By Anne Levin

When the news broke last September that Steinway Musical Instruments was being sold to the hedge fund firm Paulson & Company for $512 million, pianists all over the world began to panic. Did the purchase mean that the company’s tradition of meticulous craftsmanship would become a thing of the past? Was the Steinway, the Rolls Royce of pianos, headed for the mass production line?

So far, the company’s time-honored methods appear to be safe. Since the announcement was made, new owner John Paulson has expressed his admiration and respect for the 160-year-old Steinway legacy. Not a pianist himself, but the owner of three Steinways, Paulson has said he plans to keep things much as they are.

Yes, Steinway’s famed showroom on West 57th Street has been sold, and a new space is planned for a nearby location as yet to be announced. But the Steinway factory near Astoria, Queens is continuing its practice of using old-world techniques to turn out the superlative instruments beloved by a long line of artists, from Vladimir Ashkenazy and Yefim Bronfman to Harry Connick, Jr. and Billy Joel.

Both of these locations are open to the public. The showroom, known as Steinway Hall, is accessible at any time during opening hours, and the factory in Queens is available for tours on selected days. For anyone curious about the painstaking process that goes into the creation of a Steinway piano, a visit to the factory can be illuminating. The ornate Steinway Hall is the place to shop for a piano, and perhaps run into a musical celebrity or two.

With its domed ceiling and rooms of finely tuned instruments, the showroom is a favorite stopping place for famous pianists. They might be rehearsing for a concert across the street at Carnegie Hall, or just testing out a new instrument. Steinway plans to keep the showroom open to the public at its current location until the move, which is projected for late summer or early fall. Anyone is welcome to wander through the opulent building and inspect the exhibits of memorabilia, or play any of the pianos on display.

“It’s like a snapshot from 1925—even the light fixtures,” says Steinway spokesman Anthony M. Gilroy. “Anyone can come in and browse, or be shown around. It’s no surprise to see someone like Lang Lang or Emanuel Ax going in to practice or do interviews. Recently, Aretha Franklin came in and did an impromptu concert in the rotunda. Billy Joel once popped in to finish one of his songs. You might see Paul Shaffer or even Harrison Ford shopping for a piano.”

Steinway Hall was designed by Warren & Wetmore, the same architects responsible for Grand Central Station. A registered New York City historic landmark in the Beaux Arts tradition, the building has a two-story rotunda and a glittering, Viennese crystal chandelier. Original oil paintings of such musical legends as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Anton Rubinstein, and Franz Liszt, by artists including N.C. Wyeth and Rockwell Kent, hang on the walls. The building’s three floors are filled with more than 150 Steinway instruments. Below street level in the basement is the “piano bank,” where professional musicians come to choose pianos they will play in concerts or recordings, or on tour.

The architectural features will remain behind when the showroom relocates. “Essentially, everything that is part of the structure of the building will be staying put. But all of our paintings and artifacts will be making the move,” says Gilroy. “The new Steinway Hall will of course pay homage to our past, and include many of the historical pieces of art and artifacts. But the design of the interior in the new location will be more modern and reflective of 2014, as the Steinway Hall we are leaving was reflective of the time it was built (1925) and the previous Steinway Hall was reflective of the time it was built (mid-1860s).”

The first Steinway Hall was on 14th Street and had a large auditorium that served as the New York Philharmonic’s home until Carnegie Hall opened in 1891. By that time, the company had moved its factory from lower Manhattan to its current site in Queens. Founder Henry Engelhard Steinway, a German immigrant, built an entire Steinway Village, complete with its own foundries, factory, housing for employees, a post office, and parks.

Only 11 acres of that original site remain, but a lot of the work is still done in buildings that date from the 1870s. Among those who grew up in the neighborhood is Wally Boot, Steinway’s Final Inspection Tone Regulator. Boot will celebrate his 52nd year with the company in August. From his glassed-in workshop in a corner of the factory, Boot checks every note of every piano to make sure the sound is as it should be. Other than a few, 15-minute lessons he took from a piano tuner at the factory, he is not a trained musician. But he plays well. And he has an ear—he hears imperfections others do not.

“I listen to it note by note,” Boot explains after playing a few bars of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. “Any that sound out of place, I mark with chalk. This one’s a little tinny,” he says, repeatedly pushing down one key. To change the tone ever so slightly, he punches a tiny hole in the felt that covers the hammers.

Boot started at the factory making “buttons,” and later “knuckles,” eventually learning to put all of the parts of a piano together. Pictures of Boot with musical superstars Andre Watts, Emanuel Ax, Lang Lang and The Five Browns are plastered on his workshop walls. “They all pass through here,” he says, nonchalantly. “But mostly, it’s just regular people.”

From the lumberyard to the finished product, it takes about twelve months to produce a Steinway piano. About 2,500 are turned out a year, and 1,400 come from the factory in Queens. The rest are manufactured at the company’s other facility, in Hamburg, Germany. Professionals can discern subtle differences in tone between the Queens and Hamburg instruments.

What the two facilities share is a commitment to traditional techniques. “Some companies mass produce more in a week than we do in a year,” says Gilroy. “And there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just a different product. Steinways are unique.”

Steinways currently cost anywhere between $57,000 for the smallest grand to $145,000 for the Model V concert grand. They can be made in different finishes; some custom. They are considered to be investments. “The Model B was valued under $35,000 in 1990,” says Gilroy. “Today, the figure is $90,000. Over time, it’s less expensive to own a Steinway, because they last so long.”

We’re very exacting about the materials,” says Mark Dillon, the foreman of Steinway’s Tone Regulating Department. “We constantly review.” Dillon oversees the assembling of each piano as it transforms into a musical instrument. “It helps if a worker has a musical ear,” he explains. “But when it comes to the (tone) regulation, you need somebody with good hands. The musical and woodworking parts are totally different skills. What is consistent is the attention to detail.”

Pianos are taken through several stages before they are ready for purchase. Among the various departments at the Steinway factory are “action,” “polish,” “belly,” and “rim-bending.” The rim-bending technique is almost exactly as it was when the company pioneered it more than a century ago. On big, piano-shaped vises, layers of maple are coated with glue, stacked, and then melded into a single form of wood. It takes five rim-benders to do the job, and they have to do it quickly—before the glue dries.

Instruments are often sent back to Steinway for conditioning or storage. A tall, piano-shaped box labeled “Horowitz” stood on the factory floor a few months ago. Inside was one of two famous instruments used by late virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz, a longtime customer. It was being stored at the factory.

In each department on every floor, workers follow historic, proven methods. A few machines are in use. But the atmosphere is more like an artist’s workshop than an assembly line. “For the furniture parts of the piano, we embrace technology,” says Gilroy. “But for anything affecting the musicality, we are old world. You don’t want cookie-cutter. You want the piano to have a soul.”

IF YOU GO: The Steinway factory in Astoria, Queens offers free tours every Tuesday morning and every other Thursday morning, except in summer. The tours book up early so reservations must be made well in advance by emailing tours@steinway.com. The showroom is located at 109 West 57th Street and is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, till 5 p.m. Saturday, by appointment on Sunday. For more information, call 212.246.1100.