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.

                a month later


                This is taking up somewhat more room than I expected, even though I used a floor pattern and digital layouts. This may not be the final layout, and I haven't thought about a name for the piano yet, but excited to finally have a grand piano!

                Edit: I think I will call her Lili, since the first pieces I played on her were by Lili Boulanger. I hope her life will last much longer than her namesake, though.

                "You're a smart kid. But your playing is terribly dull."

                  TheBoringPianist

                  Looks great! Do you have a couple more angles, particularly how close the bass end is to the wall? It can be hard to judge space/distance from a single photo.

                      Seeker Looking at the rug, etc, perhaps a 90 degree rotation putting your back and the keyboard towards the wall could work?

                      You can't tell in the photo, but the kitchen actually runs along the wall where I'm taking the photo from. Wide-angle photo makes it look like there is more space than there actually is — there's only about 3 ft of space between the side of the piano and the countertop.

                      Gombessa Looks great! Do you have a couple more angles, particularly how close the bass end is to the wall? It can be hard to judge space/distance from a single photo.

                      Here's a couple photos (excuse the mess, I may redact these later) that give a better sense of the space and how close the kitchen is:

                      Also out of view is a large TV/console at the far end where the kitchen counter ends and the sofa seating area begins. The window end of the room was another option for putting the piano, with the main concerns being afternoon sun exposure from SW-facing windows, greater exposure to outside temp/humidity fluctuations with the balcony door, and not being sure where to put the TV.

                      "You're a smart kid. But your playing is terribly dull."

                            TheBoringPianist I’m sure it may feel a little cramped, but it looks great! I hadn’t realized it was a Hidden Beauty model.

                              Fantastic Room - I would LOVE to be there playing in that environment! Congratulations on a job well done.

                              4 months later

                              Very beautiful! Even though I've seen many rebuilt steinways since I live near Piano Row in New York City, I've never seen a music disk anything like the one on your piano. Is this a particularly old steinway way that was rebuilt?

                              • Rob

                              • Post #178

                              Absolutely stunning piano!

                              (It is hard to tell from the photo, but I am a little concerned as to what is going on with the ceiling in that area.)

                              My August Förster 215:

                              10 days later

                              trecorda
                              Hello Tre
                              I just transferred to Piano | Tell under a new name. I did not know that I could use my old name at PW, so I am stuck withis new name. But you will see my name at the end of this post. I want to show you my Sauter Omega 220 which I have mentioned to you sometimes in the past. Here it is.

                              Vuong




                                  Vuong beautiful!! Both the piano and the piano room, really lovely!