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At the 36 second mark, Yana Reznik's Steinway has what appears to be a shortened "rib" of some sort nailed to two other ribs underneath the piano. I'm curious as to what the purpose is of this additional "rib" or contraption and whether it is standard on Steinway Bs. You'll need to pause the video at the 36 sec mark and it is on the bottom left of the gentleman working on the leg installation.

https://youtu.be/c9W1nunDaOU?t=36

It is present on my B (a rebuilt 1969 Hamburg model). Hers is a NY model, so maybe this is part of the B's design.

I am curious too to know what it is for.

As far as I know, all A, B, C, D models have it. But I don't know what it is for.

It is original to the piano.

I do think the movers should have left the grand on the dolly before tipping on the lyre. One must put a block under the keyboard end of the grand board to keep the grandboard and dolly from moving, then when you tip the piano down via the lyre, much less lateral strain is put on the lyre.

My A does not have it (and I don't see it hiding behind the back posts).

Yes, Ed, but what IS it?? Haha

That little thing! Yes, I've always wondered about that. I can confirm my 2012 NY B does NOT have that mysterious little piece of wood. When I went shopping for my piano I looked at B's between 1985 and 2013 and a couple had it, the rest did not. I asked my tech what it was but I can't remember what he told me.

*sigh* This video brings back some serious feels for me

Sorry, I meant all Hamburg A, B, C, D models. There's not many NY Steinways here in europe to check.

Looking at the way it's perpendicular to the other ribs, maybe it's supposed to make a big "H" for Hamburg? ;-)

My 1981 Steinway B has it too. See the picture. I really can't think of what it does. It's a very small piece of wood -- like a 1"x 2" brace. It doesn't touch the soundboard at all. I can insert my fully fingers between it and the soundboard at the ribs. It's notched into the upper side of the braces. There are 2 plate support bolts in that area -- the one in the bell and then another come thru the small block that is attached to the main brace on the left side of the picture.


[img]http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/galleries/2758841.html[/img]

Actually, I was referring to the brace to the bottom left of the gentleman's elbow, not the black brace by the treble bell. It looks as if it connects to each of two ribs.

It is simply an effort to provide more continuity across the soundboard in that area. It is right near the low end of the treble bridge which is always a trouble spot. Very similar in function to what we refer to as riblets. Some makers add weights there. Steinway would never do that. This is far more aesthetically pleasing. Probably an experiment somewhere along the line and it was decided that it helped a little, do why not put it on all? They would have been better served to beef up that black bar up in the treble section at the same time. It's pretty chincy for what it's supposed to do.

Pwg

Except that it is far from the bridge, and the B has a continuous bridge.

So you're talking about the blue circled one in this image, not the red circled one?

Thats correct.

My NY B has it, FWIW.

Sorry, I focused in on the wrong part of the picture. I'll check mine out tonight.

BDB, you are correct...it is too far from the bridge to be of any use there. But I still think it is an effort to improve some continuity. In theory it should act as a stiffened.

Pwg

Now that I'm on the right page, I got up under my 1981 S&S Model B last night and I discovered that the brace is actually much longer than it appears in the video / picture above. I've marked up the original picture to show that it actually extends (counting from the tail of the piano) from the 4th rib to the 8th rib, spanning 5 in total. It runs behind the support beams right in the apex of each of the V-joints, so it make it really hard to see. I've marked up the 1st picture with a green oval and red arrows to show the path an how far it runs. The other pictures are of my Model B starting on the bass side of the bridge and toward the middle of the piano. It ends right in the middle, I'd say around middle-C or so, behind the pedal lyre.

Wow, great pictures. Now I'm even more curious as to what this is. Strange that some Steinway owners do not report having this on their B.

It is probably a cut-off bar.