I have had a few men (4) respond and here is the results of the Steinway
serial number mystery.

One fella suggested that Steinway was not very consistent at marking the
pianos they manufactured for Aeolian.

Another suggested looking in other places for the number and I did and I
came up with an ID "F 1019." This number is found on the plate and so
far I have found it stamped on the underside of the key bed and the
pedal lyre. What do you make of this number?

Here are a few interesting notes about the piano:

1. The hammers show no wear!! Someone must have been in the process of
restoring the piano when interest was lost, or the job was completed
and the piano simply was not played. I'm not familiar with Steinway
hammers and so I can not testify if these are the originals or not. I
really doubt it!  Normally player hammers REALLY show a lot of wear so
I was surprised to find these hammers looking NEW!! Take a look at the
hammer pictures the link below.

2. The piano has both the key shift and the hammer lift rail.

3. I can not for the life of me figure out how to remove the fallboard.
Looking at the picture in Piano Servicing and Rebuilding (p.72) it
looks like the key blocks can be removed while the fallboard is in
place. I tried and it didn't seem like there was enough room. Do I need
to keep trying or is there another way?

I have created a much nicer picture site at the same address:

    http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/9374/steinway/

This page has detailed descriptions that link to the picture so you
know what you are going to see before you see it and you don't have to
CLICK through them all to see what they are. I have included 12 new
pictures.

Sam Harris - Greenville, North Carolina
sam@greenvillenc.com.geentroep [ remove .geentroep to reply ]

Player Piano Restorations Illustrated
http://www.Geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/9374