Boston – Family of Steinway & Sons Pianos.

5’-4” Baby Grand Piano.

Steinway & Sons officials say that the Boston piano represents an entirely new concept in piano design. They launched their Boston line of pianos in 1992 with the stated goal of providing their dealer network a quality, moderately priced piano for those customers “who were not yet ready for a Steinway”. In keeping with this philosophy, Steinway offers a full trade-up value to upgrade to a new Steinway piano at any time in the future. They are designed by Steinway engineers and built in the main Kawai piano factory in Hamamatsu, Japan. Five models of grand pianos have been available. This Boston model GP-163 II grand piano and the other models are sold only through select Steinway & Sons dealerships. Having them built in Japan, Steinway takes advantage of the efficiency and high technology of the manufacturing process there, while utilizing its own prodigious design skills to build a piano with more musicality than is normally found in that part of the world. There is a natural inclination for consumers to compare the Kawai piano to the Boston, but most listeners believe Boston’s have a bit more tonal color and a warmer, more mellow sound with a little less attack. Though the piano was built to spec by Kawai factory employees the final custom voicing at the factory was done by Boston’s own piano technicians.

The most obvious design element in the Boston is its wide grand piano tail. The bass bridge is permitted to be located closer to the lively, central part of the solid Sitka spruce soundboard. It is larger too, in that area, enhancing the bass response. It also serves to smooth out the break between the bass and tenor/treble strings, which can be noticeable in smaller grands. Like the Steinway, a Boston soundboard is thinner and tapered for a greater freedom of movement. It’s thickness varies from 8mm in the treble to 6mm in the bass. The GP-163 is 5’-4” so it has longer strings (47” – #1 string speaking length) and once again, additional soundboard area (1776 square-inches) than the average baby grand of 5’. The Boston has a low-tension scale design in order to improve its duration of tone or sustain time, and bass clarity. This also permits the “singing treble” that Steinway & Sons pianos are well-known for.

Several design elements are similar or identical to the Steinway piano. Both use beams underneath that have radial bracing to reinforce the rim and contributes to the longevity of the soundboard crown. Their vertically laminated bridges provide better tonal transmission. Boston piano-actions incorporate many of Steinway’s refinements and their patents issued by the US Patent Office. Hammer flanges are rosette-shaped to match the hammer rail in both pianos to promote better hammer spacing, and their duplex-scale design with agraffes that are tuned enhances the treble tone quality. The middle pedal is a true Sostenuto function, another Steinway patent. Boston pianos are used exclusively by a number of prestigious music schools and festivals including Aspen, Bowdoin, Brevard, Ravinia and Tanglewood.