Mason & Hamlin factory

[wmp]

I figured I'd post a little something to balance the sad Steinway Hall news.

 

Somebody (SK? Steve Nathan?) mentioned playing an awesome new Mason & Hamlin concert grand a few years ago. Somebody else mentioned Mason & Hamlin in the square grand thread just before the forum went down for a week.

 

You have to build a piano factory before you can build a piano. This is a new factory built long after I was out of the business with some very cool tooling.

 

http://masonhamlin.com/factory/

 

Some cool improvements since my time. I was particularly wowed by the sexy belly press. The pneumatic hammer for diving pins sure beats swinging a sledge hammer.

 

I may have to go see this place too. I had no idea they were so close.

 

[Steve Nathan]

Somebody (SK? Steve Nathan?) mentioned playing an awesome new Mason & Hamlin concert grand a few years ago.

 

I believe that was me. I grew up on a Mason & Hamlin, and a few years ago I stumbled onto a beautiful 9" in an empty room upstairs at NAMM. I sat and played uninterrupted and it was wonderful.

 

Next time I'm up that way I'll have to see about a visit to the factory.

 

[humannoyed]

Now THAT sounds like a great outing! Would love to visit the M&H factory!

[SteveCoscia]

That's a real good factory video. Reminds me of when my 9th grade music class toured the Steinway factory in Astoria, Queens. What a terrific day. That was about 1968 or so - never forgot it.

[Joe Muscara]

I might be in Boston this spring, and hope to check out the factory. Thanks for the link!

[Dave Ferris]

I prefer the older ones to the newer ones I've played at NAMM.

 

I have a friend with a BB (7') from the middle 50's. She just had it re-strung along with a new hammer set and the thing just sings ! Great piano !

 

The newer ones seem a little unbalanced with regard to sound across the registers. That's not to say a good tech with excellent voicing skills couldn't even things out. Just with the newer ones I've played, I've been a little underwhelmed for the most part.

 

It would be definitely cool to visit the factory. I'm 110% behind *made in the US*.

[16251]

It's great to know it's in my backyard, will definitely visit.

[CEB]

It's the finest piano made in the US.

[Joe Muscara]

I have a sample repetition and hammer shank I got from their supplier (Wessell, Nickel, and Gross which is just part of the same company). It's very cool and made of composite, not wood. I'd love to replace my piano's action with a top stack from them.

 

It's funny, I am not a big fan of the modern "player piano" mechanisms such as PianoDisc. But, their success let them buy M&H and keep them going, so that's a good thing.

 

In fact, I wonder how many pianos out there run these systems. My wife works with a woman who loves her piano. This woman doesn't play, but she has a "player piano" mechanism on her piano that plays for her. I guess if these things are helping piano sales and keeping the acoustic piano industry alive, I'll take it.

[Mark Zeger]

Mason & Hamlin, Knabe, Chickering, and others were built in East Rochester, about 5 min from my house, for decades. The factory closed in the '80s. As a result, good Mason & Hamlins come up for sale very often around here. When we shopped for a piano 20 years ago, a 6'x" model was the one that got away. Should have acted faster.

[Musicale]

The earlier (1920's-1950's) Masons were/are awesome. Have played a few and may be in the market for one in a couple of more years, when I retire. They actually have a extra key at the low end for additional bass register...

 

Great instrument like the B3 of pianos....

[Jazz+]

Wiki on Mason & Hamlin

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_and_Hamlin

[Jazz+]

They vary widely depending on what vintage they are.

[Jazz+]

This 14 page thread from 2007 at pianoworld has some positive reviews of recent M& H.

 

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/144062/2.html

[Joe Muscara]

An old piano teacher of mine and friend has a recent 7' M&H. He loves it, even though the dealer was crap.

[Steve Nathan]

They vary widely depending on what vintage they are.

 

That they do. They went through a long period of varied ownership and the quality took a real hit until they were bought by someone determined to restore their manufacturing standards.

The one I played at NAMM was clearly made with the intent to reclaim the former glory.

I still own a 6 footer from the 20s (affectionately referred to as "The Upstairs Piano ) . I had a lot of internal work done many years ago, but left the finish "as is". Someday I may go for the full restoration.

[wmp]

I might be in Boston this spring, and hope to check out the factory. Thanks for the link!

Dang, dude, give me a holler when you're coming. Any of you. All y'all. I need to get out more.

 

That is a pretty cool video and a very impressive looking factory. It's the first video I've seen that shows bridge notching, one of the most critical operations and one of the most important places to inspect in pianos new and old.

 

Their unique tension resonator seems to have stood the test of time. Watch out for their old screw stringer pianos. An interesting no pinblock design that was pretty impossible to tune. It did not stand the test of time.

 

As with anything I guess, you have to know the history of ownership and sometimes even who was in the shop at the time. Few old independent makers made it through the depression and WWII. Names like Mason & Hamlin, Chickering, Knabe, Henry F. Miller, and countless others sold to Aeolian. Aside from the fall board decals, the Aeolian versions resembled one another more than the originals.

 

I set up a few factory tours when I was active in the PTG. I got to see the Steinway, Sohmer and Pratt Read factories. Pratt Read supplied the actions for most of those Aeolian pianos. They make screwdrivers now.

 

I must find a piano with one of those fancy new composite actions. Anybody ever play one?

 

 

[CEB]

Yes they are great. I like the composite action in the Kawai RX series also. I'm not sure how much of my appreciation is directly caused by the carbon fiber. But carbon fiber is strong yet light so you could use it to design extremely fast actions.

 

High end bike use carbon fiber frames.

[Joe Muscara]

wmp - I will drop you a line when we are coming up.

 

I played my friend's M&H once, a little. It feels like a nice, well-regulated action, maybe a little easier than most. I'd like to try it again, but he's not talking to me (long story, nothing to do with pianos). I'll have to play one at the dealer instead.

 

It's a shame that many of the names from the golden age of pianos that are still around are now stencils. It's really just silly, IMO. I encountered a Hardman & Peck at a store once, went home and found out. At least with M&H, there's still the lineage and they're basing them on the original designs. The stencils are just putting western names on (usually) Chinese-built pianos. I know there's some bias, but I've seen some people say they really like the Hailuns, for instance. Make a good instrument, sell it under your real name, and be proud, I say.

[Mark Schmieder]

Could've been me but probably was Steve Nathan as I think I wrote about their special mahogany pianos much longer ago (early 2000's). I too grew up on M&H and they're still BY FAR my favourite brand, due to the action and the resonance as well as the harmonic interaction, all of which are affected by the unique x-bracing.

 

My family was overjoyed when M&H sprang back to life as a manufacturer vs. just a seller. I met the guy at NAMM, who was brought back from retirement to teach them what they needed to know about the overall process, as stencils are rarely enough on their own. He died a few years later but was said to be so happy to have been a part of reviving the company's manufacturing arm and bringing back the glory of its grand pianos.

 

They made organs at one point; I saw a used one in a local pawn shop!

 

Many people don't realize that the main reason Steinway became so dominant is that they had an inside deal with the US government during WW II that made them exempt from converting to war machinery, as they supplied the pianos for overseas entertainment of the troops etc. Thus they were able to restart production (or keep it going, more likely) after the war vs. the delay in retooling that other manufacturers faced.

[wmp]

Yeah, it was definitely Steve posting about the one he played at NAMM. I recall reading up on the new ownership a little at the time. I totally missed the part about them being so close to home. It warmed my heart to see the M&H name taken over by somebody with an appreciation for what they really were. It was the piano many picky players chose over a Steinway.

 

The beginning of the end for most of the old makers was 1929. Few survived the depression. You won't find many pianos made in the '40s. The '50s and '60s were dominated by small inexpensive verticals, mostly Baldwin, Wurlitzer and Aeolian stuff. They reminded me of transistor radios.

 

I didn't know about the Steinway deal during WWII. Many of the old makers who might have survived the depression didn't survive retooling for the war. You have to know a lot more history than I do to know which vintage of which piano might be a good one. The exact dates and details of Steinway's sale to CBS, replacing a lot of key personnel, and the dark teflon years are a blur for me. I don't know if they canned Sam Camilleri or if he just left, but that was a major loss. During the '70s when I had a very low opinion of NY Steinway, some of the best pianos I tuned were Steinways that Sam rebuilt.

 

Even if you have a good one, it can be hard to tell if is not tuned, regulated, and voiced to the max. It's impossible to keep all of your inventory in that kind of shape. Few folks get the sort of royal treatment you get at Steinway Hall when they know you're serious about picking one out to take home.

 

I suppose the term stencil could apply to Aeolian buying up the old brands and putting the names on lesser pianos that resembled one another more than the original brands. Stencil piano was a term I most often heard when a dealer had somebody manufacture pianos with their name on the fall board. In the food biz they call this stuff "private label". Trader Joe's pita chips are Stacey's pita chips in a Trader Joe's bag.

 

When I was active in the PTG I organized tours of the Steinway, Sohmer, and Pratt Read factories. That M&H video is very good, but they could give up a little more technical info without spilling any secrets. They mention feathering the ribs, but not the board itself. There's no mention of the belly press putting the crown in the board. Steinway didn't mention why they call their belly department the belly department in their video either. The M&H script wanders seriously off the mark in a few places, referring to the top action as the hammers, and getting unfortunately deep into salesman talk while the action was on the bench under the let off rack. In one spot they even showed off something I would never do. Wrapping eye loops with vice grips? Dudes! You're supposed to use brass jaw pliers for that. If I do tour the factory I'll have to give them a pair.

 

I'm pretty old school, but I love the looks of those composite actions. Carbon fiber seems like such complete overkill that it's hard not to love. It probably won't dry out and become more brittle like wood or turn to dust like some of those '50s and 60s vintage plastic parts did. Even in the best pianos, hammer shanks break occasionally. The elbow of the jack is another weak spot that absorbs some force.

 

Thanks for all the great responses! I used to think I knew something about pianos, but that was mostly in a past life. I recently pulled a bunch of books out of storage that included a few piano related things including the 1977 version of this book.

 

http://www.piercepianoatlas.com/

 

It's good to see there are new versions and one in print. Mine is mostly lists of makers, serial numbers and dates, but it provides enough information to sort stuff like who sold to Aeolian and when. I was impressed that mine let me trace a no name grand to a dealer and Chicago and take a reasonable guess that it was probably made for them by Gulbransen. More history about some makers than others. Lots of pictures of Bob hanging out with Liberace, the Lennon sisters, with Lawrence Welk and Hammond model A serial number 1.

 

And it's good that you can still buy fall board decals in case you want to upgrade your Wurlitzer to a Steinway.

 

[Joe Muscara]

I love real acoustic pianos now that I know what it is to own one. Whenever I go to someone's house, I feel that there should be a piano in it if there isn't one.

 

Meanwhile, I'm currently regulating the action in mine. I know it's not as good as what a real tech would get from it. The knuckles are worn and I probably should replace the hammers, but how else will I learn? Besides, if I do replace those parts, I will have the experience of having regulated it once so I should be able to do it better the second time.