view them. There also good images of the original action, which saw no changes between this previous model and the post 1885 one. This piano also still has the original ivory key tops. If you want more details then here is a two part article in German with Theodore Steinway as author. This article is dated 1885 and shows that around this time he decided to re-design the scaling, as can be seen in the different duplex scales between your and my piano: And really, get out that measuring tape and you'll see that your piano is in fact 208cm (6'8''). Since you repainted the plate, the original serial number is gone, but you should be able to find it on the front side of the action keyframe. If that's missing, too, you can take a look at the left side of the plate by the bass bridge. It has a triangle that touches the rim and has the manufacturing date of the plate cast into the plate. HTH.

You can't bring it back to original condition? Really? Be amazed: 1887 Steinway D, no new parts, original action, hammers, soundboard, bridge (it only has one), pin block, shellac finish. Yes, new pins and strings. That's it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHuXfGCqbtt2epo

1883? Then it's not a real Steinway B. Take out your metric measuring tape and you'll see that this piano is 208cm instead of 211cm. Theodore Steinway redesigned the scaling of the the so called parlor grands in 1884 and it made a drastic difference in the overall sound of the piano. Any Steinway grand after 1884 basically is the same as a modern one - with the notable exception of the D between 1884 and 1892. Anything before 1884 is not what we consider a modern Steinway. The notable exception of the D is that it went through an experimental phase until it reached its final design as we still see it today. Before 1892 it had three capo bar sections and bridge pins set ant an angle, which gave it a unique sound that 'regular' Ds after 1892 don't have anymore. You really should read up more on the history of Steinways before calling an 1883 Steinway a model B. Does it have a 'B' as part of the delta in the iron cast frame? No, it doesn't and it's serial number is probable somewhere in the 40k region - not that one would actually know, because of re-painting the frame. Please don't call it a restoration. It's got plastic key covers and nickel alloy pins. And I seriously doubt you restored the action. It's probably got all new Renner hammer, back checks and wippens, without regard to the original action geometry and hammer weight. And please don't call it a 'B'. It's not. This particular model does not have the same scaling as a real B manufactured after 1884/5. It's easy to see that the grouping of the front duplex scales in your piano is 3-4-5-5 and 5-6-6 in the two capo fields. My 1886 B, however, has 6-5-3-3 and 4-4-3-3-3 respectively. You can read all about it in the Kehl/Kirkland reference book. Next thing: Look under the piano and you will not find a treble bell. Easy to spot on the plate, because it lacks the distinct screw nut below the first plate web cooling hole. forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2866508/1882-steinway-b-in-mint-condition-rare.html This is where you can find a similar model from 1882 that I found in Austria. Absolutely untouched, in pristine condition. There are more HiRes images in this posting in a German piano forum: www.clavio.de/threads/verkauf-steinway-b-fluegel-von-1882-in-originalzustand.26260/ but you need to register to actually view them. There also good images of the original action, which saw no changes between this previous model and the post 1885 one. This piano also still has the original ivory key tops. If you want more details then here is a two part article in German with Theodore Steinway as author. This article is dated 1885 and shows that around this time he decided to re-design the scaling, as can be seen in the different duplex scales between your and my piano: daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00004232/image_268 daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00004232/image_321 And really, get out that measuring tape and you'll see that your piano is in fact 208cm (6'8''). Since you repainted the plate, the original serial number is gone, but you should be able to find it on the front side of the action keyframe. If that's missing, too, you can take a look at the left side of the plate by the bass bridge. It has a triangle that touches the rim and has the manufacturing date of the plate cast into the plate. HTH.

Not even two minutes into the video I started shaking my head. You know, there ARE people who actually understand what's going inside a hammerhead. They are called concert technicians and the really good ones play a piano for 5 minutes in all it has to offer and they manage to create a 3D image of the tension distribution in the hammer and they know how to needle where, how often, how deep in order to achieve the sound they want to achieve. And now that I am almost done watching this video, I really wonder what it is about. It's pretty much 10 minutes of rambling about hard and soft hammers - and complete carelessness about putting the action back in, strike point of the hammer and constantly telling the audience that this is the only piano, the only Steinway B ever. All of it recorded with a wireless Lavalier mono microphone. Really, what's the point? kzbin.info/www/bejne/on2mkJ5uhs1mr8k This is what a well tuned, regulated and voiced Steinway B sounds like, when it's prepared by a real concert technician. And recorded with a decent pair of microphones. BTW, this one is an 85 key Steinway B, so it dates back to 1886.

Thank you for this video. Its very helpfull demonstration. I would love to learn more about the process of fixing key weight. Im piano trained technician from central/eastern europe, studied at Petrof Factory, but there is so much more to learn about our job. Ive been doing my job for over 10 years, but i always feel like i dont know and understand enough!

Very nice channel. Just now subscribed. Thank you🎉

Beautiful playing, beautiful piano! Thank you so much!

Great talk! Totally agree! (The front panel is a matter of personal taste however)

Someone spoke the truth, but Steinway won't listen, its no longer a piano maker, its a money hungry luxury brand

When I was studying piano at a conservatory in the ‘80s there was a brandnew model A that was supposed to be the ‘good’ one and an old model B (french polished) next to it. I prefered the model B but it needed servicing. The hammers were somewhat dull maybe and the action could do with some lubrication. One could make oneselve impopular by mentioning these things, at that school.