Essex uprights come in a variety of case styles, and are well-suited for the spectrum of home décor styles and personal aesthetics. From satin black to aubergine mahagony; brass hardware to nickel; contemporary to classic — the Essex line celebrates the marriage of form and function.

FINISHES

High Polish: Ebony, Sapele Mahogany, Walnut, White

High-grade, straight-grained, quarter-sawn spruce is selected for its resonant qualities and high strength-to-mass ratio. The soundboard is solid and not laminated, which creates the best resonance and projection of sound. In 1936, Steinway patented the diaphragmatic soundboard, which is thicker in the middle and gently tapered to the edges. The Essex soundboard is tapered from bass to treble resulting in a stronger, richer, fuller tone.

Essex backposts are massive — providing a solid foundation for the resonating soundboard and tensioned vibrating strings, thus helping create a beautiful tone. Essex backpost locations are staggered — located where the string tension is greatest, instead of neatly equidistant. Massive staggered backposts help provide superb tone and maximum stability, ensuring the piano will last, tunings will be more stable, and piano tone will be enhanced for the years and decades to come.

A low tension string scale, designed by Steinway, gives a fuller, richer, warmer tone by allowing more of the lower partials to sing. It also has more sustain, is more powerful, has more dynamic range, and provides warmer and more mellow tones.

All-wood action parts, solid spruce keys, and excellent action geometry work seamlessly together to move the hammers to the strings and to create an excellent action touch. The beautiful tone produced by the Steinway–specified Essex hammers actually enhances the action touch by “giving back” to the player a beautiful tone.

technical SPECIFICATIONS

Backframe/Posts Staggered spruce backposts (5). Total CSA: 500 cm² (77.5 in²). Thickness of post: 10 cm. Width of post: 10 cm.

Pinblock Laminated bi-directional Maple. Thickness: 35 mm.

Soundboard Solid spruce. Linear taper. Vibrating area: 1.26 m² (1,948 in²)

Ribs Ribs notched into inner rim (no floating ribs). Ribs made of spruce and staggered/graduated. Number of ribs: 11

Bridges Vertically laminated maple base with solid maple cap.

Scale Designed by STEINWAY. 16,695 kg (36,730 lb) tension.

Plate Cast iron, painted with Steinway Gold.

Tuning Pins Carbon steel, nickel coating.

Strings Roslau wire. Number of sizes of treble strings: 14. Lowest tenor note: 27. Number 1 speaking length: 114 cm (44.9″)

Hammers Specified by STEINWAY. Weight of topfelt: 7 kg (15 lb).

Action All wood (no plastic) for all moving parts. Aluminum action rails.

Keys STEINWAY design. Spruce.

Keybed Lauan, maple, spruce.

Pedals Brass. Middle pedal is for muffler.

Features All-wood back construction (no MDF except in cabinet parts). Solid filler blocks in backframe (near top). Backposts are large and staggered. Bench: Matching cushioned bench.

Casters Brass casters.

Dimensions