Seeker Welcome to the KrausPianoStudio. I am going to work on getting some glam shots of the Steinert. Meanwhile, here is a picture similar to the one that Google shows on its maps for KrausPianoStudio. On the Bechstein is my Padmu based on a Boox platform with wonderful ePaper readability. There are two Jansen benches, a regular size Steinway logoed one with the Bechstein, and a petite at the Steinert. I sent the brown one to Jansen for reconditioning; I had a local guy reupholster the petite and add a bit of memory foam to make it more comfortable. On the black bench is an older iPad on which I run PiaTune, a carbon fiber tuning hammer from Driscoll in Massachusetts. There is a single boom microphone stand, and nearer the window is a really nice, yet inexpensive, stand I bought to hold an overhead camera or cellphone used as a camera for overhead keyboard shots. In the corner is a bit of custom shelving that an adult student of mine did for me. She also did the curtains which I close when making recordings. I love the view out that window. The big branch is on a massive Asian Chestnut tree which I decided to love rather than cut down as a nuisance. It does eat a bit of money for maintenance, but pays for itself with a view of the birds and other critters. The blue thing on the wall is kind of decommissioned at this point. It was a return vent for the central HVAC system. It is covered with "FatMat" which deadens it acoustically and prevents any audible resonances. I have a "minisplit" on the wall opposite the Bechstein, and I keep the temps between 73 and 75 degrees year round with it at what feels like an extremely reasonable cost due to the high efficiency of those units. The unit I bough even sucks heat out of the air at-10F, and it did keep the studio comfy last winter.

      WOW Seeker - LOVE the 'white dry erase board' on the wall - Wished I had thought of that years ago.
      Or even the Monthly Calendar one - to keep track when I was scheduling students. But that was years ago.
      I now only play for myself, meditation and relaxation.

      Beautiful Set-up INCLUDING the view out the window!
      brdwyguy

      PS is this a separate room in your home, I assume so?

        brdwyguy PS is this a separate room in your home, I assume so?

        Indeed it is. Our house was one of three "model homes" for our subdivision (my English friends call this an estate?). A carport was built up into a room, and it was used as the sales office, and that is the home of Kraus Piano Studio today. It is attached to the house, but I need to go outside to get into/out of it. There are some interesting details about the room, e.g., it has beautiful red tiles over concrete for the floor; it has a ceiling open to the roof vs a standard 8 foot ceiling, and until we replaced other windows in the house, it had the best windows of all until then, Anderson with wooden frames. What I have found very good are the lights- those are 1968 vintage fluorescent valences, and they give wonderful light. As the ballasts fail, I've replaced a few with electronic ballasts, and others I've converted to LED. In any event, they give shadowless light which is more than adequate for reading music (though I use a backlit tablet now). The white board idea came to me from a visit to the home of Elizabeth Vercoe, a composer I met at Boston University when I was an undergrad. She was married at the time to Barry Vercoe, another composer, and a brilliant guy who worked at MIT. In any event, they both had whiteboards in their home studios, and I guess that stuck with me.

            Gombessa

            Looking back through the history here, I notice your new Boesendorfer has the telltale box of a Disklavier pedal actuator on the lyre- what do you think of that reproducing system as employed on your piano?

            Enspire Pro system, correct?

            Love the lights, BTW- I also tend towards the techie decoration look, but my wife draws the line at the living room...

              Gombessa I call that one the Mace Windu. And of course, you can do weirder stuff, too, if you opt for addressable RGBW segments rather than just single-color:

              This looks like a cool night club and I can imagine Billy Joel playing the Piano Man 🤩🤩🤩 Beautiful piano!

                Seeker Here are details on the tall boom arm stand at the bass end of the keyboard.
                https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNHSYF4C?psc=1
                Right now I'm using my previous cellphone as the camera for overhead keyboard shots. It's okay, but I have to get up onto something so I can adjust the view. Can anybody recommend a reasonably priced alternative, some sort of action cam? other camera type? that I could be adjusting the view through my cellphone (and starting the camera through it) vs having to climb up and do that manually?

                  @Seeker that’s a wonderful piano studio!!

                    ShiroKuro that’s a wonderful piano studio!!

                    Thanks. If you're local, you're welcome to come see it. It's a space that evolved, originally from being just a junk room to what it is now over a 10+ year period. We originally had my Weber 208cm in the living room. During a floor refinishing project it went into the room that became the studio, and... I realized that was the best place for the music to happen. And so it began.

                        Seeker During a floor refinishing project it went into the room that became the studio, and... I realized that was the best place for the music to happen

                        That's wonderful!
                        Unfortunately, I'm not local to you 🙁

                          Seeker OK - I am starting to find pictures of the Steinert. Here's the first showing some of the interior during
                          the work done by Cantabile. The soundboard is the original 1929 board which we were fortunate enough to be able to use retaining the character of the piano, and you can see some of the detail of the new bridgecap which, along with whatever magic Luis did at Cantabile has resulted in that original sound retained yet enhanced.

                              Seeker

                              Beautiful piano! I wonder how decision was made in terms of whether to replace or repair the original soundboard. Condition must be a determining factor?

                              Is the studio a teaching studio or a recording studio? If the former, your students are lucky! ☺️

                                  cheeeeee Beautiful piano! I wonder how decision was made in terms of whether to replace or repair the original soundboard. Condition must be a determining factor?

                                  Is the studio a teaching studio or a recording studio? If the former, your students are lucky! ☺️

                                  Hey cheeeeee. When I bought the piano about 10 years ago, the board had been repaired, not so much the bridge cap. Over the years, Jim Colwell (my long time technician friend) did what he could to save the bridge applying superglue in various places as well as the base of the bridge pins. It helped, but ultimately, the piano lost some of its "oomph" where there were stress cracks in the cap, albeit filled ones. The board really was in good enough shape, though I left that decision to Luis and Jim to let me know. I really didn't want to change it, because then I would have had a different piano, instead of a renewed piano with the sound I knew and loved.

                                  The studio is used for teaching (I usually put students on the Bechstein for a while so I can monitor them very closely, and the Bechstein is a unique experience for them...). I also coach/record singers and instrumentalists in it. With the sound treatments you see I have had some substantial operatic voices singing quite loudly, and we've been able to work together well in it. One thing that made a huge difference aside from the other acoustic treatments you see in the other picture of the two pianos, can be seen towards the tail of the Steinert - tan fabric up against the wall. That is for a corner "bass trap" that I bought pre-assembled and mounted in the corner. It cleaned up all the muddiness and overemphasis that can happen when you put a piano near the wall, and even worse, when you put it against the wall in a corner. With the bass trap, the bass is clear and blends well with the other frequencies.

                                  As I get my strength back (I'm recovering from abdominal surgery...), I'm going to make a few recordings of shorter, simpler (but not terribly easy) pieces - first on the Bechstein, then on the Steinert. This will give people a chance to hear the differences in the tonalities, and I think it should be interesting listening.

                                      Since I didn't get round to submitting any recordings for the recital, here's my little beauty - an August Förster 116E.

                                      Here is some detail on the bridge cap.
                                      ...and here you can see the beautifully wound HellerBass strings at the tuning pin side.
                                      At the top you can also see a bit of the bottom side of the soundboard including the ribs.

                                        Seeker The board really was in good enough shape, though I left that decision to Luis and Jim to let me know. I really didn't want to change it, because then I would have had a different piano, instead of a renewed piano with the sound I knew and loved.

                                        It’s so lucky that they were able to save the board for you. My own rebuilt was originally from 1915. The board was too broken to be restored. I’m always curious in terms of how much the change of the sound board can change the personality of the piano. It’d be hard to do a before-after comparison since the before condition is typically bad.

                                        Seeker One thing that made a huge difference aside from the other acoustic treatments you see in the other picture of the two pianos, can be seen towards the tail of the Steinert - tan fabric up against the wall. That is for a corner "bass trap" that I bought pre-assembled and mounted in the corner. It cleaned up all the muddiness and overemphasis that can happen when you put a piano near the wall, and even worse, when you put it against the wall in a corner. With the bass trap, the bass is clear and blends well with the other frequencies.

                                        Wow, thanks for sharing this! My piano is set exactly against the wall in a corner. I’ve got to look into the bass trap.

                                        Seeker As I get my strength back (I'm recovering from abdominal surgery...), I'm going to make a few recordings of shorter, simpler (but not terribly easy) pieces - first on the Bechstein, then on the Steinert.

                                        Wish you a speedy recovery! Looking forward to the recordings.

                                                Seeker HellerBass strings at the tuning pin side.
                                                At the top you can also see a bit of the bottom side of the soundboard including the ribs.

                                                Great job for the board repair. It almost looks like new.

                                                  cheeeeee I’ll ask my tech to give some suggestions.

                                                  ...WRT to piano technicians, knowledge about acoustical treatments is "outside their wheelhouse". The people who do know about those things are recording engineers and studio owners, because such treatments are critical to their work.