[ Larry Mayo wrote in 161020 MMDigest

> Since cheap player pianos have been mentioned, how does a George
> Steck piano of the 1920s compare to a Chickering or Steinway of
> the same era?  Is the Steck poorly built, or is it of good quality
> compared to modern pianos?  Where did the builders of the Steck cut
> corners to cut the price?

How does the quality of a 1920's George Steck compare to a Steinway
or Chickering?  This is an interesting question.  First let's assume
that the Chickering is not a Chickering Brothers piano of Chicago as
that is not a good piano.

The oldest rule of the piano business is that the closer the piano
was made to the East Coast the better the piano.  Of course there are
exceptions to the rule.  Pianos from the Midwest were never respected
or known for their high quality.  I know of no exceptions.

George Steck pianos were from the East Coast and were pretty good
pianos.  They just are not Steinway or Weber or Mason & Hamlin.  They
are lighter in construction.  It just seems for some reason the old
Steinways, and certainly the Masons, weighed several hundred pounds
more, with heavier backs and bigger plates.

I wish I could sit here and point out the structural differences.
I would say that the old Stecks were better than the new import pianos
from China.

Don Teach
Shreveport, Louisiana