Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Excited to play again.... is a Steck the right choice?

Hello all, I wondered if I could pick your collective brains about getting back into playing.... I last had a piano about 20 years ago and now finally have the space to get another. Don’t have much in the way of funds at the moment but don’t want to make a mistake and buy something which provides a hurdle to playing again rather than a joy!

I viewed a piano last night and came away elated at the thought of owning it - just need to figure out whether this is a decent purchase and had some questions....

The piano is a Steck, sounded bright, felt responsive at playing staccato and quiet aside from one key / c below middle c. When pressing this gently, the key could be fully pressed without making a noise (without trying to play gently, it felt slightly sticky but played fine)

I’ve read that Stecks get a mixed review - a comment about the Memphis stecks from the 1970’s being terrible sticks in my head and this had ‘feb 1972’ noted on one of the mechanisms internally.

Only the C mentioned above seemed particularly bad but a few other keys outwith the middle range had a lot of movement before sounding the note - How much movement should be possible without producing a sound?? Is this a big red flag for this piano?

It’s only a few hundred pounds which I realise is nothing in the great scheme of things but it’s all that I can afford at the moment. My heart says yes to this piano but should my head say yes too??

Any help or advice would be very gratefully appreciated


Ang

If a few hundred pounds is all you have to spend, it’s a great deal of money to you so you should be happy and enjoy playing your new to you piano. How much looking have you done so far? Have you been to any piano stores? Are you staying with used via private sales? What sound do you like? Do you prefer a lighter action or something a bit heavier for more control? I’m thinking your budget limits you to used uprights only. I’m completely unfamiliar with that brand of piano, so maybe the experts here can weigh in

Itsbeenawhile:

Did you get the serial number of the piano? That should help to date it which might give some pertinent clues. I would be a little concerned about the fact that the action seems irregular. This may mean a simple regulation, or it may mean that the piano needs more serious attention.

Did you ask the owner if the piano has had regular maintenance? Who has done the maintenance? How much has the piano been used? What sort of environment is the piano in? etc., etc.

Certainly a few hundred pounds isn't going to get much in the way of a quality instrument, but with a little bit of perseverance and some luck you may come across one that will be very serviceable to your needs.

I wouldn't jump on the first piano you have come across. When you do find one in your price range that seems to really speak to you get it evaluated by a technician. The investment in the evaluation may well be worth it.

Regards,

Since you say "few hundred pounds," I'll assume that you're in the UK. I don't know much about that market, but I can't imagine that it's much different than the US, where old uprights often have almost no monetary value (musical value being a different matter, because many are playable).

Between repairing a bad key (and potentially other related/similar issues), the cost of moving it to your home, plus the few hundred pounds purchase price, you may quickly find yourself into this one deeper than it's worth.

I'd keep hunting for one that doesn't need any obvious repairs.

I just re-read your original post, and, given how much you like it, let me amend my advice to say that it might be worthwhile to have a piano technician check it out and tell what's wrong with the malfunctioning key and any other issues it might have, in order to get a more accurate picture of its condition and your potential cost.

+1 I’m going with Retsacnal on this one. I was sticking with normal noobie advice in my previous post. What have you played? What pianos have you tried? But since you became so enchanted with the Steck, get a piano technician to check it for additional problems to the key that doesn’t work. Best of Luck.

Thank you all so much! Really appreciate the time you’ve taken to reply.
I was really fortunate as a child and by brothers and I learned on a beautiful baby grand and a Yamaha upright. I think it was a slightly heavier key that I must have liked as the control was one thing I loved (and one thing which has made me passionate about getting a piano rather than a keyboard!)

The Steck is the first one I’d played properly in over 20 years and I think I was quite daunted in trying to decide whether I could assess whether a piano was good - I went to try another piano today - one at a local university music hall - and the Steck didn’t compare too badly so I’m really hoping that this works out!
I’ll take your advice of getting a technician in to assess it - I’m fairly sure it’s the one for me so it’s worth spending a bit on this, just waiting for their quote to see how much it will cost.

The piano itself hasn’t been played for a number of years - it was the sellers dads, he passed away last year but sadly had lost his ability play long before this. He was a keen musician in a swing band in his youth and she talks so fondly of the love he had for the piano. The fact it’s holding tune after so many years seems like a good sign? It’s been kept in his living room for decades.
It comes with the issue that it would need to be carried up ten steps to get it out of the house so I’m looking into that too.
Will let you all know how it works out. At the moment I guess it’s a gut feel thing..... I’ve got a good feeling but will see how goes!
Thanks again 😊

There have been several different companies that made Steck pianos: George Steck, Steck of Gotha, Germany, Aeolian, Aeolian American, and some Asian outfit which seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. Most of them, other than the last, were related, but the quality of the different Stecks varied from time to time and factory to factory.

Thanks BDB - it’s an Aeolian one and says ‘manufacturers to his majesty the King and Prince of Wales’
In looking further into this, I’m hopeful that it means that it was manufacturers prior to 1952. Bit puzzled about an inscription of 1972 on one of the wooden mechanisms though. Does that give any clue as to its quality? I took a note of the numbers on the piano too but didn’t get the whole serial number - the second digit was obscured. 1*4962... it had h15 on the metal frame at the top and 1459 37 on the bottom rh part of the metal frame.

Anything you know that could shed light would be fab, I’m slowly trying to understand its history whilst waiting on the technician quote!

That second, obscured digit is really important in trying to figure out the age, unfortunately. Without it, could be 1930s, could be 1980s...
Tuners sometimes write in dates they've serviced the instrument, inside the piano, in pencil. You could also see parts with stamped dates on them. A Baldwin vertical I serviced the other day had a date stamped under the keysticks (when I pulled them out to tune), and I think a second date stamped on one of the hammers, as well as a tuner's signature and date of a prior service, years ago.

I suspect that this piano is over 80 years old, as there has not been a King and a Prince of Wales simultaneously since the 1930s. It would have very little value, being so old.

Hi all, just thought I’d pop an update in case any of you wondered what had happened with the piano, it seemed polite to do that since you’d all been so helpful. Sadly it didn’t work out, getting it transported and bought within my budget proved impossible. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be but a bit disappointed as I really did like it. Fingers crossed the right one pops up soon, happy playing.

Sorry it didn't work out. Something should if you keep looking.