88 Keys: The Making of a Steinway Piano Hardcover – Sega, December 30, 1997

I had lost my original book years ago, when I borrowed my book to one of my piano students.So, recently, when I saw it at some bookstore, I couldn't resist buying another copy.No regrets, I love this book. I appreciate the history of pianos, and Steinway will always be one thatI look up to. This book is great for appreciating the simplicity of this amazing instrument, well illustrated, at same having enough content meat to make it a good read. It's one of the books I carry so I can positive influence my piano students, to appreciate the instrument and not see it as 'homework' when practicing.

Miles Chapin does his best to bridge the divide between novice and knowledgable reader. I found this book fascinating and loved the illustrations. There are fair criticisms: it should have been at least twice the length, with many more illustrations, or even photos. At times, Chapin assumes you know certain tenets of piano construction or acoustics. The part of the book explaining the manufacturing of a piano plate was fascinating, but I had to read it 3 times to understand what he was saying. Chapin shows remarkable knowledge, especially for a non-pianist and a non-technician, but he could be more articulate in explaining in simple concise ways (like Robert Krulwich, who can explain difficult things in the simplest of ways).Chapin starts with an explanation of the family history, and exemplifies how instrumental the Steinway family was in the evolution of the piano. The book then moves into how Steinways are manufactured. Steinway has developed many features unique to their pianos, and it's remarkable how quickly they did it (most of it between 1855 and 1885). This book attempts to do what few books do, and with some effort, it could be much better. I hope Chapin will expand this book some day--he has gift that few people could contribute.

This is fundamentally an oversized pamphlet. It is double-spaced with wide margins and still only has about 130 pages including many illustrations. Steinway has a CD-rom, which one can obtain quite easily, which covers many Steinway construction topics with better illustrations (including video) than this pamphlet. Anyone with any knowledge at all of piano construction (viewers of the Steinway CD- rom video, and a couple of manufacturers' brochures) will be disappointed in this book.The book contains no photographs. Hard to believe, eh? The illustrations are excellent, but do not seem to be integrated with the text and very few are diagrammatic showing how things work, just show how they are, if you are lucky.Many topics are described without detailed reference and explanation with an illustration or diagram.E.g.. Pg. 15 clavichord mechanism is described verbally, without diagrams. Pg 64: English style ... "the hammer heads are placed at the far end of the mechanisms and move forward when the keys are struck." I am clueless as to what this would look like. " a glimpse at any contemporary grand piano keyboard will..." How about a picture? Pg 48-49 Re: matched veneers: " a careful look at the case of any natural wood-finished Steinway will show you how good they are." No photographs or illustrations.Pg 52 re Scales. "these characteristic dimensions differentiate pianos from different makers more than any other technical element." Perhaps I do not understand the statement, but a Steinway salesperson will point out three distinct differentiations between Steinway and its competitors, which are technically related in my mind.I was abhorred to look down at the page number, 62, half way through the book, and realized I had only learned a few things of interest and had not learned anything of several topics which I had assumed would be covered. While I did not keep track of the time, I felt I had only been reading a short while.On several occasions the author begins on what appears an interesting topic, but he either aborts early or has no illustrative diagrams and I cannot follow, despite very good grades in science classes from a prestigious private etc.Pg. 56. He starts talking about harmonics, but has no diagrams, and again, if one does not know harmonics will probably just be confused.He talks about sound board gluing, but again no illustrative diagrams or dimensions on final cut. How thick is a soundboard?Bridge: verbally describes making one, but no diagrams or detailed illustrations.I will stop with the last. One thing I would certainly expect from a book on making a piano is a detailed explanation with diagrams of how the action works. Pg. 71 (this paragraph is unbelievable): "A model of a piano's action is a fascinating thing to behold. I used to play with one for hours on end ..." "The answer is that the pianos action has evolved over years of experimentation." That's it! No explanation of how the mechanism of the action actually works. One very nice still illustration, but no explanation or additional diagrams.If this book does not sell on Amazon, it will not sell anywhere, because I would never have bought this oversized pamphlet at a bookstore.Sorry.

88 Keys is beautifully presented; a large-size book full of fine colored pencil sketches, broken down into chapters on each aspect of the piano.The book is best suited, and was probably intended, to be a coffee table book at Steinway sites. It provides an overview of the process of building a Steinway, making note of all the innovations that make Steinways pianos the most popular today.My only reservation is this: I bought it hoping that it would be geared toward the reader interested in the engineering and perhaps physics of piano building. The book provides only enough detail to *just* satisfy this interest, but I walk away like leaving the dinner table still a little hungry.Nevertheless, this book took me, in its storybook way, from no knowledge of piano manufacture to an overall satisfying knowledge. I'm definitely eager, now, to visit the Steinway factory and see it all for myself.

Perfect condition.

Good for students

Great Story

I think B Stewart's review sums up a lot of the problems here, and I agree with what he says.My feeling is that 99 Keys was intended to be a coffee table book. The writing is pretty terrible, and the organization is even worse. The best comparison I can think of is that this is like a high school paper on Steinway -- some kid sat down with a bunch of books and did his best to distill them all in to one text. I don't think this would have been published had it not been a Steinway descendant at the helm.I'm also not a fan of the constant marketing angle. 88 keys is like a big ol' brochure; saying nothing remotely negative or even insightful.And I'm tired of the illustrations. Why is everything a drawing? Why are key illustrations left out, but some of the page is occupied by a "timeline" which is totally meaningless and useless.Out of all the books I've read on pianos, this is the worst.

Brilliant in every respect - history of piano making - the types of timber that go into piano construction and complete guide to piano assembly

I bought the book as I wanted to know more about the making of a Steinway grand piano.The book fulfills the scope of its title, it is very well written with a very well chosen terminology that is easily understood from everyone.Further, for people like me with an engineering background, it also occasionally complements the description of the concepts with the odd technical term that technically minded people can use to gather further deeper insight into the matter.As a first step into on the knowledge path in this craft, this book is well worth reading.