Steingraeber & Söhne
Piano Manufactory in Bayreuth since 1852
Dear Friends of Music,
In essence, it’s very simple: Take the finest natural materials, the time-honoured principles of piano making and combine them all to create pianos that are truly living instruments. Only then can the tonal richness that Horowitz craved come into being, a richness that every musician needs in order to be inspired and to enjoy making music. However this is precisely what no more than a handful of piano manufacturers in the world have been able to achieve. Today, practically all new pianos have been reduced to the status of mere percussion instruments, and yet it is of vital importance for professional pianists to be able to influence and nuance each note that they play; that is an absolute must for every interpreter.
Our upright and grand pianos are handcrafted using time-honoured traditions of piano making and are among the finest instruments produced by an elite group of manufacturers. We invite you to get to know them personally, either at your local Steingraeber dealer or here at our factory in the Festival City of Bayreuth.
We look forward to your visit! With best regards,
Udo Steingraeber
The Upright Pianos
There are good reasons why what is said about the full sound of Steingraeber grand pianos also holds true for our upright pianos: Our Model 130 is acoustically equivalent to a 160cm (5ft. 3in.) baby grand piano, and our Model 138 to a 180cm (6ft.) salon grand piano. The ‘small’ Model 122 is a classic, well-suited for house concerts and eminent stages such as the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.
First-class quality in both the choice of materials and craftsmanship in production is the guiding principle behind Steingraeber grand pianos. In terms of sound, the close ‘family resemblance’ is immediately apparent in the widely variable response, precisely differentiated tone quality, and polyphonic transparency of our uprights.
Compared with other top piano manufacturers, Steingraeber & Söhne offers an unparalleled selection of alternative actions for professional musicians:
The Classic Steingraeber action: A smooth alternative for music lovers and a joy to play. Available on our 122 and 138 upright models.
Accelerated ‘PS’ action: The 130 T-PS comes with the fast repetition of Steingraeber’s Professional-Studio action and a standard third (sostenuto) pedal.
Steingraeber-Ferro-Magnet Action (SFM) means grand-piano-like, deep repetition for professionals and is available on all models 122, 130, and 138.
The Grand Pianos
Our five grand piano models enjoy the benefit of more than 160 years’ experience and reflect our commitment to achieving the perfect sound: transparent, rich in overtones and extremely versatile. You will find a more-detailed description of the dynamic resonating materials we use under ‘Production Principles‘. Our pianos have almost unlimited endurance.
Active hitch pins on all models purposefully enhance overtones according to the ‘Mischklangprinzip’, through which tone colours are seamlessly brought together to create a unified and rich sound-world. In addition, the Concert Grand Piano E, D-232 and C-212 models are furnished with pressure bridges (capo d’astro) to enhance the instruments’ treble range. Transparency of tone is ensured through a tightly-controlled soundboard with an expansive bass bridge, while maximum dynamic range is obtained by the use of tough, durable instrument casing which consists of up to 36 horizontal and 18 vertical layers of beech wood. Furthermore a Steingraeber speciality, the uniformly flexible, yet straight and suspensionless bass bridge, reinforces the resonant capabilities of the soundboard. All frames are designed without cross struts at the front, offering great advantages for ‘una corda’ playing, as well as for ‘extended techniques’ often called for in New Music.
Twenty percent more up-weight as well as non-slip key tops (white keys made of mineral ivory substitute – 10,000 year-old mammoth ivory is also an option – and black keys of solid ebony), make the touch and feel of our grand pianos absolutely perfect. Finally, differences in the lever lengths of black and white keys (1 gram less per black key) are equalised during counterbalancing, all of which rounds off an incomparable playing experience.
