Steinway scraps upright after 120 years

Steinway scraps upright after 120 years

News

norman lebrecht

October 04, 2024

The firm says it is discontinuing Model K, which dates back to 1904.

They say pedal technology has improved in the past five years.

Read here.

Comments

  • Lawrence Goldman says:

    There is nothing in the article about it being discontinued, quite the opposite.

  • Angela says:

    The linked article says nothing about the model being discontinued. On the contrary, it appears to be a promotional piece. “Steinway & Sons celebrates the iconic upright piano Model K”

  • Eric Wright says:

    Your link says nothing of the sort. Wrong link?

  • GCMP says:

    Did I miss something? The article seems to be a sales pitch, not an announcement of cancellation

  • Vincent Fantocone says:

    Having trouble selling a Steinway model ~L 10’ 10 “
    On
    Market go 2 yrs severely discounted and signed by Henry Z.

  • Mike says:

    Good riddance. Steinway uprights are perhaps some of the worst pianos ever made. As a lifelong piano tuner, I refuse to work on them in order to preserve my reputation.

  • Tim says:

    Where in the article you linked to does it say the model k is being discontinued? It appears they are simply celebrating its 120th anniversary with special models in exotic veneers.

  • MusicBear88 says:

    Where in this article does it say that it’s being discontinued? It wasn’t made in America for a long stretch of time but it came back in the early 1980s, I believe, and is still going strong.

  • SlippedChat says:

    I confess that I don’t understand this Slippedisc post whose headline reports that Steinway is “scrapping” its upright.

    The linked article says nothing about a discontinuation of the upright, and the piano itself is still listed on Steinway’s own site:

    https://www.steinway.com/pianos/steinway/upright

    Or is the post just trying to make a distinction between the model “K” and the model “K-2”?

    If so, then I believe the post’s headline saying that “Steinway Scraps Upright,” which suggests that Steinway is going completely out of the upright piano business, is misleading, and a more accurate summary would have been something like “Steinway Improves Mechanisms in Upright Piano.”

    • MusicBear88 says:

      It’s called “Model K” out of the Hamburg factory, and “K-52” out of New York. They’re as the same as any other model between the two, which is to say very close but with their own quirks.

  • Carl says:

    No one seems to be weighing on this but I wonder something: Has Steinway’s focus on its Spirio product and other more specialty models taken away from this corner of the market? And what was the Model K’s previous share of the upright market?

  • zandonai says:

    The Steinway monopoly in the U.S. needs to stop. I want to hear other pianos in American concert halls.

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