John Steljes and Our Steinways

John Steljes has tuned the Deep River concert pianos for more than 50 years and has now taken an extremely well-deserved retirement from piano tuning. 

John's uniquely valuable service to Deep River’s  musical life was honoured at a special presentation at the Childs Auditorium on September 24, 2004.

How did a Steinway Concert Grand Piano turn up on the stage of the Childs Auditorium in Deep River? 

Over the years, the presence of this fine instrument has been a source of amazement for visiting performers, many of whom obviously never expected to find a piano of this quality in the “wilderness”, and bemusement for the audience as they watch some of the less humble musicians struggle to contain their astonishment.  The story of our current Steinway piano, number 237401, begins in 1926 when it emerged from the Steinway factory on Long Island.  The piano was put into service at an unknown location, used mostly for accompaniment, but at least once for a recital by Percy Grainger.  The Steinways rebuilt it at least once during the ensuing years. 

At the same time that Grainger and others were tickling those ivories, far to the north, in the new town of Deep River a serious dilemma had arisen– the local Community Concerts organization had arranged a Fall 1956 recital by Louis Kentner, and no suitable rental instrument could be found.  It seems that the Eaton's representative in Ottawa, the usual source of rental concert pianos, had not studied his geography, and, when informed of Deep River’s location, he reneged on the promised piano rental, claiming that Eaton's delivery limit was 50 miles.  What to do?  Fortunately, shrewd detective work paid off, when it was discovered that an 1898 Steinway Concert Grand could be purchased from the Lutheran Church in Pembroke for $1100.  The deal was done, the Community Association acquired its first Steinway and the concert was successfully presented.

John Steljes writes: “Following the Louis Kentner recital, a great deal of work was done on the piano by Bill Cross and myself to get it into condition for concert use. There were seven cracks in the soundboard and the sides of the case were not vertical, making it difficult to adjust the action of the strings.  Also the bearing on the bridge was zero instead of 0.015 inches; this was acceptable for soft playing but the sound broke up when played hard. While on a visit to New York City (late 1950’s), Cross visited Steinway's on Fifth Avenue.  He was taken on a tour of their factory on Long Island and given much valuable advice, as well as permission to buy Steinway parts.  Later, I visited Steinway a total of five times, each time receiving instruction about a different aspect of piano maintenance.  After a spring 1960 recital, Eugene Istomin said that although the piano was certainly the oldest he had ever played, it was not by any means the worst. He suggested that we consider the possibility of obtaining a newer, used piano, worth the effort of rebuilding”.

“Following that recital, I telephoned Steinway and explained to a Mr. Vavra that we had restrung the piano, but that the lack of bearing on the soundboard was still making it unsuitable for solo pianist recitals.  He recommended that we remove the plate and lower it by reducing the size of the dowels holding it to the soundboard.  Since we had already restrung the piano, this seemed to be a gargantuan task, and I asked him if it would be possible to get a newer piano, which we could rebuild.  He said that would be difficult but he would see what he could do.”

“Later, I received a phone call at work.  ‘Steinway here. I hear you are looking for a concert grand piano that you can rebuild’.  I said ‘Yes’, and he continued, ‘I am looking for one too, but they are not too easy to find.  I will try my best’."  Then, on September 13, 1962 the following letter arrived from Frederick Steinway:

"Some time ago my brother, Ted Steinway, asked me if it was possible for me to release for retail sale a Steinway concert grand piano which is no longer particularly fit for concert service. It so happens that I do have such an instrument on hand now.  It is serial #237,401 which was originally manufactured in 1926 and since that time has been rebuilt in our factories at least once. I do feel that this instrument might be acceptable to you for your purpose, as my brother described it to me. I will be willing to sell this instrument to you for $2000 U.S. cash f.o.b. our factory at Long Island City, New York. Please let me know if this proposition sounds interesting to you.”

Of course there was considerable interest, eventually yielding another letter in October 10, 1962 from Theodore Steinway:

“…it was repaired in 1953, new soundboard, repinned 3/0, ivories scraped, sharps refinished, keys rebushed, action frame repaired, new hammers and shanks.  The benefits of the work are still there. ... Steinway made keys and keyframe. ... converted to accelerated action with doubling on key bottoms.  All in all, I see nothing in this piano that Mr. Steljes and his people cannot easily tackle, and believe that they would get a very good instrument out of it."

So, on Jan.11, 1963, the deal was consummated, with the piano first sent to the Steinway factory to have new hammers installed.  It was then shipped to Deep River and the Community Association had its second Steinway. “The first set of hammers produced a sound satisfactory in the old auditorium but it took a considerable time to match the sound of the piano to the unusual acoustics of the new (Childs) auditorium. The sound is different on the stage (very dull) and on the floor.  The sound does not carry to the back of the auditorium unless it is very bright.  A new set of hammers was installed and the piano was restrung.  Following a recital (mid 1980’s?) by Jon Kimura Parker, he gave Bill Cross and me suggestions for improving the sound.  After some research, a further set of hammers was installed.  These met Mr. Parker’s specifications and at the same time reduced the touch weight from 57 grams to the new Steinway standard of 52 grams, tapering to 47 grams in the treble.  At a later recital in 1998, Mr. Parker commented very favourably on the performance of the piano.”

Finally, Steljes notes: “When the piano arrived, we noticed that there were records of previous concerts written on the back of the key-slip.  We continued the practice, but this time, asking artists to sign the key-slip.  Unfortunately we have not remembered to ask all the artists, so the list is far from complete”.

This historical account is based on an article written by Mike Milgram in July 2002 for the NRT, based on notes provided by John Steljes.