An Interview with Steinway’s Chief Concert Technician
September 26th, 2009
Here is an interview with Ron Coners, the Chief Concert Technician for Steinway & Sons. I wish I had found this interview earlier. It would have been a great post during the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition this past May. Ron was the Chief Concert Technician during the Cliburn Competition and was responsible for the three Steinway concert performance pianos on stage. Nonetheless, this is a great interview and we hope you enjoy it.
David Kirkland interviews Steinway’s Chief Concert Technician, Ron Coners in the Basement of Steinway Hall, New York, January 22, 2008.
(Kirkland) Tell me about your tuning hammer.
(Coners) I bought a cheap tuning hammer at Ford Piano Supply in 1975 when I started in the business. I didn’t know if I was going to stay in the business so I didn’t want to spend too much money, but I always used that same tuning hammer, until someone stole it about five years ago. I was doing a recording with Daniel Revenaugh at a church in Berkeley. I called him from the airport, and we went to lunch in his Volvo. We parked in downtown Berkeley. My tools were in a computer bag on the back seat. In the street we discussed if it was safe leaving the tools in the car. He said no one would steal them because they wouldn’t know what to do with them. Maybe someone heard us, because when we came back the window was broken and tools gone. So I had to buy a new tuning hammer finally, plus everything else.
How did you get started as a piano technician?
It’s not something I planned on. Franz Mohr and I went to the same church. My mother was friendly with his wife. I was 20 at the time, painting houses on the side and going to college. My mother was concerned about me having no direction in life. She was talking to Franz’s wife, who suggested looking into a job with Steinway. The economy was horrible in ‘75 so they ended up giving me a job in the Maintenance department at the factory. That lasted about a month. I was miserable, painting hallways and throwing wood scraps into the boilers. Most of my co-workers were foreign so we couldn’t have much conversation. I called Franz to tell him I wasn’t going to stay since it wasn’t what I wanted to do. Franz went to David Rubin who was head of the Concert & Artist department at that time. There were only three technicians in the department: Franz Mohr, Ed Kolakowski, and Ed Court. Ed Kolakowski was leaving to work for a company in Texas that sent pianos and techs on tour with rock & roll artists, so Rubin decided that they would hire me. I started from scratch in the Concert department, which was something they had never done before. On one of my first days Franz says, come to Carnegie Hall. Of course I wasn’t able to appreciate it at the time, but Rubinstein was there rehearsing and I sat and listened for a couple of hours. Within a year I was tuning at Carnegie Hall. Then Ed Court left. Franz did few tunings in town, so within two years I was doing almost all of the tunings, about fifty concert tunings on a seven-days-a-week schedule. Now we do about 120 concert tunings a week but with a lot more people. In my second year I went on tour with Emil Gilels, the number two Russian pianist.
Let’s talk about your voicing techniques.
When I got here, the hammer juice that was used was very thick. We would fill the lower shoulders with thick juice, but not the crown. Of course the juice would eventually crawl under the crown. Then with filing, you would suddenly hit the juiced area and all of a sudden, bang, the tone was way too bright. Then I started using 10 to 12 parts solvent to 1 part lacquer and filled the whole hammer. I got tone right away with a lot less juice and it was much more even. Later we started experimenting with keytop solution. Now we’re using lacquer but mostly just on the crown. I just recently put a set of hammers on the San Francisco Symphony piano and used this technique. I had the whole thing done in two days and it was used by Garrick Olsen on the third day. He loved it, as has everyone since. It also occurred to me once, instead of filing or adding juice to hammers that had been voiced down, why not try just adding acetone; in other words, just redissolve and re-harden the juice that’s already in the hammer. I tried a couple of drops on the crown of some hammers and it worked beautifully. It has now become standard procedure.
Your use of a single-needle technique, how did that come about?
I started using a one-needle technique while working with Alfred Brendel. When I learned voicing everyone was using three needles, so in working with Brendel we were really killing the pianos since he constantly wanted voicing done. He would usually have me voice five times before he would play a concert. Alfred Brendel’s playing technique required really even voicing from note to note, so I developed using one needle extended 3/16” right into the crown, and voiced string by string. When the hammer is harder under just one string, it sounds almost like having an open string. When the voicing is really even, that is when an artist really takes notice and appreciates what you’ve done. If you don’t voice on the crown of the hammer, you’ll never get the piano even.
Tell me about your regulating methods.
I remember being on tour with Misha Dichter. He was having problems because the repetition was not fast enough. So I asked myself, How does this action work? I figured out that the reason that it repeats poorly is because the fly is not getting back under the knuckle fast enough. I solved this by setting the backchecks as high as possible, which also allows for tighter tension in the spring. I reduced the amount of drop. I also reduced the amount of aftertouch. I would do anything to improve the repetition, even filing the tails of the hammers, because the tails were too round. The problem was getting the hammers to catch high enough, and the tails would interfere with the backchecks if they were set too high. Later we got the factory to change the radius on the tails. The higher the hammer catches, the tighter the tension in the repetition spring can be adjusted. Another change I made was in lubricating the keys. We used to lubricate only the key pins or the bushings with a graphite pencil. I started putting lubrication right into the key bushings. Now we hardly ever have to change bushings anymore since they last so much longer with the lubrication in them. I believe in lubrication. It makes the action feel and work so much better. We lubricate the key bushings, the repetition heel cushion, the key end felt, and the damper guide rail bushings.
From where do you hail?
Long Island. I was born in Lynbrook. I got married and moved to nearby Valley Stream. Today we live in Wantagh, and we own a house in the Adirondacks.
Is there room at the top?
Yes, but it’s hard to find qualified techs who are willing to move to New York. We also like to train them ourselves. We need everyone in the Concert department to do the same type of work, but we’re also open to learning new things all the time.
Do you enjoy the travel in your work?
I travel a lot. Two, three, or four days at a time is all right. When the trips get too long it’s more difficult. When Daniel Barenboim took over the Chicago Symphony he insisted that I personally prep the pianos and be there for all of his concerts. He could have a concert series on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and the following Tuesday. I would go on the Tuesday before to be there for the rehearsals and concerts. Once I prepped the pianos they were fine. The rest of the week I had nothing to do. I would fly just to Chicago around twelve times a year. When I checked into the Palmer House once last year they told me I had checked in 168 times. I also do tours with artists, take care of some competitions, and, of course, a lot of the yearly maintenance for halls around the country.
What is your most memorable tuning experience?
There have been many. One was a concert at the White House. Vladimir Feltsman was the artist. He was one of the top Russian pianists. In the ’80s he asked to leave Russia for Israel. The Soviets then went about destroying his career. All of a sudden they were giving him concerts in high schools. Somehow he met Ron Reagan, Jr. Feltsman was asked to play at the American embassy but someone sabotaged the piano, you know, ripped out the dampers. Ron Reagan, Jr. told his parents about the Feltsman plight. They put pressure on Gorbachev, and Feltsman was allowed out. He gave his first concert in the U.S. at the White House. I went to there to take care of that concert and met President Reagan. While I was there, I checked out the White House piano. It was in dreadful condition. It had some old parts in it, and there was very little sound. We arranged for it to come back to Steinway in New York for repairs. I return every so often to check on it. The last time I was there was in February of ‘07. My youngest son is crazy about history, so he came along with my wife and me. When it came time to work on the piano, they told me, “You can’t work on the piano yet since the first lady is watching a movie downstairs.” So we took a tour of the first floor and then we went back to the usher’s office and then they told us, “You can’t work on the piano now because the president is taking a nap. You’re going to have to come back.” So they gave us a tour of the Oval Office and the West Wing. We saw the bowling alley in the basement, and they showed us the president’s bicycles. His bicycle is painted just like Air Force One, the presidential plane. We saw the bullet holes and fire marks from the War of 1812. Of course there have been many, many memorable concerts over the years. I also tuned for Vladimir Horowitz a few times. Not many people can say that. He used to call me “da big one.”
Do you have any closing remarks?
Steinway is the best and it’s been a great adventure working here. My job is restricted to just performance Steinways mostly. Who could ask for anything more? I thank God for the opportunity.
Special Thanks to Ron Coners, David Kirkland and Steinway & Sons.
Interview by David Kirkland, editor of the Steinway Technical Newsletter