The Steinway A is the most copied piano in existence.
In 1878, the first model A, known as the A I was introduced.
It was the first modern Steinway, and led to a disruption in the whole industry.
The hard maple bent rim added more power and “grunt” to the piano, was more stable and looked elegant. It was also much cheaper and faster to produce than the jointed rims, as seen on a modern Bosendorfer. Differing tonal pallet and philosophy.
This is the foundation that all Steinways have. They make it in a unique way out of the best maple.
Today, there are generally 3 kinds of 6′ class pianos (Bosendorfer and a few others being an exception).
There’s the Steinway A
There’s all the other pianos copying the A for less or much less money that is claimed to be as good as the Steinway. Starting from the foundation, they can never be close.
Then there are the “boutique” pianos, the finest of the finest. Fazioli, Ravenscroft, Stewart and Sons and others. These are also copies of the Steinway A. However, these are promoted as being “better”. They are certainly more exotic, but where it counts, tome, colorization, dynamics and musicality, there is only Steinway.
By copy, I mean they use the Steinway continuous bent rim, vertically laminated bridges, some with exotic woods, duplex scale and so on. These pianos have special alterations and innovations to differentiate them and are all great pianos.
Around 1915, Steinway introduced the model A III, This piano, at 6’4 was produced for almost 30 years.
At the Hamburg factory, the A II, introduced in the late 1990’s, continued to be made. They are now also made at the New York factory.
This example we have is a Steinway A II, the modern version, (c) 1900.
It was previously rebuilt with authentic Steinway parts.
It was seized an a bankruptcy, and we have it on behalf of the trustee.
It is selling for the average wholesale price of a Steinway A to dealers and rebuilders, as is, where is.
It needs the keys recovered as some of the ivories were damaged. The action also needs maintenance work and a high level regulation and balancing.
It has a new pinblock and strings. Higher quality strings would be icing on the cake.
The case needs polishing and detailing having been refinished.
A real bargain for a high level performance piano. Think used Yamaha for pricing.
