A professionally maintained New York Steinway in ebony · Immaculate condition
Serial number 446299
Finish: Ebony
$29,900
1976 Steinway Model M #446299 ebony grand
The Model M in ebony, lid and fallboard open, in our Lafayette shop
Steinway & Sons fallboard logo, Model M #446299
Steinway & Sons lyre logo on the fallboard
Steinway serial 446299 and Model M stamp
Serial 446299 and the “M” model stamp on the plate at the pinblock
Steinway New York plate and soundboard decal
New York plate and soundboard decal: Accelerated Action, Permafree Action, Hexagrip Pinblock, Diaphragmatic Soundboard
Steinway Model M gold plate and portholes
Inside the case: gold plate, portholes and strings
Overhead view, Steinway Model M #446299
Looking down over the plate and keyboard; serial visible at the pinblock
Steinway Model M lid-open interior
The full interior from the tail, lid open
About This Piano
Built in New York in 1976, this Steinway Model M is the 5′7″ grand Steinway has long called the perfect home piano: big enough for a full, singing tone, compact enough for a living room. Serial number 446299 and the model letter “M” are stamped right into the gold plate beside the pinblock.
Unlike the vintage Steinways we fully restore in our shop, this is a later Steinway that has been professionally maintained throughout its life and is in immaculate condition. Before it goes to its new home, it will receive a concert regulation and voicing in our shop, so it plays and sounds its very best from the first day.
For context, a new Steinway Model M in ebony lists at about $103,700 to $106,200, depending on finish.
Modern Steinway Engineering
The soundboard decal on this piano lists four Steinway features from the twentieth century. Here is what each one means:
- Accelerated Action (patented 1931): a redesigned key mounting with a rounded bearing at the balance point, so each key pivots with less friction and returns faster for quick repetition.
- Diaphragmatic Soundboard (patented 1936): the spruce soundboard is thickest at the center and tapers toward the edges, so the whole board can vibrate freely, much like a loudspeaker cone.
- Hexagrip Pinblock (introduced 1963): the pinblock that holds the tuning pins is laminated from layers of hard maple with the grain running at alternating angles, so every pin is gripped firmly and evenly.
- Permafree Action (introduced 1962): Steinway’s name for action centers bushed with Teflon instead of cloth, meant to stay steady through changes in humidity.
These sit on top of the designs Steinway has built on for well over a century: the continuous bent maple rim, the duplex scale, and the full cast-iron plate.
Place in History
When this Steinway Model M left the New York factory in 1976, the United States was celebrating its Bicentennial. On July 4, a fleet of tall ships sailed into New York Harbor for Operation Sail, a few miles from where this piano was built. Gerald Ford was President, and that November Jimmy Carter won the White House. Concorde began passenger service in January, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer on April 1, and in July NASA’s Viking 1 became the first American spacecraft to land on Mars. At the Montreal Olympics, 14-year-old Nadia Comăneci scored gymnastics’ first perfect 10. In music, Arthur Rubinstein, one of Steinway’s most beloved artists, gave his farewell recital in London, and Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach premiered in France and then filled the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
Condition
This Model M has been professionally maintained throughout its life and is in immaculate condition. It will receive a concert regulation and voicing in our shop prior to sale. Please contact us for more information, or to make an appointment to play it.
$29,900.
See It in Person — By Appointment Only
Our piano gallery in Lafayette, Colorado, is open by appointment only. Call (303) 521-3722 or contact us to make an appointment to see and play this Steinway.