Faust Harrison Pianos

18 Lewis Road,

Irvington, NY 10533

voice (914) 591-5026

fax (914) 591-8454

205 W. 58th St., MIDTOWN

New York, NY 10019

voice (212) 489-0666

fax (212) 489-1501

Mason & Hamlin, Schulze-Pollmann, Steinway and other restorations. A beautiful showroom full of some of the finest pianos you'll ever see.

Sarah and Irving Faust & Michael Harrison (owners)

The New York City Piano Store Tour

Saturday, January 22, 2000

Updated: August 16, 2000

Faust Harrison was the first of the "big three" piano stores on our tour. We predict that your reaction to their beautiful Midtown Manhattan showroom will be as immediate as was ours. We were quite awed. As soon as you gain admittance, you will be in the presence of true greatness, for within you will find some of the finest pianos in all the world, every one a masterpiece! Each one has features that are all its own, such subtleties and individuality that are only found in the very best. And among all of them you will note that each has its own glory to reveal after years of being played and carefully tuned and maintained by a good piano technician. It would be fair to say that this was another confirmation of the greatness of Steinway and of the enormous prominence of Mason & Hamlin. Within we also saw and played the remarkable Schulze-Pollmann 126 "Peacock" upright, one of our picks for best value in a new upright piano under $10,000. Call or visit them and try out this gem for yourself. I would have liked again the experience of one of their beautiful grand pianos, but Faust Harrison's specialty is rebuilding classic Steinway grands.

They painstakingly restore and rebuild approximately 150 predominately classic Steinway grands a year at their factory. How can there be that many left remaining in the world? Before our visit, Irving Faust was kind enough to call me and in our lengthy conversation we discussed what makes a great piano. There were many factors we discussed, but the key factor that emerged as of paramount importance was the acoustic deadness of the original Steinway plates, sometimes called "harps", which before 1929 were cast by Steinway themselves in their own foundary under their own particular specifications in a tradition going back to Englehardt Steinway himself. Some of these plates were used in pianos as late as 1948. This reminded me of the importance of casting bronze, silver and gold to such masters as Benvenuto Cellini and to the curiously similar desire to achieve acoustic deadness in the enclosures of the best made loudspeakers. Clearly there are analogies. The result in a classic Steinway piano is clarity of tone.

Irving Faust said that if one could not achieve acoustic deadness through careful casting, the next best bet was to achieve it through casting a more massive plate. This was the Mason & Hamlin approach, one which made their pianos among the heaviest in the industry.

On our visit we were assisted by one of the owners, Michael Harrison and John Fisher, gentlemen both. Michael knew a great deal about each piano almost down to the serial number. But besides seeing there is playing. If you are used to bright, glitzy sounding pianos you are probably going to miss the point. Each one reflected a level of subtlety that is difficult to describe well except perhaps by reference to the finest classical recordings by the masters of the past century of pianism. One felt as though one were sitting at pianos of the like that the greats themselves had played. This experience was to be felt in the pianissimos rather than the fortes. These gentlemen took notes as we examined the pianos so that they can improve their performance even more. Of particular note everywhere we went were the pedals. A tight set of pedals responds immediately to the most nuanced performance the pianist is capable of. Quarter-pedaling becomes clumsy without it. They took note. But their pianos were all in a very high level of preparation, all in tune and voiced wonderfully. I was barely able to contain my excitement. I'm sure this will likewise be the experience of the most discriminating pianists to visit them.

If you long for a classic Steinway or a Mason & Hamlin, these folks know what you're looking for and can provide it. Some of the Steinways were new revelations to me, confirming what I had felt for most of my life, that they really are the best pianos in the world. Sarah Faust believes this too and after you have played a few of their extraordinary renovated classic Steinways, and get the point of their great subtlety, you too may find it hard not to admit that inside your own heart you too ache for a Steinway of your very own. They have them.