CONTENTS

• Historic Development
• Steingraeber & Söhne Bayreuth, Germany
• What makes this piano so special?
• Innovative designs for the 21st Century
• Video Clips

The first piano manufacturer to open his shop was Ignaz Bösendorfer in Vienna in the year 1823. In 1852 Eduard Steingraeber presented his first piano in Bayreuth combining „Viennese“ and „English“ mechanical systems. In the following year Bechstein and Blüthner followed. Then Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, who had emigrated three years earlier from Germany to New York formed his own piano company translating his German name to “Henry E. Steinway”. He had the added advantage of being a particularly talented marketing genius making his piano known throughout the United States by the end of the 19th century.
Until the Second World War all four manufacturers offered formidable instruments, however the destruction of German and Austrian production facilities changed the world. In 2010 Bösendorfer was finally purchased by Yamaha making the influence of long-proven Austrian piano development expertise redundant.

This way Steinway was able to seize an unusually large market share of grand pianos in the world market with Yamaha and Kawai trailing in quality ranking. With the traditional German manufacturers slowly coming back to life by the end of the twentieth century momentum of new orders for Steinway pianos started to recede in momentum.

This has always been a particularly interesting instrument. By 1880 it had become the most important Bavarian built piano that was regularly winning prizes ever since 1867 standing out through unusual richness of sound. Richard Wager wrote “your piano vastly surpasses all other instruments of its kind”. Franz Liszt was known to literally destroy his instruments until he got a Bösendorfer. Finally he however selected a Steingraeber for presenting his compositions to the public. Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Kempff, Giuseppe Sinopoli, James Levine, Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel, Cyprien Katsaris and Hartmut Höll are just a few artists who have given their distinct preference to this brand.

Doubtless it is the Steingraeber that comes closest to being able to transport the colors of symphonic compositions from the piano to the audience.
The company is only one of five where all components are still assembled by hand distinctly raising quality. More than 6.000 parts call for thousands of inspections. Steingraeber even sorts the hammer shanks according to their individual frequency. Almost 50.000 piano have been delivered so far, some of them even to remote countries. The service includes a comprehensive 5-year warranty maintained by Steingraeber technicians. Also the customer’s own technicians are welcome for schooling in Bayreuth.

To experience Steingraeber's voluptuous registers here is the Tarantella from
Sergei Rachmaninow's Suite No. 2 in C Minor for Two Pianos, Op. 17 (1901).

Rachmaninow: Suite #2 op.17

Are there secrets employed in the manufacture of pianos producing qualities you can hear and feel? Indeed there are. Although production line pianos have reached a pretty high standard, natural products and manual skills play the decisive role in creating one of the few instruments of true excellence. This is why you can always be assured of the legendary quality at Steingraeber & Söhne.

Steingraeber's principle of integral thinking

In classic piano building acoustics, statics, cabinetry and action mechanism are all exploited when it comes to balancing the source of sound. This know-how integrates only natural resonating materials. Custom adjustment and precision workmanship eventually bring the final product to perfection. Collectively the whole assembly is capable of modifying the colors of sound. This includes even the action mechanism of the pedals their resonating energy becoming a perceptible extension of the human body.

Steingraeber's principle of energy preservation

Your touch is meant to produce vibrations without any loss of energy. At Steingraeber we have taken several massive measures to warrant “retention of energy”, e.g. agraffes with steel pins, drilled capo d'astro bars, cast hardening and hardened bridge pins just to name a few. Furthermore all joints are hundred per cent real wood – there are no elastic glues used - only uric and bone glues and water-proof synthetic “bone glue”. For veneers and dampers we only use white glue.

Steingraeber's principle of secondary sound sources

Only real wood – sometimes complimented by modern aircraft technology - is capable of a resonating sound. There are piano manufacturers in existence that use cheaper sound absorbing materials, e.g. medium density fiber boards and particle boards. At Steingraeber we favor beech and maple for the higher frequencies and spruce and pine for the lower frequencies. The cabinetry is worked in a similar fashion.

Advantage? Everything resonates. Even the lid, cabinet, key bed, keyboard, action mechanism …

Steingraeber's principle of deploying individual membranes

The vaulted soundboard made of resonating wood is built like a loudspeaker system encompassing tweeter, midrange and woofer. Every piece of wood varies in how it measures up!

Thus Steingraeber customizes the thinning out of the spruce by means of a sand examination with fine sand strewn over the soundboard. By tapping on the bridge we can identify which areas are “mobile” and which are “immobile”. This is how a conically spherical soundboard comes to life.

We individually match the braces of the soundboard membrane to the conical vaulting before gluing them into place. Ultimately they are worked into a curved line with constantly varying angles.

Steingraeber's principle of circulating energy and resonance

Tension in the instrument’s body fosters the conservation of energy and its subsequent release. Tuning the strings sets off a chain reaction that produces substantial tension within the soundboard. In grand pianos string tension acts like a force transducer at the belly rail and - in accordance with the “circulation principle” – it generates a rim tilt via the braces and a soundboard compression via the ribs.

For this reason the spruce ribs are positioned against hardwood thereby increasing its life span. In many other grands you will unfortunately discover free standing unsecured ribs at the belly rail. The belly rail couples the bass and treble sides.

In upright pianos the same tension builds up among various components including frame, braces, sound board braces, bottom rail and sides.

Steingraeber's principle of customer orientation

Our specialized team welcomes all our customers to the Steingraeber workshops where they can contribute their own ideas while experiencing the matchless quality of our instruments. Steingraeber’s trained technicians and customer service representatives are of course available to you worldwide assisting after delivery.

Steingraeber's innovation continues to enrich classical piano building to this very day. New materials - culminating in aluminium honeycomb used in aircraft design - have resonance boosting properties also fulfilling heightened demands in inhospitable climates, for example take our new super-lightweight grand piano lid and the wood-filled aluminium profile as introduced in recent Steingraeber exhibitions.

A new old-tonality: Sordino®

Until about 1830 Sordino used to be a standard feature on all grands, e. g. made by the piano companies Graf (Vienna) and Erard (Paris). Thanks to a suggestion by the pianist Jura Margulis Steingraeber has now reintroduced this feature. A very fine piece of felt goes horizontally between the hammers and strings thereby allowing tone colorations/modifications as required, e. g. in Franz Schubert’s “fp” notation. This is accomplished via a knee lever, a 4th pedal or by a switch interchanging with the sostenuto function.

Mozart Rail®

The key-dip became deeper and deeper through three hundred years of piano history. It started at less than 5 mm coming down to more than 10 mm nowadays being a real challenge for pianists! Steingraeber’s Mozart Rail® reduces key-depth in grand pianos to 8 mm and hammer distance to the strings to a mere 36 mm. This makes for a softer “pppp” and faster repetition. It is available in two different versions, a knee lever for use during playing or a hand rail for adjustment to 8 - 10 mm before playing. George Steingraeber developed this pianissimo pedal in 1894, which was also used by Engelbert Humperdinck.

Enhanced sound projection

You are witnessing the world’s lightest concert grand lid. Aircraft material reduces the weight by more than 50 percent and enhances its ability to vibrate.

Grand feeling in upright pianos: SFM®

Steingraeber-Ferro-Magnet (SFM)® means grand-piano-like, deep repetition for professionals available on the Steingraeber models 130 and 138. The repetition point is at only 1–2 mm due to two magnets in the hammer butt and the jack tip.

Introduction to Steingraeber & Söhne
Virtual Tour
World Dealers’ Day 2013
More Videos

www.steingraeber.de is the official website of Steingraeber & Söhne KG.