Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Rubenstein, and Horovitz played on it. Paderewski took it on his tour across the States. Today, Billy Joel, Lang Lang, and Diana Krall declare their loyalty to it. Steinway - because that's what we're talking about - is not just an instrument, but a quality in itself. A luxury item whose price reflects the high level of craftsmanship and over a century-old tradition. But Steinway is not just a brand, it's more than a guarantee of perfect sound - it's an instrument with a soul. Technological progress has made it so that very few things are made by hand today. Craftsmanship died a sad and quiet death, giving way to machines and their often apparent precision and reliability. As a result of this process, many traditions have disappeared, and we are slowly realizing how tired we are of mass-produced things. In this respect, Steinway is a clear exception, even in its own somewhat elitist industry.
Steinway pianos are produced only in two places on earth: in the original factory in New York (specifically in Astoria in the Queens district) and in Hamburg. It's hard to believe that in this ultra-progressive metropolis, something is produced that is entirely the result of human hands from start to finish. Moreover, the methods and stages of production have not changed since the nineteenth century. Many of them have been patented.
It is said that building something that looks like a piano is relatively easy. But creating something that sounds like a piano is a difficult art. 12,000 parts and 12 months (because that's how long it takes to build one piano in the Steinway factory) confirm this thesis. "The construction of the instrument itself never interested me as much as the key mechanism causing the strike on the string. It always somehow fascinated me" - says jazz pianist Hank Jones. But before skilled hands install a row of white teeth in the instrument, the wooden box (barely resembling an exquisite instrument) lies for two months in a room with a precisely defined temperature and humidity. Moreover, the process of creating a Steinway piano begins much earlier. While various types of wood are used for the instrument's casing: walnut, mahogany, ebony, giving pianos different colors, the soundboard is always made of one type of wood - Sitka spruce. This slow-growing tree from the western coasts of North America, according to experts, provides wood with unmatched acoustics. And so the soundboard made of wood personally selected by a factory worker in one of the sawmills in Alaska is mounted on a frame, the wrapping of which (the characteristic curve on the side of the instrument) is made using a method used exclusively by Steinway. The uniqueness of this method lies in the simultaneous bending of the inner and outer parts of the frame, making the instrument more durable, and the sound color - unique.
According to pianists, the greatest advantage of Steinway pianos is their diversity. Each instrument is different, each has its own personality and reacts differently to individual musicians. It is said that two Steinway pianos made by the same workers, according to the same standards, with the same tools, and in the same temperature and humidity, can be as different from each other as day and night. "While one may stand out with a symphonic, extroverted sound, another will sound shy, even intimate. This is the charm of craftsmanship; each will be somehow different" - says Ron Losby, director of Steinway & Sons. This diversity hides an interesting aspect. Factory workers come from different corners of the world (from Haiti to Croatia), and their roots come from dozens of different cultures, so the technique and approach to wood will obviously be different. Moreover, the workers themselves believe that the process of building an instrument cannot be reduced to rigid guidelines because not every day comes to work in the same mood, which affects the work and thus the final effect. And that is the essence of craftsmanship: the quality of this art is not only the work of hands but also the mind and heart put into this work. And so from the forests of Alaska, through rooms filled with the smell of wood and glue, where the carpentry noise is interspersed with colorful accents of craftsmen, our main character - the piano, in its strongly adolescent form, goes through successive stages of maturation. After the frame is laid, employees install the iron frame, and then the soul of the piano, the soundboard. This part of the instrument receives the vibration of the strings, amplifies it, and sends it to the listener's ear. Without it, the piano would be like an unplugged electric guitar. Next, the intricately carved legs are installed, and the strings are stretched. The piano gets legs and pedals, and then the keyboard is installed (Steinway was one of the first to stop using ivory) and the hammer system. Finally, the instrument enters the tuning phase, to go through various tests over the next month. From hard tuning in the striking chamber, from which demonic music emanates, through several tuners with different sensitivities - each with a different ear. And here again, Steinway stands out from other manufacturers, not using - as the only one - electronic tuning.
Whether it's about the "extraordinary magic" that, according to Martha Argerich, distinguishes Steinway instruments, or their diversity, or perhaps the potential for development, this piano is chosen most willingly by world-famous pianists, despite the high price (the smaller model B costs $84,000, the larger, concert model D - over $133,000). This price, however, seems to rightly reflect tradition, as well as the skill and precision with which these instruments are built. Like most craftsmanship skills, the one that originated many years ago in the New York Steinway factory is not an art that can be learned from textbooks. Perhaps that's why many employees are related to each other, giving this traditional form of production an additional dimension. Or maybe what is most unique about this place, where the line between art and physical work blurs, is the pride with which factory workers hand over the finished instrument to the next generations of musicians.
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