1905 Steinway & Sons Model D | Salon Piano Series | Madison, WI

1905 STEINWAY & SONS MODEL D CONCERT GRAND PIANO

This piano was crafted at the Steinway factory in New York, a facility established in 1853. Steinway’s Model D concert grand underwent continuous changes in design, reaching its final pinnacle of success around 1900.

Steinway’s commitment to build the world’s most beautiful concert instrument kept the Steinway boys up late at night, fiendishly pursuing new ideas that would make it an even greater instrument. This led to the remarkable task of redesigning and recasting a new cast-iron harp. The process involved creating a new wooden pattern, with all lettering carved in reverse for each modification in the harp's casting. The resulting casting was pressed into wet sand to create the mother casting. In contrast to modern castings, the older harps possessed a deeper resonance. Present-day environmental considerations necessitate the use of non-polluting methods, often resulting in a harder metal and a higher-pitched ring.

The wood from pianos manufactured around this time were from first cuttings from virgin forests, selecting the most perfect wood with slower growth rings. These logs were then soaked in Steinway’s mill pond until they virtually sank to the bottom of the pond. At this point they would cut the logs into boards.

These designs came from Steinway's own intuition, with feedback from the great world-class pianists that played their instruments. Crafting the piano involved meticulous attention to detail. It represents the pinnacle of piano design. The restoration at Farley's House of Pianos faithfully copied every aspect of the maker’s intentions. Every moving part in the piano was replaced including the soundboard and action components.

It was a great joy to be able to reincarnate the tone that was once present in this model 120 years ago.

-Timothy Farley, Registered Piano Technician