1865 Steinway Grand Piano Style II # 12047

Restored by Sheldon D. Smith, Piano Technician

A member of the Piano Technicians Guild for 35 years, Sheldon Smith taught classes in soundboard construction and piano plate repair in San Francisco and Berkeley and at national conventions. For 13 years he tuned for the San Francisco Symphony, was also the concert tuner for Zellerbach and Hertz halls at UC Berkeley and Yoshi's World Class Jazz House in Oakland.
Smith maintained and tuned for many professional musicians. Pianist Peter Mintun said of Smith, “I came to realize that calling him a technician was not accurate. He was a piano maker and knew every single part of the instrument.” Robin Sutherland, San Francisco Symphony’s principal pianist, said that Smith “knew what he wanted, but also what it [the piano] wanted.”
Mintun further recalled, "He (Smith) was a perfectionist and kept working on it until he got it right…..the piano performed in a way of which musicians only dream, with magical, intangibles and Smith became known among musicians both for his musical expertise, technical craftsmanship, perfectionism, and feistiness. He selectively worked on only those instruments he deemed the best, to the consternation of many who unsuccessfully sought his services.

More Details:

* Piano is 7-1/2 feet long with an African rosewood case.

* Complete restoration by Sheldon Smith completed in 1977 included:

-Sounding board
-Pin block
-New string pins
-New strings
-All new felt actions inc. hammers
-Refinished plate
-Refinished case and legs

* Piano has been in the climate-controlled residence of Janice Bennett, who received the piano in a 1980s divorce settlement with Sheldon Smith. Janice re-built the action on the piano, and other family members helped with the restoration when Janice and Sheldon had a business together.

Certification the Condition:

Nelson's Complete Piano Service,
San Diego, California

In my consulting of the Steinway and Son‘s grand piano serial number 12047 built in 1865. I checked the sounding board there’s no cracks. The action is working great and the tunings needs to be tuned and the condition of the case is great and also the base strings the treble strings, and the keyboard is very nice Ivory keyboard with Black Ebony
The case is made out of African rosewood, which is very pretty with the carved legs. Also, I played the piano and it has a wonderful sound for the age of 159 years old. So those were my findings of the beautiful piano with bench.

Mr. Nelson