Once upon a time ago in Boston Mass, this elegant and powerful instrument was built in the Mason & Hamlin factory. Back in 1904, this Mason & Hamlin "CC" would've been the largest production piano in the world. In a time before mass production, real German craftsmen gathered together to build the finest pianos, and this is one of them. Now, finding it's way to Family Piano Co., it stands proudly in the showroom waiting to be played and heard. At last, the Steinertone has its voice again.

The saga of this piano begins for Mark in 1997, when a classified ad from the Piano Technicians Guild/Chicago Chapter offered a "Nine Foot Concert Grand for Free! Call Walter." Fortunately, this ad didn't make it all the way to the recycling bin before Marks' wife alerted him to remove it and call Walter. Never thinking there was any chance of getting this kind of deal it seemed prudent to make the call. Well, Walter upon answering the phone assured Mark that it was indeed a 9 foot concert grand that has been taking up space in his storage facility for over 25 some odd years, and he would like it to go away. Quickly, arrangements were made to go visit this lonely piano.

Nestled in a subterranean storage locker, three floors down was indeed a 9 foot concert grand except it was 100% completely disassembled. The gargantuan cast iron plate somehow made it out of the piano and was resting comfortably against a nearby wall. All of the other parts were scattered willy-nilly all over the place, although there was some order to the chaos. The keyboard action was placed on a box, the dampers were tossed in a box, the screws were stuck in a piece of cardboard, and on and on. Seeing this for the first time made my heart ache. Who would do such a thing??? After a few minutes of digesting this view of wanton piano destruction, it became clear that the Universe sent me there to bring this poor hulking behemoth back to life. Thus begins the Resurrection.

A few days later, our truck crew arrived with ten guys to replace the cast iron plate back into the piano for transportation back to the piano rebuilding center, where is sat once again for two more years. The piano shop closed its doors for ever, and I made sure that it went along with me. The Steinertone made it safely back to my garage in Hanover Park where it sat for another 12 years or so. I know, what an exciting story so far!

Finally, after all this time, Family Piano Co. was born in 2006, and the first thing we did was bring the piano to Jeff Cappelli's shop in Forest Park, aptly named Renaissance Piano Craftsmen. Jeff and his staff of piano rebuilders worked on the piano off and on for the next two and a half years until it's completion in March of 2009 and then it was brought back to Family Piano Co.

Now, the end of the work has begun. All of the parts are installed, and the finishing touches are being done. Projects like this always take more time at the end than at the beginning, but it's nearly done.

Now we have a truly amazing piece of American history here in downtown Waukegan to share with the world! Come and see it!