Responsiveness. Precision. Intuitive grace. A superior musical instrument can be recognized by the degree to which it allows the player to express vision without interference — with nothing coming between the fingers on the keyboard and the music in the air.

Such is the experience of playing a Boston. Designed by Steinway & Sons, employing the unique patents and expertise that have made the name Steinway synonymous with excellence, the Boston line of grand and upright pianos represents a singular achievement in instrument building: a superior playing experience at a price level never before thought possible.

High-grade, straight-grained, quarter-sawn spruce is used for the soundboard’s resonant qualities and high strength-to-mass ratio. The soundboard is solid and not laminated, which creates the best resonance and projection of sound. In 1936, Steinway patented the diaphragmatic soundboard, which was designed to be thicker in the middle and gently tapered to the edges. The Boston soundboard has tapered thickness from bass to treble. A thinner soundboard in the bass area vibrates more freely, resulting in a richer, fuller tone.

Boston backposts are massive — providing a solid foundation for the resonating soundboard and tensioned vibrating strings, thus helping create a beautiful tone. Boston backpost locations are staggered — located where the string tension is greatest, instead of neatly equidistant. Massive staggered backposts help provide superb tone and maximum stability, ensuring the piano will last, tunings will be more stable, and piano tone will be enhanced for the years and decades to come.

A low tension string scale design gives a fuller, richer, warmer tone by allowing more of the lower partials to sing. It also has more sustain, is more powerful, has more dynamic range, and provides warmer and more mellow tones.

A Boston Performance Edition exclusive, eleven layers of hard-rock maple (used for its superior hardness, grain and stability properties) are glued in different grain angles of 60 degrees, keeping the tuning pins tight but allowing for fluid motion and enabling better quality and longer lasting tunings.

All-wood action parts, solid spruce keys, synthetic ivories and ebonies, and excellent action geometry work seamlessly together to move the hammers to the strings and create an excellent action-touch. The beautiful tone produced by the steinway–designed Boston hammers enhances the action touch by rewarding the player with a beautiful tone.

 

Dimensions

Height: 120 cm (47 ⅜”)
Width: 151 cm (59 ¼”)
Depth: 64 cm (25″)
Net Weight: 254 kg (557 lb)

Encasement

Cabinet Style
School

Finish
Ebony Polish and Walnut Satin

Hardware

Solid brass – polished and lacquered.

Technical Specifications

Backposts
Five massive full-length laminated spruce posts. Total cross sectional area: 450 cm² (69.8 in²). Thickness of post: 9 cm (3 ½”). Width of post: 10 cm (4”).

Backframe
The massive backposts are tenoned into upper and lower mortise rails, creating a substantially strong frame. Backpost locations are staggered for proper support. Solid filler blocks and maple backboards make this back frame assembly even stronger. A grand-style hardwood closing rim is attached to this foundation, onto which the soundboard and ribs are glued. This structure provides unequaled strength and stability and improved acoustics.

Pinblock
Octagrip™ pinblock made of 11 layers of hard rock maple – glued in different grain angles of 60 degrees – affording the tuning pins greater stability under tension and enabling the piano to stay in tune longer.

Soundboard
Close and straight-grain solid (not laminated) spruce. Minimum 3 annual growth rings per cm (minimum 8 per inch). Tapered from treble to bass, to provide a rich tone in the bass, and a brilliant and crisp tone in the treble, creating a well-balanced and lasting tonal response. Tapered from 9 mm to 7 mm. Vibrating area: 1.01 m² (1,559 in²). Closing rim evens out the soundboard’s response to all frequencies, eliminating “hot” spots. Emulates shape of grand soundboard.

Ribs
Made from durable spruce to assure strong and constant support of the strings bearing down on the soundboard. Ribs are fully let-in to the liner to support the important soundboard crown and prevent the piano from losing its tone. Number of ribs: 11

Bridges
Treble: Vertically laminated hard rock maple with a solid maple cap, curved to fit the crown of the soundboard. Bass: Solid maple mounted to cantilevered base. Doweled, glued, and screwed to soundboard.

Scale
Overstrung: Lower tension scale for longer sustaining tone, beautiful tonal clarity and depth, and longer life of the whole piano. 18,074 kg (39,762 lb) tension.

Plate
Cast from grey iron, bronze-painted and lacquered.

Tuning Pins
Nickel-plated steel, cut threaded.

Strings
Treble: Highest grade steel (in half size increments). Number of sizes: 10. Lowest tenor note: 29. Bass: Steel core wire wound with solid copper. Number 1 speaking length: 110.0 cm (43.3″)

Hammers
Premium German Würzen topfelt over premium wool underfelt, pressed over hornbeam moldings into Steinway & Sons designed shape, compression-wire reinforced; hammer-shanks from select resilient horn-beam; resulting in superior tone, increased durability and greater voicing ability.

Action
Solid maple (all wood, no plastic) for all moving parts. Extruded aluminum action rails for increased stability and less frequent regulation. Dependable direct-blow design.

Keys
Solid spruce, individually balanced and weighted. Phenolic sharps and acrylate white key covers. Length of key: 39.2 cm (15.4”)

Keybed made of spruce and birch. Strong, rugged construction provides a solid mount for the keyframe and action allowing for precise and prolonged action regulation. Keybed thickness is 42mm.

Keyframe
Spruce with hardwood inserts in the balance rail and front rail for added stability.

Pedals
Soft (half-blow), muffler, and sustain (damper) pedals.

Other
Music desk: Professional solid music desk.
Casters: Double-nylon casters.
Locks: Fallboard and top locks.
Prop Sticks: Top prop sticks.
Bench: Matching wood-top bench.