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36-519: At 274 centimetres (9 ft 0 in) long, 156 centimetres (5 ft 1 in) wide and 480 kilograms (1,060 lb), the D-274 is too large for most homes. In concert hall settings, on the other hand, the D-274 is a major presence. An example would be the famous Van Cliburn International Piano Competition , which offers contestants a choice of two D-274s owned by the Van Cliburn Foundation, one

72-515: A 'constructed case' and the newer third have a bent rim case. There are few identical Centennial D-270 grands, so rapidly did the Steinways incorporate new ideas into their production. Accordingly that model is now seen as a transient one, a bridge to the first fully-modern Model 'D', released in the Centennial's final year of production. After the concert success of an 1883 prototype 'D' that featured

108-456: A D-274 on which to make records. At least three independent accounts have detailed the process by which Steinway manufactures the D-274. In 1982, Michael Lenehan published an article in Atlantic Monthly in which he followed the construction of a D-274, designated as K 2571 during manufacture and later, after its adoption into the piano bank program, as CD-129. A somewhat revised version of

144-560: A celebrated fraud: The D-274 has also featured in many television programs, including: For the convenience of touring performers and in the belief that every D-274 is somewhat different in character, Steinway maintains a collection of D-274s in "concert grand piano banks" across the world; for instance, the company maintains more than 40 in the basement of Steinway Hall in Manhattan. Such pianos are given "CD" designators, and they receive replacement stencils calculated for greater visibility at

180-504: A concert grand use a Steinway 'D'. Of the approximately 600,000 pianos Steinway has built (as of 2010), about 25,000 are Models 'D'. Only 424 of the predecessor "Centennial D" pianos were built; about 30 are still known to exist. Steinway manufactures the 'D' in two factories, one in New York and one in Hamburg, Germany. Outwardly, New York and Hamburg 'D's differ most noticeably in finish, with

216-490: A distance. A pianist visiting one of these banks may sample and choose from a range of D-274s, according to taste, for public performance or recording; Steinway prepares and transports the chosen instrument, although the artist bears the cost of these services. As noted above, some artists have developed affinities for particular instruments included in this program; the requirement that instruments so supplied be credited to Steinway led to Olga Samaroff's above-mentioned purchase of

252-513: A grand piano in 1836 (the so-called "kitchen grand"), which today is preserved at the Steinway Hall in New York City. Such grand pianos with a limited keyset of 6 or 6.5 octaves and double strings produce less volume of sound than a D-type concert grand piano. Concert grand pianos of full size are able to fill a concert hall with sound for 2,000 to 3,000 spectators. This was foreshadowed in

288-521: A hard and dimensionally stable substance (fixed into wood, which is not), at certain times of the year they would loosen in their holes and cause clicking during play. After years of complaints from pianists and technicians, in 1982 the New York makers re-introduced the classic felt bushings with an infused dry-grease fluid made with Teflon particles that allowed them to keep using the word Teflon in their advertising. The Steinway Model 'D' represents about 5 percent of all Steinway grand pianos produced,

324-425: A laminated case, radically higher string tension and capo bar (which began at note 36 yet retained vestigial agraffes all the way to note 88), Steinway unveiled the 1884 'D', a fully realized new model with a redesigned scale (including a 20-note instead of a 17-note bass), a capo bar in both upper treble sections, a newly designed pedal lyre, and a multi-laminated case. In subsequent years few changes occurred, though

360-539: A louder sound. "Generally, stiffer boards will give a brighter edge to the sound than softer, more flexible boards....A good, dry soundboard has a certain 'live' tone while a poor one will have a relatively dead response", which may be tested during construction by thumping the board and listening for, "brighter, more noticeable ring[ing]", as one works the board, "to the appropriate thinness". Soundboards are traditionally made of wood (see tonewood ), though other materials are used. Skin or plastic are found on instruments in

396-451: A mellow-toned instrument made in New York, the other a bright-toned instrument made in Hamburg. These are supplemented with a third Steinway piano brought in for the event. An estimate from 2003 suggested that more than 90 percent of concert grand pianos worldwide are D-274s. Virtually all critical design elements of the Steinway 'D' were developed during the 19th century. Among them are

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432-456: A piano competition. The Steinway company sent two grand pianos displaying their latest developments, demonstrating the firm's innovative and markedly improved piano quality. Their determined pursuit of quality was rewarded at the world exhibition with a gold medal. Steinway won the competition against several established, well-known American piano makers, including Chickering & Sons and Weber Piano Company . This Steinway concert grand piano,

468-517: A significantly larger share of concert-grand output than the 1-2 percent that other manufacturers produce. An explanation is found not only in their exceptional quality but in their sophisticated marketing programs – the Steinway Artists program and the concert grand piano banks in New York City, London, and Hamburg have virtually guaranteed the loyalty of concert artists worldwide. On U.S. stages, more than 90 percent of performances using

504-562: A specially designed D-274, which is normally placed in the largest room of the White House, the East Room . The 2002 White House Christmas card features this piano. The world's most expensive grand piano sold at auction is a specially designed D-274 named Steinway Alma Tadema ; it sold for $ 1.2 million in 1997 at Christie's in London, breaking Steinway's own 1997 price record of $ 390,000. The D-274

540-431: Is the only process that preserves the natural structure of the fibres and pores of the wood, which determine the resonance and frequency characteristics of the material. Not only is this process lengthy, but it is also expensive. It would be far quicker and cheaper to subject the wood to artificial drying, although the quality of the material would be compromised. The acoustic properties of an instrument are also influenced by

576-450: The banjo family, and harpsichord makers have experimented with metal soundboards. Wooden soundboards, with the exclusion of those found on keyboard instruments, typically have one or more sound holes of various shapes. Round, oval, or F-holes appear on many plucked instruments, such as guitars and mandolins . F-holes are usual in violin family instruments. Lutes commonly have elaborate rosettes . The soundboard, depending on

612-539: The 1860s when grand pianos were given harps or frames of cast iron . Initially employed to accommodate the cumulative and extraordinary tension of the strings, thereby protecting the wooden structure from destruction, iron frames quickly facilitated a dramatic increase in string tension. With increased string tension came increased power and projection. At the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there were several manufacturer's competitions, including

648-708: The Hamburg product. Garrick Ohlsson preferred the brilliance of the Hamburg instrument in his youth, but the warmth of the New York 'D' as he matured. Sergei Rachmaninoff bought three 'D's, all New York products, for his homes in the United States, but he installed a Hamburg 'D' in his Swiss villa . The difference between the New York and Hamburg Steinway pianos is less noticeable today. Pianist and Steinway Artist Emanuel Ax says that "... the differences have more to do with individual instruments than with where they were made." Several artists have developed documented association with particular 'D's. Examples would include

684-628: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 823947290 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 08:48:03 GMT Sound board (music) A soundboard (occasionally called a sounding board ) is the surface of a string instrument that the strings vibrate against, usually via some sort of bridge . Pianos , guitars , banjos , and many other stringed instruments incorporate soundboards. The resonant properties of

720-413: The action and string scale designs perfected by Henry Steinway Jr., the company founder's son; the hammers, cast iron frame and laminated wooden rim, all originating in designs patented by C. F. Theodore Steinway, another of the founder's sons; the trapwork (pedals), first devised by Albert Steinway, a third son; and most aspects of the soundboard . Since those early years, only two notable improvements to

756-413: The air that is in front of it is compressed and it moves away from the guitar. As the soundboard moves back, the pressure on the air in front of the guitar is reduced. This is called a "rarefaction," and air rushes in to fill the rarefied region. Through this process, an alternating series of compression and rarefaction pulses travel away from the soundboard, creating sound waves. The soundboard operates by

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792-523: The article posted to the Internet includes information updated in 1997. The original article, dating to approximately the time of the company's sale to CBS, described many practices held over from the 19th century, mostly personalized by focusing on individual employees tasked with performing them, but it also touched on what then were prospective changes under consideration to modernize certain aspects of production. The 1997 update continues that approach, updating

828-804: The construction of a D-274 for more than a year, from the search for wood in Alaska to display of the finished instrument at Manhattan's Steinway Hall . The film received its first theatrical screening at New York's Film Forum in November, 2007 and played to generally favorable notices. Featured are discussions and demonstrations of Steinway instruments generally, and the D-274 in particular, by Steinway family member Henry Z. Steinway and pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard , Kenny Barron , Bill Charlap , Harry Connick Jr. , Hélène Grimaud , Hank Jones , Lang Lang , and Marcus Roberts . Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Too Many Requests If you report this error to

864-518: The direct predecessor of today's Model 'D', has become known as the "Centennial grand". It remained in production until 1878, when improvements prompted the Steinways to re-designate their models, replacing numeric designations (Types 1 through 4) with Model letters, i.e., A, B, C and D. These letters still mark the types of Steinway's four largest instruments. This was a time of remarkable advance: In 1878, Steinway began producing their new small Models 'A' and 'B' with laminated maple cabinets, creating

900-422: The following: Over the years, Steinway has produced a small number of special or limited editions of the D-274. The differences in these pianos can range from ornately carved bodywork to large changes in the colour scheme. Custom-built D-274s have also been made; for example the "fully crystallized" D-274s with over a million individually positioned Swarovski crystals covering each piano. The White House has

936-496: The former displaying traditional satin lacquer and the latter high-gloss polyester. Differences in the respective instruments' tone and playing character, however, have led particular pianists to gravitate to the output of one factory or the other; Vladimir Horowitz , for instance, preferred a New York 'D', whereas Marc-Andre Hamelin , Alfred Brendel , Mitsuko Uchida , Burkard Schliessmann , Grigory Sokolov , Arcadi Volodos , Artur Rubinstein and Krystian Zimerman were partial to

972-511: The instrument's length increased slightly (the "rim type" D concert grand pianos from 1884 to about 1895 were only 272 cm long). However, in 1936 a soundboard based on a patent of Paul Bilhuber, an "in-law" member of the Steinway family, was introduced. Bilhuber had created a soundboard that tapered evenly from the thickest central point to a thinner perimeter, and it was judged to provide greater response and longevity. Not all Steinway innovations were successful. In 1961, Teflon bushings for

1008-478: The instrument, is called a soundboard , top , top plate , resonator , table , sound-table , or belly . It is usually made of a softwood , often spruce . More generally, any hard surface can act as a soundboard. An example is when someone strikes a tuning fork and holds it against a table top to amplify its sound. Wood for woodworking must be specially prepared. Ideally, it should be naturally dried. The natural drying process takes at least one year, but it

1044-466: The model have been made: a concentric shaping of the soundboard, a design patented by younger family member Paul Bilhuber, was introduced in 1936; more recently the action was changed to provide a greater mechanical advantage to the player, resulting in less touch resistance with no loss of power. Even before the German-born family emigrated to the United States, the founder, Henry E. Steinway , had built

1080-429: The modern "rim" case: Very long, thin (3.5 mm) planks of maple were slathered with hide glue, bent around a form, clamped together and allowed to dry. This process made rim fabrication quicker, and the resultant structure stronger and more stable. It also was cheaper, requiring fewer man-hours and being less wasteful of hardwoods that need several years of storage and precise seasoning . This speedier production method

1116-620: The playing mechanism were incorporated into U. S.-built grand pianos – a modification that the piano makers at the Hamburg branch did not adopt despite much pressure from the New York-based company. They were able to resist only because the profits of the Hamburg plant were greater than those of the New York factory. The Teflon bushings were intended to lessen friction problems that might occur because of seasonal humidity changes, but they themselves caused excessive friction. Further, because they were

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1152-433: The principle of forced vibration . The string gently vibrates the board, and despite their differences in size and composition, makes the board vibrate at exactly the same frequency. This produces the same sound as the string alone, differing only in timbre . The string would produce the same amount of energy without the board present, but the greater surface area of the soundboard moves a greater volume of air, which produces

1188-400: The soundboard and the interior of the instrument greatly increase the loudness of the vibrating strings. "The sound board is probably the most important element of a guitar in terms of its influence on the quality of the instrument's tone [ timbre ]." When the [guitar] top (or soundboard) vibrates, it generates sound waves, much like a loudspeaker. As the soundboard moves forward,

1224-399: The various personal stories but also detailing the company's subsequent ownership history and adoption of selected new production methods. In 2003, The New York Times ran a series of articles, ultimately published in book form, following the construction of a D-274 designated K 0862. In 2007, an independent documentary film entitled Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 followed

1260-514: Was built in 1883–87 and designed by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema . It is displayed at the art museum Clark Art Institute . In 2006, Steinway recreated an exacting replica of this piano. The D-274 has featured in numerous recordings spanning a wide array of genres and the whole of the history of sound recording. The following list includes some relatively recent examples in a variety of mostly advanced formats, including classical , folk , blues , and new-age albums ; one high-end audio test disc; and

1296-514: Was of great advantage in a time of huge demand for good pianos. In 1880, the two big grand models 'C' and 'D' were changed accordingly. Both the old 85-note 'Henry'-designed (father & son) 'C' grand (formerly named 'Parlor Grand'), and the concert grand Model 'D', which had made a great success on the Centennial Exhibition 1876 in Philadelphia, received a 'rim' case. Among extant Centennial grands (1875-1884), approximately two-thirds have

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