I recently purchased this piano from an estate. I knew the owner and played this piano on numerous occasions prior to her death. The Piano has a brass number (98) on the lid.

I know that it has had a career in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute and Philadelphia Orchestra among others and I have a listing of performers who supposedly used this piano in concert.

However, are there any ideas about how one can find out more information about this piano? I contacted Steinway and they basically told me that they have records about its construction but don't have time to even help me with that information.

Hi Phillip,

From the most practical standpoint, it would seem that the major issue is how well the piano will serve you now. Touring artists often have significant action changes made to the piano before their concerts--voicing, for example. So if, for instance, you were to contact an artist who played it (should he even recall the event), the action regulation could be quite different now, making his observations of that event irrelevant. Or if Steinway NY were to tell you that they found time, and it turns out that Team B did the "belly work" and T. Jones did the chip tunings, and that the bridges were initialed by Dunston Clarke, that kind of information might not be all that informative or helpful to you.

If you have not already done so, I would instead recommend that you get an excellent tuner/technician to go over the whole instrument in detail, assessing any issues and needed corrective actions, and discussing his suggestions with you. Those meaningful adjustments could bring the Model D up to a whole new level of performance giving you even more satisfaction in owning and playing it. Knowing some history might be interesting, but addressing the here and now might be more beneficial.

I hope that D brings you many years of pleasure!

David

Thank for your response. Prior to my purchase of the piano, I had a Steinway certified technician go over the piano thoroughly and learned that the action needed some work and also voicing was necessary. With that knowledge, I purchased the piano knowing that there was work to be completed but also there was nothing irreversibly damaged.

I have had that work done. In addition, I seem to find more items that require service. However, the more that I play it, the better it gets.


I contacted Steinway in New York and was told by a Representative there simply that he did not have time to help me... not even obtain the records of who did the construction work on the piano. I do know that the piano was probably based in the Philadelphia area and have a partial listing of performers who played the piano. How do I contact them and how do you know if any would remember playing it?

For the past 30 years (since the late 1970s), I have been playing a Steinway Model M which I still have in my home. I am finding that the Model D has a much richer sound. I am an amateur who has been playing the piano since the 1950s when I was a young boy. I play the piano at least an hour a day and more when I have a day off. I had training in the 70s and 80s by a teacher who was trained in London by T. Matthay.

Rachmaninoff is much better on the D as compared to the M.

Hi Phillip,

We have some things in common. At home I used to play a 1924 Steinway Model M (5'7") that I bought around 1973. At the time, like you I was curious about its history. When I inquired I didn't get the "I don't have time" response but was told only this: "The piano was never under the hands of Horowitz." I liked the piano but it had no previous rebuilding so needed serious work. Steinway's of that era had an issue where the cloth bushing around the hammer center pin made of copper created a chemical reaction leading to verdigris which slowed the action in the treble. That work plus restringing, new hammers, case refinishing, maybe a new pinblock etc. would have been extensive and expensive. It could have been done at Steinert's in Boston, but I never considered it, as I wanted a larger and more powerful piano. So I bought a new 1984 Baldwin Model L (6'3") which I've played ever since (and did a partial rebuild on it in 2007).

Like you I learned piano (with one teacher) for 10 years during the 50s and 60s, and one of her three principal piano teachers at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston had been Albion Metcalf, a pupil of Tobias Matthay. So I learned and cultivated the relaxed arm weight technique for producing tone at a young age. Also like you, I later returned to studying piano in the 80s and 90s in my case, for seven years as it turned out, with an artist-teacher which was very beneficial to me.

I only dream of having a Baldwin SD-10 (9'), but I'd need a much larger living room to accommodate a concert grand. It sounds as though you don't house your Steinway D at home. In a studio perhaps?

I envy your practice time. I'm limited to times when my wife is out doing errands.

David

If you envy Philip, I envy both of you for having a Steinway piano. And researching bout how it is build and knowing such artist played the piano that you now own, I am greatly envious of it.