FREE Baby Grand Piano for someone in Illinois, nr Chicago > help a fine old instrument find a home

I'm looking more for an adolescent grand piano.

Will consider an adult grand as well.

Here are a few links to pictures:

[link to www.mypianofriends.com]

[link to www.mypianofriends.com]

[link to www.mypianofriends.com]


This is the info I was given:

Here's the owner's description:

"The general condition is what one might expect of a piano from 1917. The case itself is in good condition, although it looks like someone repainted it black at some point.

As for the action, the piano plays well and doesn't have any broken or sticking keys. There are a couple strings up at the top that are broken from the last time I had it tuned. The tuner was a little over-ambitious in his pitch raise, unfortunately. I haven't gotten the strings replaced, because I don't use the top octave much!

When it's tuned, the piano has a decent sound, although several of the notes are a little muffled, due to the hammers being indented from years of hitting the strings. In order to turn it into an instrument for recording or high-end performance, it would need some refurbishing."

If you're a history buff, this is the Obit for John Steger:

[link to query.nytimes.com]

A parlor grand piano (value when restored)

[link to antiquepianoshop.com (secure)]

Steger & Sons Parlor Grand Piano

Steger & Sons built exceptionally high quality, expensive pianos from 1893-1956 in Chicago (Steger, IL).

Steger celebrated many years of building marvelous pianos, but unfortunatly they are quite rare today.

$18,000
(not including applicable sales tax & shipping charges)


YEAR: 1902
LENGTH: 5 feet, 5 inches
FINISH: Mahogany
STATUS: Restored

Let me know

I also know how to locate fairly inexpensive movers if someone out of the area is interested

There's always a way

I would love to have to have it but it isn't practical for me ATM.

I think Tesla owned a Steger.

That should get some takers

wow, if true, that would confirm what I suspected about the quality of these things

when I got mine, I was merely waiting for my Baldwin to get a ride on the piano jitney cross country, and I was eager to play again

I thought it would be a piano I'd want to flip the minute mine arrived (I got my Steger for $200 off craigslist)

I had no idea this thing was so beautifully built that the sound would keep me playing for hours.

Even though I grew up in a piano household and was aware of some fairly obscure manufacturers, I had never heard of Steger, and that is a pity.

It made me incredibly sad that such an important company, which lovingly had built so many instruments to a very high standard, had totally vanished into a memory hole.

At one time John Steger & Sons produced over 100 pianos a day and kept an entire town employed. He founded Steger IL just to manufacture pianos...but today few know of him apart from his descendants

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

I'm a sucker for these stories, so forgive me the background info

Last Edited by Harvey the Big Cat on 06/08/2012 05:56 PM

Sound of a restored Steger baby grand:

I live in riverside, what color is it

Sound of a restored Steger baby grand:

Hi...look at the picture links I posted above

It looks identical to mine, so I imagine it is mahogany (and THICK mahogany, not laminate or plywood which even 50,000 pianos are made of today, which is why most sound tinny)

However, it says someone painted it black :(

The good news is, like furniture form that era, the finish is not veneer, so it could be refinished

I will check whether it has the original ivory keys.

If it does you are in luck. Mine had the keys swapped out, which is a shame because the feel of playing on ivories is wonderful. I don't condone modern harvesting of animals for ivory, but if you have a 90 year old instrument which already had them it is a plus, in my book.

I'd be there in a heartbeat if I had the time and the truck.

If this posting is legit...I would be very grateful. Years ago, I had a 100 yr.old Steinway which I had to sell for personal reasons. It has always saddened me.

I have longed for a grand since moving to the Chicago area, buying a Victorian house, and trying to replace my old Steinway.

Forgive me for questioning so acutely, but....this is an extraordinary situation.

Appreciate the photo's and would be very interested in this piano (and your suggestion re: movers.) What would be your suggestion about where to connect from here?

I thank you in advance for your kind reply.

Hi!

Please, send me a mail to 100colestreet @ gmail.com, and I'll give you the direct link

It's my birthday today, so I'll be headed out shortly to enjoy it with friends, but I will check the mail later on

Yes, this is legit, and there are good pianos like this which get destroyed every week because people don't have the space for them any more. You can't blame them...in apartments most people don't have the space, and neighbors complain about the noise. Electronic pianos are more practical

Me, however, I'm a romantic, and I love the old instruments, and I'm fortunate to have the space

You do realize this piano needs some TLC, but it is playable as is. The owner will be able to tell you more

I'm going to upload some pictures of my $200 Steger, after about a month of buffing and polishing. I paid to have it tuned, to have 2 strings replaced, a hammer fixed and the keys glued back on

It still needs about $1200 of repairs, but for me its a long term project, and I'll get to that as I can

If I can, I'll upload an Mp3 of what mine sounds like, because if you're like me, thats what really matters

thank you for responding.

Last Edited by Harvey the Big Cat on 06/08/2012 07:31 PM

Here is an example of the ribbon mahogany which they used to use (before the Depression) to make US pianos

It's amazing to think of the craftsmanship involved to make one of these instruments...we take it for granted, but it would cost close to the price of a car or small house to recreate this level of quality today

as said, I paid $200 for mine, this one I'm posting about is free...there are still good things available for little money, if you know where to look, and are willing to do some work with your hands. I had to lightly sand and buff away years of oils, some cracked varnish and other wear typical of age. Fortunately no one had put polyurethane on it.

If it is a water based paint, it shouldn't be difficult to strip. I've stripped old bedroom sets which have been painted, and as long as you have a garage or other space where you can do the work, its not that bad if you have the right tools and you like the detail work.


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You can see how mine has the same music stand, the same legs as the one being given away. It must be quite similar in construction and materials, because as I discovered through research Steger didn't make a "bargain" line

My piano tuner told me the braces underneath mine are of a thickness and quality he's only seen on concert grands

These things(Stegers) were totally overbuilt, which is why they make good restoration candidates unless they were totally abused, the harp is cracked or left untuned or left in a dry climate for years - which warps and cracks the sound board

Last Edited by Harvey the Big Cat on 06/09/2012 07:10 PM

A description of Steger from the 1920s. It makes you sad when you read this, and see how the company even built homes for its employees and helped them buy them on easy payment plans

Where are companies like this today?

:(

[link to www.bluebookofpianos.com]

STEGER & SONS:

The great industry by which Steger & Sons Grand and upright pianos, player pianos. player grand pianos, reproducing uprights and grand pianos and Steger phonographs are manufactured was established in 1879 and Incorporated in 1892 as the Steger & Sons Piano Mfg. Co. The factories were at Steger, III., where the Dixie highway and Lincoln highway meet, twenty-nine miles from Chicago, on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad.

The town, which was founded by the late John V. Steger for the purpose of establishing there the great industry, has developed into a place of importance generally speaking, and of vast importance in its relation to piano manufacture. The town occupies a tract of 1,500 acres and the land was purchased by the company for development along the lines which have given to it a conspicuous place.

Steger is a community of intelligent, progressive citizens, the larger proportion of whom are workers in the piano factories controlled by Steger & Sons Piano Mfg. Co.

Most of the workers own their own homes, which were built by the company and sold to employ on easy payments at cost of erection. The town is supplied with all of the conveniences of a modern city and the school system is a matter of local pride.

Owing to the relations which exist between the piano industry and its employees there never arises any of the unrest which sometimes interferes with the progress of industrial communities.

Strikes are never known there and the policy long ago adopted has insured not only the prosperity of individuals by the advancement of the Steger & Sons instruments throughout the entire country.

Steger & Sons pianos, possessing beautiful tone and artistic excellence, have attained to a place of distinction in the musical world. From the first it has been the policy to insist upon the most careful workmanship and first cost has not been considered in any of the parts or processes which go to the creation of these instruments.

They are represented and sold by a very large proportion of the prominent and progressive piano merchants of the United States. They are found in many of the leading musical colleges and conservatories, and are bought by discriminating lovers of music.

A feature of the Steger & Sons' pianos is the artistic case designs, and to this end a special art department is maintained in which are employed noted experts in the creation of original effects. Steger instruments are backed by the liberal Steger guarantee.

The financial strength of the company is unquestioned. One of Chicago's imposing skyscrapers is the Steger Bldg., at the northwest corner of Wabash Ave. and Jackson Blvd. It is in the center of Chicago's piano row and it forms one of the impressive monuments to the attainments of the Steger & Sons' industries.

The Steger Bldg. is nineteen stories high and was erected at a cost of about $l,000,000, The names of pianos are arranged alphabetically in this book to ascertain the character and reliability of any instrument....

From the Piano Blue Book

Last Edited by Harvey the Big Cat on 06/08/2012 07:29 PM

Harvey, what you and your friends are doing is wonderful. If only I still lived up there!! I used to own a Steger upright grand. It was my grandmother's. She bought it used many years ago by cleaning houses. All of us kids learned the basics from her out of the red John Thompson book. She gave it to me when I moved back to my home town, but I had to leave it when I remarried and was moving overseas. My husband made the mistake of joking about it falling off the ship when it was off-loaded. It was sold shortly after that. I miss it still. Do you know anyone in West Texas that restores old uprights? Or a source of info. I have a different one that needs a lot of love, but the sound board is still in good shape.

Yes, well I know a few around DFW, and I will check with Nathan to see if he knows of a reliable person in W Texas (are you by Amarillo?) (and thank you for sharing your story! I also learned on the John Thompson books, I still have a few of them, sweet memories of my mother teaching us how to play)

Pianos become part of the family, which is why I guess I get so protective of them.

I always think of the generations of the family who grew up around mine - which apparently had been in the same family since it was purchased in 1915 and carried around the country until it wound up in Fort Worth.

I'm here in Dallas, and so far the work on mine has been done by a talented young man who works at World Wide Piano down on Riverfront. I will find his card and his name ( I believe Nathan, but I want to confirm), but he's their only tuner, and its a small family shop there.

1310 North Riverfront Boulevard Dallas, TX 75207
(214) 987-9899

[link to worldwidepiano.com]

He'll be doing the restoration on mine, and I trust him as he's restoring an extremely complex antique upright for himself right now as a labor of love

Below are a few links of people I spoke to and liked when I was looking for someone to help me with some internal work on mine

I really liked the company located in Denton...maybe they can recommend someone closer to you. I find in pianos its a fairly small world, even nationwide, and the restorers are a small club, almost like a guild sharing information and parts.

I had a long conversation with the wife (it's a husband and wife business). Her name is Lindsey, and you can tell they really love old instruments. I ended up going with World Wide, simply because they could get to me sooner and I was eager to start playing again, but if I had had the time, I would have waited for Lindsey and her husband.

Oh well...maybe the next one :)
________________________________________________


[link to smithpianoservicing.com]

________________________________________________


P. Williams Piano Restorations

Piano Tuning, Repair, & Restoration

444 South First Street

Krum, Denton County, Texas 76249

Telephone: (940) 482-3344

OUR EMAIL ADDRESS:

[email protected]

[link to www.pianorestorer.com]

_____________________________



I'm a piano teacher who grew dissatisfied with the quality of tunings I received for the pianos in my studio. I decided to take the bull by the horns and studied piano tuning with the American Piano Supply Company (now part of Schaff Piano Supply Company).

Thirty years later, after working with other great tuners and a local piano store, I'm still tuning and repairing pianos.

I offer quality tunings and repairs at reasonable prices. Tunings are done by ear, with assistance from a sophisticated computer tuning program, as well as a traditional tuning strobe.

Visit my website at [link to butterfieldmusic.com]

Call for an appointment at 214-460-6859.

_______________________________

Last Edited by Harvey the Big Cat on 06/08/2012 08:10 PM

Thanks, Harvey. I live closer to Lubbock, so I've been trying to find someone here. No luck though. Thanks for the contact information. I'll be using it soon. I really do miss my old girl!

The couple in Denton might be able to refer you to someone in Lubbock

They really seemed to have their heart and soul in the business, and I find that in that field, it's a pretty small world

Good luck, keep me updated

I know what it's like. I had missed my family piano so much, which is what got me started with my first project, the old Baldwin which I got from the music master of the Russian Orthodox Church in Bridgeport CT. It had beautiful tone, but needed everything cosmetic. Now its amazing, and the important internal work was done by Al Oliver in Westport

Pianos can give such pleasure, and I cannot exactly explain why. It is one of the things which can totally relax me within half an hour, no matter what kind of day I've had

I know what you mean. Gram's piano got me through all of the tough pre and teenage years...AND a bad divorce. I have fibro- myalgia now, so I don't play like I used to, but I'm getting better and it's time to try again. Thanks again for what you're doing.

Just checking in to see if there are any looking for more info on this piano

Hope all having a great Saturday so far

Does it matter??? No. Just the tone.
I wish I lived closer..I would dearly love to play that beauty every single day.

I Love to explode these...

you're like me :)

My first piano I bought, after much searching, because it was the one which sounded the most like the one I had grown up with. The case looked like an old snake skin, and all the ivories had come off the keys...but it had always been tuned and the harp was perfect. It rang when you played it, sounded sweet and full, and it gave me so much happiness.

Eventually I got the case worked on, but that came later. Cases are easy to re-finish. Internal work, on the other hand, is prohibitively expensive if a piano has been abandoned.

I grew up with a mother who was a concert level pianist, and after she retired from her work in a totally unrelated field, she taught music. She taught my sister and I how to play on an older pre WWII Baldwin with a lackluster finish but amazing action and sound.

My mom would often say that some of the finest pianos were made in the US in the 20th century, because of a unique combination of access to fine european craftsmen who had immigrated to the US in the late 19th century, plentiful access to iron, brass and wonderful woods like old growth mahogany and walnut. The men who started companies like Steger or Kimball, Fisher, Mason Hamlin and Steck, were trying to establish the reputation of American companies and wanted to compete with the best of Europe.

These old pianos are built like solid old houses or cars made before everything was designed to be disposable.

I apologize for going on...I really love the history of things like this...lol

What a refreshing thread. Good karma for you Harvey.

I sent you the contact phone to text. I hope you contact him soon and get to see if it meets your needs

Please let me know how it works out :)

thank you nine, and back at ya!

send an email if you're interested

A couple of GLPers have written me, don't know if one of them is a match for the piano or not.

It would be awesome if we helped find someone a new instrument.

I'm looking forward to hearing back some good news :)