To be fair, the smaller pianos are clearly SUPERIOR, and in every way, to the similar-sized Steinway models. The new Masons are made for a customer looking for caricature, rock-crushing, American Steinway tone, but at a lower price. It helps make it clear that this is a new creation with only the most token connections to the pre-1930 artist instruments. I heartily approve of the new, pseudo-Steinway Trajan font used on the fallboard and elsewhere. Pianists of distinction, pianists having national and/or international reputations, are unwelcome at the Haverhill works, unless, of course, they slip in and out, anonymously and unrecognised. But their disappointment will be quite put in the shade by the tongue-lashing administered by the technical director, should the prospective customer be so unfortunate as to question ANYTHING about the new instruments.
However, any prospective buyer hoping to find the glorious, sympathetic, infinitely colourful tone of the vintage instruments will be grossly disappointed. Across the range, the actions can be MARVELOUS. Instead of issuing an archly-phrased critical broadside of these new pianos, I want to say that the following constitutes a personal assessment, based on my own experience and those of friends far better qualified to judge what is or isn't a good piano. May he have great success with these new creations, so utterly unlike the vintage pianos. In particular, I'm reliably informed from numerous sources that they've retained the services of an extremely talented German-American voicer/technician that has been able to uncover what was well-hidden gold in the tone. I've learned of recent efforts at Haverhill to introduce some semblance of beauty to their voicing. There is a smooth consistency to the WNG action that really changes the experience. Not exactly the same, but every bit as good. I felt with the new Masons I tried that they were every bit as good as the old ones.
I understand that they are built for longevity as well, which explains why we encounter so many good old ones, but I don't know much about what goes into designing a piano for longevity. I prefer playing a Mason to playing a Steinway. What I love the most about playing a Mason is that I can bring out the sounds I want, I can hear all kinds of details, and if I'm doing something wrong I can really hear what I'm doing wrong instead of being surprised later when I try to play a piece on a different piano. They also have a complex and beautiful tone, are good at showing musical detail, and there's a lovely variety of tone quality across the piano's range and across the dynamic range so that I can make a lot of different sounds. I met the designer, who said many things to me about the pianos, but I didn't think he was overly concerned with volume. I would have bought the new BB except for cost and my wife's objection to having 6'11" of piano in the house. While piano shopping for my piano, I went to the factory in Haverhill MA and tried several new As, AAs and BBs. 1920's Mason for work, and I own a 1916 Mason A that was rebuilt in 2015. I regularly play a well-maintained 7' ca.
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