With Tuesday we began factory orientation and much to my surprise, half of my group of twelve included people around my age.  The sessions were in the morning and afternoons and Steinway provided both transportation around the city and lunch and dinner.  After training Steinway representatives would take us to dinner at these wonderful Italian restaurants where the food was amazing.  Anyway, the real highlight of the whole trip, and expectedly so, was the actual factory tour.

We began our tour in a rush to the rim-bending department just in time to see a model D rim go from a flat piece of wood to the backbone of the instrument inside the rim press.  To see these men work as fluently as they did without verbal communication was astounding.  As we moved on from department to department, constantly the smell of wood was in the air.  Another highlight for me was the veneer vault, where Steinway holds over two million dollars worth of exotic wood bundles they use for their Art Case series pianos.  Probably the most impressive department to me personally was the part of the factory where two men were selecting planks of wood lying on a wall to be used in the construction of Steinway’s patented Diaphragmatic soundboard.  The stringency these two men used in selecting the wood was exacting.  I now understand why the design of the soundboard is a key part of the Steinway sound.

My trip to the factory is one I’ll never forget.  There is so much rich history and lore in the Steinway name that one could spend a lifetime learning it all.  I’m so blessed to be a part of Hall Piano Company and in turn, the Steinway & Sons family.  I’d like to thank Jim Hoover and Vic Geiger at Steinway and John Wright and Steve Kinchen at Hall Piano in particular; and all those others at Steinway who made my journey such a memorable one.  I can’t wait to return!