Interesting Grotrian Steinweg Upright

[Regi Hedahl]

I saved this 1905 Grotrian Steinweg from destruction as the previous owners were ready to burn it.  I've got way too many pianos but could not let this one go to waste.  It's not very tall, maybe around 50 inches and despite the age, it still has very good tone.  

One thing I noticed right away was the bass hammers being aggressively tapered.  They are certainly lighter than the adjacent hammers in the tenor.  This is counter to what we see today but there must be a reason why Grotrian Steinweg did it this way.

No capstans.  How do you adjust out lost motion on this piano?

Several of the damper blocks have fallen off because instead of being glued directly to the wood dowels, there's a piece of red felt in between them.  What's the reason for Grotrian Steinweg doing this?  Not sure if this was a good idea or not.

Interesting bass cutoff.

The back of this piano is covered with a metal window screen and clear plastic.  Check out the back post orientation.

Beautiful open face pinblock and plate.

Regi

[Regi Hedahl]

The company was very smart at adding that extension off the end of the bridge to minimize tonal problems in this area.

Regi

[David Boyce]

A great find, Regi!  One of the top German piano makes and it looks like
that one is from a golden period in thier manufacture.

For 'capstan' regulation, there will be screws at the ends of the keys,
under the strips of action cloth, functioning as very low capstans.

I guess the felt pads joining the damper heads were conceived to give
some felixibility and aid in damper seating.

Once you;ve restored it, I think that will be a magnificent instrument.

Roberts Pianos in Oxford, England, have before and after videos of a
Grotrian Steinweg on Youtube. Here's the After one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqUygiV83Qw

Best regards,

David B.

[Jon Page]

There probably is a screw head under the action cloth to adjust for lost motion. Time consuming to adjust.

[Joseph Garrett]

Regi,
You get the "attaboy" award for that! Once the repairs are done it's going to be a really nice instrument imo. Love them Grotrian-Steinwegs!
Best,
Joe

Captain of the Tool Police
Squares R I
gpianoworks.com

[Joseph Garrett]

Jon,
Nope! Once you get used to the system it is as easy and any other. I just did a Studio rebuild. The capstans were the type that require a wrench. Now that's a pain in the rump!<G> (even with the reallty fancy smancy twisted/bent handled tool for it. Not liking those much. Was tempted to repalce them all with regular capstans. Didn't because it wasn't in the estimate.<G>

Best,
Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Page
Sent: Mar 27, 2018 1:20 PM
To: pianotech

[Regi Hedahl]

Glad that I didn't pick up a piece of garbage after driving 400 miles to go pick it up! I did some measuring and it indeed is 120 cm in height. Also found one that looks very similar to mine and has the fancy plate.

https://robertspianos.com/ldetails.php?RP=2171111&/Grotrian-Steinweg--Upright-Piano

Regi