Fake Steinway pianos are nothing new, but the advent of the Internet has made it easier for all kinds of fraudsters – including those willing to slap a Steinway & Sons logo on a cheap piano. Today, the Internet is the ideal hunting ground for alleged rebuilders selling Frankensteinways and Stein-Was’ to unsuspecting customers.

Steinway Piano Gallery of Naples does not deal in Frankensteinway or Stein-was pianos. We do not accept them as trade-ins, buy them, or sell them.

We all know that knock-off Louis Vitton handbag is a fake. It’s not the same quality, but it’s cheaper and looks close enough for happy hour. Sure, it won’t last as long or wear as well, but if everyone is on the same page, what’s the harm?

The harm comes when we don’t know – or are misled – that it’s a fake. The harm comes when we are convinced to pay a Rothko price for a Qian.

In the piano world, this manifests itself as “Stein-Was” and “Frankensteinway.” These include;

• A used Steinway that has had one or more parts replaced with cheap, knock-off parts, impacting the performance, sound, and lifespan,
• A Steinway “shell” that had damage extensive enough to declared it a Total Loss Piano (TLP) and was repaired using the cheapest labor, parts, and materials possible,
• A number of TLPs that were pieced together to make one piano. All the parts may be genuine, but the piano itself is not genuine as whole.

In 2005, there were some horrible natural disasters, including wildfires and Hurricane Katrina, that created lots and lots of TLPs. It appears some grey-market importers took advantage of a new business opportunity, setting up chop shops in Mexico and South American countries to turn worthless shells into something that looked pretty cool on a website.

Damage to TLPs can range from fire to mold to flood or storm surge. These are the conditions when the integrity of a Steinway cannot be guaranteed even when repaired by qualified craftsmen using the proper materials.

Today, we’re seeing more examples coming from Eastern European countries like Poland, who boast “old-world craftsmanship” but have had virtually no piano building experience since the Soviet Union was formed.

Their focus seems to be more on the outside of the piano – replacing critical case pieces to make the cabinets really fancy so they’ll demand higher prices. Legs, pedal lyres, and music desks that appear to be hand-carved on our phone screen turn out to be molded plastic or CNC cut pieces that reveal themselves as pale imitations when seen in person.

The best part for these tricksters is, if you don’t live in the same state where they do business, you likely have no consumer protections. Often, by the time any fraud is discovered, any statue of limitations has expired.

When educated shoppers decide to invest in a Steinway, they wisely want the entire piano – all 12,000 parts – to be genuine. It’s the only way to protect the investment.

I have a friend whose family owns one of the most respected music string companies in the world. About a decade ago, they started seeing a huge increase in the amount of product being returned to them as “defective.” A company beloved by their customers began to see negative online reviews. Not knowing what to do, they began more closely inspecting their returns.

That’s not really the way to put it. They began putting strings returned to them as “defective” under an electron microscope. What they found shocked them.

They were not their strings. They were counterfeits.

“Their packaging actually looked better than ours,” my friend told me. “The only way customers could have known they were getting ripped off was to pay closer attention to who they were buying from.”

Just like General Motors cannot control what happens to that ’57 Chevy once it left the factory, Steinway & Sons simply cannot stop every counterfeiter. While it unjustly hurts their reputation, due diligence has always been the consumers responsibility. The deal that is “too good to be true” usually is.

How to protect yourself from Frankensteinway or the Stein-Was

• Get everything in writing and make the writing specific. If the seller is reluctant to put their promises in writing, there’s probably a reason… and it’s probably not a good reason.
• If you choose to buy a piano this way, only give as much of a deposit as you are willing to lose. Never pay in full until you’ve verified the piano’s authenticity.
• Hire a qualified technician* – independent from the seller – experienced with new and used Steinway pianos to inspect the piano before it is shipped to you. This is also a good way to find out where the piano is really coming from (which state or country). Once the piano crosses state lines, you may have little recourse if you are being scammed.
• Have the piano delivered to your closest Steinway dealer, not directly to your home. Most Steinway dealers will be willing to accept and inspect the piano. You’ll know exactly what you’re getting and it may be easier to send the piano back if you have not personally accepted it. You will also have a relationship with someone qualified to service your piano.
• While most private sellers may not know much about their pianos, victims who discover they’ve bought a Frankensteinway may have no problem making their problem your problem.  Have a Steinway technician* authenticate and appraise the piano – but never use the current owner’s technician or trust their assessment.

The safest option is to work directly with an authorized Steinway & Sons dealer to find a quality preowned, used, or restored Steinway piano. In the end, you will likely save money (… hassle, headache, and heartbreak) dealing with the genuine article.

* The C. F. Theodore Steinway Technical Academy, William Steinway University, and the Artist Diploma in Piano Technology are the only Steinway & Sons endorsed programs for such qualifications. All these programs take years to complete. The technician will have documentation that they attended and passed.