USED STEINWAY PIANOS (and the Steinway scare tactics)

Used versus New Steinway Pianos:

Used, vintage, and restored Steinway pianos are often prized for their unique beauty and enduring value. However, for years, non-Steinway dealers and unauthorized piano rebuilders have created a great deal of confusion in the piano industry. Many piano rebuilders use inferior non-Steinway parts, seriously compromising an instrument’s performance and investment value.  

Us:

Fact is that Steinway  Hamburg gets their parts from Renner in Germany and  Steinway New York manufacture their own parts. Steinway also produces pianos in Japan and China. We at ManilaPianos always buy our action parts from Steinway New York or Renner.

The Steinway box as you see it here reassures that we use genuine Steinway or Renner parts. Inside the Steinway box and inside the Renner box you will find exactly the same parts and even the same control sticker signed by the same person.   See our Steinway inventory

Built for a Steinway Piano

Steinway: 

For more than 160 years, Steinway & Sons has been on a continuing quest to improve the Steinway piano. Continuous improvement means finding the perfect balance of the many thousands of parts which make up a Steinway piano. When a Steinway piano is rebuilt, it is imperative that Steinway parts be used in this process if the piano is to play and sound as a Steinway should play and sound. A Steinway piano is designed to use genuine Steinway parts, and it performs its best when these parts are used. If the parts are not 100% Steinway, then the piano is not 100% Steinway and its performance and investment value will be compromised.

Us:

Steinway doesn't make all the parts for a piano, so we don't know how they can say this, they buy from Renner and other suppliers.

One section of the Steinway guide:

Steinway:

The soundboard lies at the heart of a Steinway grand or upright piano, which is why Steinway & Sons takes great care in its design and in the selection of the wood used. The soundboard is a critical component in producing the inimitable “Steinway Sound” you desire.

- About the Soundboard

Close-grained, quarter-sawn Sitka spruce, with a prescribed minimum number of annual growth rings is the wood used for Steinway soundboards. These close-grained lines enable the sound-producing energy to travel more efficiently to the end of the soundboard. When combined with the soundboard being gradually tapered from the center to the edge, which permits the freedom of movement, it creates a sound of unparalleled richness, sonority, and sustain.

- New Soundboards from Scratch

Steinway does not buy their soundboards, instead, they buy the spruce planks to make their soundboards. Steinway’s strict standards for soundboard spruce and their yield factor on the prime-grade planks they purchase is only 50%. Meaning, of all the spruce that Steinway inspects and purchases, only 50% of that spruce goes into the making their soundboards. This allows Steinway to build each soundboard to their standards, not the lumber supplier’s. 

- Steinway NEVER sells its soundboards

Steinway sells their soundboards to no one, since the skill, expertise and machinery necessary to replace a soundboard is only available at the Steinway factory. So if a used Steinway was restored somewhere other than the Steinway Restoration Center, it may still have the Steinway & Sons trademark logo on it, but if it doesn’t have a genuine Steinway & Sons soundboard, it has lost the internal magic that makes it a Steinway.

Us:

The pictures are original Steinway soundboards, shimmed and redone by us. We at ManilaPianos would NEVER change a soundboard, even IF Steinway would sell it, because it changes the character of the piano! Plus: A 50 year old sound board has cured wood, this is great!

 

As you can read and see, the customer may not be told the truth, just what Steinway wants to tell you. We thought we would show you the "other side".

ManilaPianos Inc. provides a declaration of Steinway Parts Authenticity for every Steinway piano we sell.