Whether you are interested in new or used, upright or grand, every great piano ever built has had all of these features. You can find low priced pianos with them and expensive pianos with only a few. Beyond price and brand, this is the most important information you will ever read on piano construction.

All Wood Action Parts

A piano’s action consists of thousands of small pieces crafted together. When properly designed and built, the action is what allows the player to express themselves musically.

Today’s technology allows quality piano builders to make wood action parts to tolerances of 1/1,000ths of an inch. Even novice players find that nothing compares to playing a piano with an all wood action.

Tempted by cheaper costs, several piano companies continue to experiment with plastic action parts. While most builders have abandoned the plastic (sometimes called ABS or Styran) experiment, some persist.

It can be very difficult to tell wood parts from plastic. While the older formulas were white, gray or black, some clever companies today use plastic that looks like wood!

To tell the difference, feel the parts with your fingers. Wood always has a “warm” feel and will have a slightly rough texture, even when sanded. Plastic parts will feel “cold” and smooth.

All-wood actions are always recommended for beginners (especially children), churches, schools and concert use.

All-wood actions have a natural feel that is simply more fun to play.

High-quality, close-grained spruce soundboard

The soundboard is the single most important part of the piano and its function is the same as the amplifier and speakers for a stereo system. The energy from the strings is transferred into the soundboard through the bridges and amplified. You can see the soundboard by looking at the back of an upright or under the bottom of a grand piano.

Some call the soundboard the “heart” or “soul” of the piano and in great pianos, like Steinway & Sons, will reflect the individual personality of each instrument.

While they are made of many types of wood, the best, most stable soundboards are made from spruce. Spruce is a strong, light wood, prized for its ability to carry sound, with a distinctive grain that runs in straight, parallel lines.

Because sound waves travel along the straight grains of the soundboard, broad-grain boards carry less sound, making the piano more muted or thin sounding. These lower-quality boards are also more susceptible to changes in humidity.

The tighter the grain, the better the piano.  Eight or more grains per inch tells you that the piano was built using good quality materials.

Quality soundboards offer better sound, stability and longer life.

3-D “I” beam plate

The plate is a cast iron frame over which the piano wire (sometimes called ’string’) is stretched. You can see the plate by lifting the top of a grand or upright and looking inside. The plate helps support up to 42,000 pounds of tension. The thinner and flatter it is, the less strength it has and the less stable the piano will be.

“I” beam plates offer better tuning stability and serve as a stronger foundation for the piano.

Bonus… Full length ribs, notched into the frame.

The ribs are strips of wood running diagonally across the back of an upright or bottom of a grand piano’s soundboard. Their primary job is to maintain the crown of the soundboard over decades of use and seasonal changes.

Full length ribs that are notched into the frame will better maintain the crown than ‘floating’ ribs that stop an inch short or so short.

Bonus… Line weighted keys

Think of a piano’s keys as the levers that control the action.

To see the entire key, you will have to remove the music desk and fallboard (key cover) of an upright or the fallboard of a grand piano. Don’t attempt to do this yourself – ask a piano salesperson or technician for help.

Because of the different length of the keys and size of hammers, the keys need a little help to create an even feel from note to note.  We do this by line weighting the keys.

By strategically placing lead weights in the sides of most or all of the keysticks, the response from one key to another can be evened out. Like notching ribs, key weighting takes time, but the results are well worth it. These pianos offer much better sensitivity, dynamic range and control than pianos without weights… and they don’t cost any more.

Look for the distinctive round weights when looking from the side of the key. Weights installed from the top in the back of the keys are a sign of low quality pianos.

Line weighted keys offer a natural, even, pleasing feel.

Congratulations! You’re ready to visit Steinway Piano Gallery of Madison to find your perfect piano…