Baby Malone

Review of Steinway & Sons

The tour was directed by a retired employee who st...

The tour was directed by a retired employee who started at the bottom of the company and came up through the ranks and was eventually head engineer, or something impressive like that. His knowledge on all aspects of piano building was evident and he did a very nice job passing along this information to a group of about 15 of us. Much time was spent discussing different wood varieties and their special nuances. Maybe a little too much detail with the wood. We went through different areas of the factory and watched as the laborers worked on their contribution to the piano. Much was said about the unique sound of a Steinway, the desirable sound, the superior sound of a Steinway. But nowhere in the tour did we get to be in a room and listen to an actual Steinway piano. We saw every aspect of it's construction but in the end, I left feeling like the tour missed the mark because of that one thing. A short demonstration about sound or something would have meant 2 more stars from me. We did talk about sound at one point in the tour but it was just in theory. Who wouldn't have wanted to hear someone play some notes?