Restringing a Steinway Grand Piano 2021 

The original soundboard and bridges were in excellent condition! Restringing this Steinway brought the sustain back to life. Thanks for commenting!

Thank you! I must give credit to my mentor for this method of measuring string length. My Starrett cutters have two marks on each side: one measures string length for three coils on the tuning pin and the other measures string length for four coils on the tuning pin.

I'll be uploading a video of the piano tuning process soon! Thanks for watching.

Thanks for watching and for your comments! We'll keep it in mind for our upcoming videos.

Thank you! The customer was thrilled with the final result.

Thanks for watching and I appreciate your feedback! I too prefer the N/B pins, but this customer wanted to keep the same aesthetic so we went with the blued pins to match the originals. The 1858 Steinway pin block job you’re referring to… was it one of those older angled blocks that tend to sag in the middle preventing the removal of the action? Either way, I can only imagine the amount of work that went into changing a block on a piano that old!

@@phillypianotuning Yes, the sag was profound and a brace was fabricated and installed to help fix that issue. Someone strung the piano in the past with 6/0 and the pins were loose so it needed to be replaced regardless. Thanks for the reply back. Good to see people posting and being active with there account on all ends. Take care 🙂

Thanks for watching!

Thank you! Cheers!

Thanks for watching!

Thank you! I agree. It's refreshing to take care of a piano without always needing to resort to full restoration. Also, I'm a great admirer of your work and the videos on your channel. Thanks for watching.

Gracias por ver!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks so much for watching!

Thanks for watching! In this particular restoration, yes the pins were one size larger than the originals. The originals were 2/0 x 2 3/8 and we installed 3/0 x 2 3/8 size pins.

Always better? No, not necessarily. We have the tools to do a thorough cleaning without removing the plate. When you say "string angle" do you mean bearing? Removing the plate is not required to check bearing, only to adjust it. We remove the strings, let the soundboard rest for a few days in optimal humidity, then check the bearing. We remove the plate if an adjustment is required (it wasn't necessary for this particular project). We can see the entirety of the soundboard from underneath the piano and there were no visible cracks or separation, but I agree that removing the plate would aide in seeing cracks from the topside of the piano if necessary.

You’re welcome! Thanks for watching. To answer your question: it depends. In this video I had chip tuned, leveled strings, and seated strings at the bearing/termination points three times (chip tune, seat strings, level strings, repeat). I then aligned the hammers to the strings, mated the hammers to the strings and fine tuned it 2-3 times. The result of that work is what you hear at the end of the video. My customers then get four free tunings spaced three months apart after the piano is delivered to their home. Most of these tunings require a quick pitch correction pass and one fine tuning pass. Then I recommend tuning twice a year, every year for the rest of the piano’s life. And yes, if the piano is far above or below pitch the soundboard will compress and the first strings tuned will drift requiring another tuning pass to stabilize the pitch. How many passes exactly? It totally depends on how sharp or flat the piano is that day.

Thanks for watching! Bösendorfer manufacturers their own strings in their factory in Vienna. I think Paulello strings are a fantastic new option for all piano restorers: they offer piano wire for optimal string scaling (smoother transition between piano registers and/or to help prevent string breakage) and their nickel-plated wire that resists rust and corrosion. I had a customer who was interested in using Paulello for their restoration, but in the end decided to go with Mapes International Gold Standard wire for the plain strings and J.D. Grandt for the bass strings. The results were fantastic! It’s wonderful that we now have so many options to choose from to get the most out of our pianos.

@@phillypianotuning Thanks, one thing I would love to watch is something that has never been done (at least on youtube): a comparison between strings using the same piano.

Hi Tom, thanks for checking out the video! This is our original (and very small) shop space. We've moved to a larger space in the same building.

Thanks so much! It's hard to see when my back is to the camera, but I do have a pin-block support installed when stringing. If you look carefully @10:10 you'll see the pin-block support through the bass strings.

@@phillypianotuning Question: From your experience, do you know if there are any benefits of using hitch pin punchings? or strictly for decoration? Thanks!

@@henrylam9811 from my experience they help prevent buzzes/rattles at the hitch pin (especially if the strings aren't fully seated on the plate). I've never seen an all-original Steinway with hitch pin punchings so I don't use them in my rebuilds/restoration work on Steinways. A lot of the European brands utilize hitch pin punchings (Bösendorfer comes to mind) but I'm unsure if there is a benefit outside of noise reduction.

Thanks for watching! We use a drill to remove the old tuning pins because it is more efficient. New, larger pins are then installed with a sledge hammer out of preference. They make an “auto-hammer” tool that drives tuning pins into the pinblock, but it can damage the top of the tuning pins so I prefer a manual hammer. I hope this answers your question! Feel free to ask more questions if my answer is unclear. Thanks!

Yes agreed with the drill. But I learned the first time I did that to pulse the drill instead of steady power to prevent burning the pin hole. My 1/2" drill is slow speed, also.@@phillypianotuning​

Thank you! The piece is Brahms Waltz in A-Flat Major, Op. 39 No. 15.

Steinway sources their strings from Mapes Piano String Co. Third-party restorers and technicians are able to purchase new piano strings (treble & bass strings) from Mapes without any trouble. Mapes, as far as I’m aware, has the most comprehensive string scale data for Steinway pianos. If a skilled technician who is familiar with the Steinway sound replaces the strings, hammers and other action parts it SHOULD sound like a new Steinway, but there are many technicians who slap new parts on Steinways-like a car mechanic slapping new brake pads on old rotors-and the result is entirely unsatisfying. This is probably one of the main reasons that Steinway is doing their best to limit third party restorers’ access to new Steinway parts and why they are encouraging owners of vintage Steinways to get their pianos restored at the New York factory. I can’t answer objectively what makes a Steinway a Steinway. Some say all Steinway parts and ONLY Steinway parts makes a Steinway a Steinway, but I have restored Steinways with Renner action parts and Ronsen piano hammers resulting in very happy pianists. Thanks for watching! More videos to come.

The piece is Brahms Waltz in A-Flat Major, Op. 39 No. 15.

12-16 hours for this specific project. Thanks for watching!

Prices vary depending on what is needed/decided upon by the customer. The labor ranges from $1,506.24 - $2,259.36. Then add costs for moving, parts (strings, tuning pins, felts, etc.) and tunings after delivery. The total cost for this project was $3652.77. It can cost more or less depending on if the customer needs sound board repairs/replacement, a new pin block, refinishing of the cast iron plate, etc. It’s a very specific type of work that requires careful consideration and patience.

No, if the pin-torque is high enough the original pins can be reused. In that case we’ll back the pin out of the block 1-3 turns before restringing with new wire.

I recommend connecting with a local technician and seeing if you can spend some time with them. Otherwise, there are a few online options: The Randy Potter School of Piano Technology (www.pianotuning.com) and the American School of Piano Tuning (www.piano-tuning.com). Also, check out the Piano Technician's Guild for a way to connect with a local, skilled technician (www.ptg.org). Thanks for watching!

Yes! The tuning pins are threaded, but the threads are very fine (when you touch them they feel rough like 220 grit sandpaper).

Thanks for watching. It took around 16 hours.

@@phillypianotuning That's amazing! I would have guessed a week.

We used Mapes (www.mapesstrings.com) for both the treble and bass strings for this project.

The total for this service was $3652.77. The current cost for this service ranges from $4,000 - $6,000.

Thanks for your comment! We didn’t repaint the plate because it was outside of the customer’s budget. They also commented that they liked the aesthetic of patina.

Nice work, I am retired now, and I have complety rebuild a lot of piano. Excuse my english, I am living in french area. Quebec province, Canada.

@@claudedespres4772 your English is fine! We are lucky as technicians to work on such an amazing instrument. I’m sure your piano rebuilds were beautiful.

@@phillypianotuning I found lot of restored piano pictures that I will send you. I realize why I am tired and I am retired. I will put the pics in drop box and send you a link to get it. Give me your email address, that will be easy to send you my kind of work. Regards, Claude Despres, québec, Can.

@@claudedespres4772 thanks so much! phillypianotuning@gmail.com

Yes, twisting the bass strings in the direction of the winding is ESSENTIAL. Thanks for watching!

@@phillypianotuning It is definitely essential. Right now I am doing half twists on vintage Yamaha CP-80 coiled strings, and it's insane how well it fixes the tone. No more "schwap" kind of tone. It's like brand new strings. I had replaced a string of a double string pair (note 26... A#). The new string had so much zing compared to every other, so I twisted an adjacent note and was able to make it sound like new strings too. I am now doing it to all coiled ones, breaking to play some music in-between. Addictive. :)

@@ChonkTek we've had to twist entire sets of new bass strings on restorations from other shops. I'm not sure if it was an oversight or lack of knowledge, but the tone goes "schwap" (to use your description) pretty quickly if they aren't twisted. Your CP-80 project sounds like fun and addictive is right! It's hard to stop working on piano projects once you start finding ways to make things sound better and play better.

@@phillypianotuning that's interesting! This particular string maker included a note with some replacement strings stating that the warranty on bass strings is voided if the strings are not twisted upon installation. They also did not make the strings according to the factory style when it seems they could have done it right. They told me they had the data on this piano, but it looks like their data is incorrect.

​@@ChonkTek if it's who I'm thinking it is they are exceptional and have scaling and string-making knowledge that I've come to trust implicitly (even if their strings deviate from factory specifications). I hope you're happy regardless!

There is no such thing as capo for a piano. You will unfortunately have to learn how to play in different keys on a piano. Kevin McAlley

I wish there was! a customer wanted me to pitch up her old piano to a "healing frequency" of 444hz. I told her to call someone else...@@kevinmcalley379

Apparently 21 people had something to say! 😆