A timely reprint of an Orchestrelle Co. advert in the December
1998 Player Piano Group Bulletin (p. 24) and some revisiting of my
records confirm my previous assessment of the history of Steck
pianos in the UK.

We can be certain that no pianos bearing the Steck name were
manufactured in Britain prior to 1919.  Until WW1 the Orchestrelle
Co. imported American Stecks and Gotha (Ernst Munck) pianos with
the Steck name on.  Ernst Munck became a Director of the Aeolian Co.
when his firm was taken over.  Anti-German feelings ran high during
the war -- indeed, a number of British businesses with German-sounding
names were physically attacked.

The patriotic wartime Orchestrelle advert was designed to ward off
criticism: it stressed the world-wide connections of the business,
particularly in the then Allied countries and Courts, and it was at
pains to point out that, despite the name, Weber pianos were never
made in Germany.  Then it just mentions "the famous Steck, made in
both the European and American factories of this Company, and the
Farrand, a piano which we can guarantee to be wholly English".  If
there were British made Stecks, the company would surely have said so.

Before moving to Hayes, Orchestrelle had only a relatively small
pneumatic installation and repair shop at Elm Street, London WC1.
The new Hayes factory was not operational until 1909.  It was purpose
built for the manufacture of the splendid new British Weber models
which Samuel Wolfenden was recruited to design, and no evidence has
been found in company reports or adverts that Stecks were made there
or anywhere else in Britain before 1919.  There is some suggestion that
early Farrands, the cheapest models, were made elsewhere for
Orchestrelle.

It is quite easy to distinguish Gotha from US Stecks: some actually say
"Gotha" on the soundboard or fall.  All have German action parts, and
the key punchings made from German rather than American newsprint are
the real giveaway! I have never encountered a poor quality Gotha, but
one or two very ordinary instruments from the US import range, I'm
afraid.

After the war, a directors' report in the company records states
that Stecks were now to be made at Hayes instead of Gotha, owing to the
heavy duties recently applied to German imports.  A few new top Gotha
big grands and a number of pre-war stock Gothas do seem to have been
fitted with Themodist 88-note-only Pianola actions and found buyers in
Britain after 1918.

The postwar British Stecks (and indeed Webers) were by a new designer of
whose identity we are not yet sure: the frames are quite different from
those by Wolfenden, who retired during the war, and feature the Aeolian
Co. badge, the Orchestrelle name becoming subordinate after 1919.  There
are at least three series of these designs, some models having rather
indifferent scaling and some being very sensitive to the quality of
voicing around the break, but many are very fine.

Apparently Gotha Stecks are numbered consistently from 50,000 or a
little lower in the early 1900s through to the 1920s;  British Stecks
made from 1919 until the early 1930s start at 100,000.

Paddy Handscombe
London