born in the Eighteenth Century 
it is Nineteenth Century mechanical technology taken to its limits, stubbornly refusing to disappear quietly in this Twentieth Century electronic world.
STEINWAY B 87498 1897
A beautiful example of the turn of the century Steinway with decorative legs, lyre, and music desk. This piano was rebuilt in 1998 with a new soundboard and pinblock, and the action is all new. Unlike so many pianos of this age that are less thoroughly rebuilt, thanks to the new soundboard and action there is absolutely no impression when playing or listening to this piano that it is over one hundred years old.
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STEINWAY A 1901
Another beautiful example of the turn of the century Steinway with decorative legs, lyre, and music desk. Instead of the usual double half-round moulding around the bottom of the rim that was typical for Steinways of this period, this piano is atypical with a lip at both the top and bottom of the rim and scrollwork at the cheeks. This piano was rebuilt in 1996 with a new soundboard. The conventional wisdom that floats around Los Angeles derisively dismisses pianos such as this as "too old", however comprehensive and careful restoration such as this with new soundboards, pinblocks, and actions produce pianos that when experienced cannot be dismissed.
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California Antique Piano Restoration | Los Angeles Vintage Piano Restoration | Pasadena Piano Restoration | Steinway Piano | Mason And Hamlin Piano ERARD (London) 8' Concert Grand No. 9760 1866
This Erard was one of the first pianos rebuilt by Mr. Duncan in the dawn of time (about 1982). Erards such as this one were the dominant piano on the European concert stage during the middle third of the 19th Century and were the favorite pianos of most of the virtuosos of the day such as Liszt and Thalberg. It is parallel strung, and the construction consists of an iron hitching plate along the bentside and four tension bars running the length of the case. The Erard double escapement action patented in the 1820's has become the basis for the modern grand action. This piano has been used in a number of historical instrument recitals in Los Angeles. Many people hearing music from the Romantic piano repertoire performed on this piano for the first time have been quite surprised by its dynamic range, power, tonal color, and expressiveness. The world before Steinway was not that bad after all.
In August 1914 on the eve of the First World War the British Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey looking out from his office onto St. James Square, despairing over the failure of diplomacy as the clocks ticked out the last hours before England and Germany were at war made the famous observation, "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We will not see them lit again in our lifetime." Those lamps never came on again, not in his lifetime nor ours. They and the world they represented were extinguished forever when the Twentieth Century was born in the fire and blood of that war. Perhaps part of our captivation and romance with the piano and its music is that it gives us a window back into that distant age when the lamps were still lit.