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Hi all!

I've recently acquired a 8"6' George Steck concert grand from my old university. The serial number dates the piano to the early 1920s. The piano is not in good condition, and I anticipate a reasonably comprehensive restoration job to get it up to performance standard.

I've scoured the internet and found no information on a concert grand being made by George Steck around this time. Does anyone have any information on this line of George Steck models?

Some images for your perusal:









Thanks in advance!

Steve

Welcome to Piano World! I've never seen one, but I'm guessing someone will chime in with some info. Any chance you can post some photos showing some detail of the inside? Photos of the cast iron frame, strings, tuning pin area...even the bracing underneath would be helpful.

cosmetically that looks to be in great shape compared to many pianos I have looked at for university auctions.

Welcome to PW!

Based on a quick glance of the harp (color) and some other cosmetic features, I'm wondering if this is a lot newer than the 1920's. Anyone else?

Thanks

if you dated your piano to the 1920s accurately, it is a rarity among vintage Stecks. from the information accessible to me, the Aeolian conglomerate that owned steck and many other brands at the time was most successful marketing stecks as player uprights and smaller size reproducing grands, and many of the surviving stecks from the 20s were such instruments. so if you do have a concert grand from the 20s, don't be surprised if very very few people have had first hand experience with one. what matters of course is how you like it and enjoy it after investing a restoration.

It looks like an Asian piano from the 1970s to 1990s to be honest, not a 1920's American concert grand.

from the 20s through the early 90s, either Aeolian, Aeolian American, or post-breakup, Mason & Hamlin owned Steck. when the burgetts bought M&H, steck came along with it, and production went first to Pearl River, then Sejung, and finally Parsons. were Aeolian/Aeolian American brands shifted over to China or Korea at any point before the company went under ?

http://www.concertpitchpiano.com/George-Steck-Piano-Prices.html

Joe:
Have to agree with you. Who owns/owned the name ? Was it still AEolian Corp. and, if so, wouldn't it be likely that the piano was made by Samick ?
Karl

Karl, personally I don't know much about George Steck pianos and their concert grands from the late 20th Century. Actually in the UK we still rarely see any concert grands that are not from Bechstein, Bösendorfer, Blüthner, Fazioli, Steinway, Kawai or Yamaha. Sometimes you can still come across the odd 1920s Chappell, Broadwood or Challen, but they're like needles in haystacks.

Any Steck piano I've seen here in the UK has been made here - some larger uprights, the occasional compact upright, and a few baby grands. I think that Steck here was something of a stencil name, and the pianos were probably made (note the probably) by Kemble or someone similar. I know that there are some Aeolian branded pianos that were made here, but I don't know if they had their own factory. A few of them were player pianos, and some of them can be seen kicking around in various places with the player systems removed. There was a Steck ex-player baby grand in the local theatre (replaced by a Boston upright in 2000), and there was a Weber ex-player upright in my old high school.

Thanks for all your responses, everyone

Interesting points raised about the features not looking like they fit the 1920s manufacturing style, I'd certainly agree re: the colour of the harp. It looks a bit more modern. Nonetheless, I am going off the serial number (64xxx) which I found under the keyboard and referenced at bluebookofpianos.com

I've since taken some more detailed shots. The brace supporting the back leg is apparently there after the leg came loose or something similar... I'm having a local piano technician do an inspection some time next week, so perhaps some light can be shed!



















Cheers

Maybe the plate was refinished at some point in its life? Looks pretty old apart from the colour.

Check out those vertical hitch pins like on a Baldwin.

...and not like a 1920s Baldwin, at that!

I noticed that first thing. Also, the nickel plate bolts and the color/condition of the plate - at least from afar - do not say vintage Steck. The soundboard decal does, but that is another thing entirely.

Also, the lyre support rods going to the back leg.... that is different.

Here's my two cents (or less).

The more I look, the more I see that this is an older piano, perhaps 20 years or more earlier than the 20's (serial numbers are not always the best clue. The open faced pinblock may seem to indicate that the piano may have been from the very late 1800's to early 1900's. To my eye, it's a rebuild where there were redesign liberties taken. The smack you in the eyeballs giveaway are the Baldwin influenced "accu-just" hitch pins, except that they are not - it looks like they thread into the plate, have a "shelf" that the string rests on, and are adjusted up or down from the top with an allen wrench. Looking at the soundboard from the underside, it looks like an old board, the darkening of the varnish is a giveway. What look like nickel plated plate bolts look more like capping nuts to a home built adjustable plate bolt ( I have done that, although I now use the WNG bolts). The bridges have been recapped and notched. I am guessing that both the legs and lyre have been replaced. The case was refinished, close examination of the decal shows that is on top of the finish rather than being under lacquer or varnish. And the plate color.....

Rather than spend the money on a good piano truck, they have braced the back leg. That's ridiculous, it does nothing to support the two front legs laterally.

A school piano. They have beat the stuffing out of the case having the kids run it through narrow doors at breakneck speeds.

Will,

Great observations. I agree with you entirely. It looks like a significant redesign of an older piano. Actually, I like the looks of those hitch pins. Seems like it could be a step up from the Baldwin design. I wonder who did it?

Semmo,

Are you in the Minneapolis area? Or somewhere else? Did you get it cheap? It looks to me like it has potential. Are you intending to do the work yourself or hire a tech? Just wondering.

Pwg

Hi Pwg,

I'm a fair way away from Minneapolis area... From Melbourne, Australia in fact! Let's just say I nearly spent as much moving it to my school nearby as what I paid for the piano

Despite it's condition, I think the piano itself sounds like it has potential for greatness! The single string bass notes are unbelievably deep and powerful! I'm having a local tech check it out next week. The intention is to get the piano up to the best condition possible, providing I don't have to sell my kidneys of course Hoping around the AU$10k region (US$7-8k) will suffice, if not I might have to put the project on the back burner for a little while...

Cheers,

Semmo

Now that I know you are in Australia, I would say those hitch pins are not Baldwin-esque at all, but look more like predecessors of what Wayne Stuart uses today. Perhaps he worked on this piano pre-Stuart & Sons?

William:

I'm curious. Have ANY modern piano builders produced instruments with open face planks (pinblocks) ?
I've heard more than one top-flight re-builder praise them as superior, at least in vertical pianos.

Karl

Hi Karl, Boesendorfer does plenty of pianos with open face pin blocks.

For example: https://www.boesendorfer.com/en/pianos/pianos/grand-piano-200