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Hello! I’m looking at purchasing a 1962 Steinway, model 100 console. I know this is the first year of the Teflon era and want to confirm the bushings have been upgraded. Piano has traded hands a few times, so original details are not available. Here is a photo - absence of white plastic and obvious red fabric made me feel confident. can anyone confirm?

[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/p6XFuqpWnZ5dtd3Y8[/img]

Welcome to PW.

The photo you show is of key bushings, for which Teflon was never used. This piano "probably" does not have Teflon bushings in the action. From what I have seen they were a little slow getting them into the verticals. But you must look deep in the action for a little (tiny) round thing at the rotational points. If these are white they are Teflon, but if they are reddish they are traditional cloth bushings. If you don't really know where to look though you might not find it.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor

Very helpful! I have no idea where to look and neither does the seller. Trying to do my due diligence, but not sure if it matters much… I know buying an older piano is always a bit of a gamble, but was a bit spooked by the number of posts online about the Teflon debacle. Really a beautiful instrument and I liked how it played, maybe that is enough?

Steinway verticals never had Teflon.

I don't believe Steinway vertical actions were made in-house, rather they came from another supplier (Renner) who never used Teflon bushings, as BDB mentions.

My school had a couple of these consoles in the practice rooms-- one from the early 1980s and the other from 1947. The newer one was sent off to surplus (the music desk design broke repeatedly in institutional use, rendering it unusable), and the other one was moved to a low-use classroom situation in another building (besides its age, it more recently had some substandard action work done that makes it play badly, in addition to the design challenges that simply tuning their smaller NY uprights tend to present). I imagine that piano will also be sent to surplus in the next year or so. This is not intended to scare you away from the piano (particularly if you like it), rather to suggest the price you should expect to pay should be on the low side, as many of these pianos have aged past their prime.

All the 40" Steinways had Pratt Read actions. I think they are nice pianos, fun to play, and not as bad as the other sizes are to tune.

I have seen two (I think...but one absolutely for sure) with Teflon, though not this model. Likely it does not have it. However it can still have issues that should be checked first by a competent technician.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor

The problem with S&S verticals is the tuning. They are infamous.
Some people are good at it--I'm not one of them.

I would have a technician check how difficult the piano might be to tune. You may need to find someone who has tuned a lot of them.