The story of Steinway 282884, model S

Model S is the shortest Steinway grand piano. This one was manufactured in 1936, a very good year.

It was purchased in April 1957 by my father for $2,400 and served for many years.

As of 2019, the instrument was essentially an unusable rim. Choices were either to scrap or to rebuild. All that excess lead will make some nice bullets!

Since it has just a bit of sentimental value, the rebuild was selected.

For now we will start with just the pictures.

Instrument suffered from failure of the pin block, exacerbated by doping and damp chasers.

So many incompetent piano techs will declare humidity is your problem to sell a heater.

De-construction commenced April 2019, with documentation in teardown directory.

Rebuild pictures are mostly 2020. Amazing finished work arrived 1 August 2020.

  • Piano Pictures
    • Here is where you go to get your piano to be beautiful in every way:
  • Forte Piano Gallery
    • The piano is an incredibly complicated device, with over 10,000 parts.

    Traditional construction is mostly of wood, dating back to a time it was the only suitable material.

    Here then is how to do it right! Kawai action

    The Kawai action is similar to the parts chosen to rebuild 282884, from W-N-G action parts

    What I am not yet understanding is why Kawai appears to still use wooden hammer shanks; W-N-G are composite fibre!

    The choice of aftermarket parts is met with derision in the form of propaganda from Steinway and Sons company. They will call my instrument a SteinWas so let them! They put me and anyone else in the same box! They refuse to sell critical components such as sound board and pin block, declaring the nobody other than the factory is capable of fitting either to Steinway standards. But even if I were to send it to them to rebuild, they would NOT do so because it is too old!!!

    Thus if I want my piano to work, I MUST choose my own builder, and he cannot even buy the crucial parts!

    That is fine Steinway and Sons! You just be happy that your 1936 rim is worthy of a rebuild!

    But wait my NY friends! You supplied a factory production piano, not at all bad for the times! But in my rebuild with superior parts, I will have a HAND CRAFTED piano built to be far better than it was even when it left your factory! My W-N-G action will be superior to anything you have EVER produced, and the finished product should still be a great instrument after I am gone! Oh, and the damper pedal that I wore down with a few thousand hours of usage will stay that way because I am not paying you 700 smackers for a new set of pedals!