I am no expert but have dealt in pianos for the past 40 years.
H. C.  Bay pianos are always at the bottom of the list as far as
quality goes.  They are by no means in the middle.  They have cheap
soundboards, cheap hardware, etc.

If you want to know how to judge a pianos quality by the way it is
made then please refer to the chapter in the Reblitz book on piano
tuning and repair.  The second edition does a nice job detailing what
to look for in an old piano to see if its really worth the expense of
rebuilding (if I do say so myself).

With something like 6,000 different brands of pianos that were on the
market at one time or another then you need to look at construction
details.  Solid spruce soundboards, notched ribs, harmonic traps,
notched bridges (both sides), weighted keys, curved bass bridge,  are
just a few of the items you can look for in a piano.  In grand pianos
you can also look for duplex scaling and agraffs.  I don't remember the
H. C. Bay pianos having but one of these qualities and Steinway has all
of them.

Don Teach