Oversized crowbars bend wood for a piano’s rim. Circular sanders smooth rough edges on costly Sitka spruce soundboards. Hammers and chisels notch a bridge to allow piano strings to vibrate freely.

For 30 years, Bernard Craddock has been one of the roughly 200 workers handcrafting pianos at the 150-year-old Steinway & Sons factory in Astoria, a neighborhood in the New York borough of Queens.

“Everybody has a specific job here,” Craddock said, working on a piano frame. “My job is to set this straight for the hammers to hit the strings.”

President Donald Trump has vowed to start an American manufacturing renaissance, one of the main aims of his trade war. But manufacturing isn’t easy anywhere in the United States thanks to high costs, strict regulations and lack of workers with the necess

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