|
COLLECTION OF EARLY STEINWAY GRANDS AND THEIR COMPONENTS
Collecting original parts and components: We ask for your help in locating original Steinway grand parts and components. These will be useful in museum display as well as for teaching and lecturing. We encourage the collection of both Steinway pianos and piano parts for the primary purpose of demonstrating early Steinway design and technology; this is essential to understanding Steinway’s early designs and influence. Further, many of these components are discarded in rebuilding. This includes parts for damper and early belly-mounted, fabric-sheathed-wire type sostenuto systems; iron resonators; original wire, hammers, keys, also original legs and lyres; original agraffes, and especially the patent actions of Henry Jr. and Theodore.
Parts for historical action models: Many rebuilders discard action and damper action parts. Some even replace keysticks. While I encourage the archiving of at least sample original parts with the piano owner, I would like to use any available parts which are not archived with the piano for the building of action models, for museum archiving and documentation. We need parts for each of Henry Steinway Jr’s patent actions (beginning 1856) as well as the 1871 patent action of C.F. Theodore Steinway which was used in the 6’8” grand beginning in 1872.
Gathering string scale and wire material data: We also seek original stringing scales and sample original piano wire, segments of which can be sampled for metallurgical content: The time of the principal changes in cast steel wire parallels the time of our Early Steinway Grand study; we seek documentable examples of original wire for study of carbon content and other elements, to help ascertain qualities of early wire such as tensile strength and ductility. See http://www.mozartpiano.com/wiretest.html
|
