Salt Lake City, Utah 84115
(801) 487-0641
Yamaha builds in excess of 200,000 pianos a year; Steinway builds about 3,500. There are some piano makers, however, who build far fewer units each year. These makers are producing hand-crafted pianos of good quality, and although none appear to be increasing in production, all are finding a niche in the market.
Piano and Keyboard is examining the instruments made by these smaller firms, and we begin our report in this issue. Some of the names may be unfamiliar to many pianists. Price is not the focus of these reviews; some of the pianos are more affordable than others. The aim is to acknowledge and publicize the makers' commitment to high-quality artisanship.
Astin-Weight
A stone's throw from downtown Salt Lake City is the small firm of Astin-Weight Piano Makers. The firm was founded in 1959 by Edwin Astin and Don Weight, both employees of a local music store, who believed they could build a superior piano by maintaining high standards in materials and workmanship. In 1978 Ray Astin assumed his father's position with the firm.
The company is housed in an unassuming building where business is good � very good.. Ray Astin, in fact, had to apologize for having only two pianos on hand to show me. Both instruments were the U-500 model, a 50-inch professional upright grand piano with an available real sostenunto. The U-500 is called and upright grand piano because its unique design allows it to have more soundboard area than most seven-foot grands.
As I toured the small factory, rich with the aroma of freshly cut wood, I was pleased to see more hand tools than machinery, and I quickly developed an appreciation for the piano and its designers and their commitment to quality. No particle board is used in Astin-Weight pianos, only solid wood. It's not often that the architects themselves can lead you through the manufacturing process of an instrument they engineered, and Astin captured my interest in his piano by showing me the many features and points of construction that set the Astin-Weight apart from other handcrafted pianos.
The Astin-Weight U-500 has a very solid full perimeter cast-iron frame. It's the only vertical piano manufactured in the United States with this type of plate. This feature allows the piano to be constructed without vertical rear posts, and it is this lack of vertical rear posts that distinguishes the Astin-Weight from its competitors. (Anyone familiar with the famous Mason & Hamlin seven-foot grand can attest to the tonal advantage of full perimeter plates.)
The most exciting feature of the U-500 is the enourmous size of its soundboard. If you examine the backside of this piano, you note that the entire rear area of the instrument is taken up with the soundboard. All other brands have the pin-block at the top of the soundboard, thereby limiting the soundboard's size. A truly innovative design isolates the Astin-Weight pin-lock from the soundboard, and the unevenly spaced ribs � of two different wood types � support the forced crown of the board, achieving a tonal quality unparalleled in other pianos of this size.
Astin and Weight have developed a beautiful scale for the U-500. (The scale is the combination of string thickness, length, and tension throughout the piano.) There are no noticeable breaks in tone from one octave to the next, and the break between the wrapped bass string and the wrapped(!) Tenor strings is very smooth. The hammers are the soft type, which produces a warm resonant tone, yet they have sufficiently substantial construction to produce volume as well. The keyboard weight would satisfy any professional pianist, and the actions are well-regulated and responsive. Another unique feature of these pianos is the hand-rubbed oil finish, which has a warm appearance, like the sound. If you wish, they will lacquer-finish the piano instead.
Astin-Weight also manufactures a 41-inch console, and a very low-production, oddly shaped grand that has a lid hinged from the treble(!) Side. In their research to develop a grand piano with more tone, Astin-Weight designed a small grand with the bass strings running on a sharp angle to the right. The result is a piano that is flatter on the right side than the left, so the lid is hinged on the right. If this were a concert grand, it would certainly look interesting on stage. One of these grands (used) was on hand at the factory. It had a warm, pleasant tone, but I must admit that the appearance is unusual. Since Astin-Weight is busy trying to meet the demands for their vertical pianos, they make very few of these grands.
If you're unable to locate a dealer in your area, the pianos are available factory-direct, without the salesman's markup (801-487-0641). The Astin-Weight U-500 is a beautifully made vertical piano. It's a pleasure to play. And the men whose names are on the fallboard still work in the factory.
