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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. Piano shopping...

Piano shopping...

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  • KlausK Klaus

    @sd-tav said in Piano shopping...:

    Very nice piano Klaus! I've hardly played any Euro uprights since dealers here have a harder time selling them compared to Yamahas and Kawais. I have played Schimmels which are just OK. In which city are Grotrian's produced?

    Schimmel has two different lines of upright pianos. The cheaper line is "just OK", as you say. The "Konzert" line is significantly better. Not on the same level as Bechstein/Grotrian/Bösendorfer, but really nice.

    Grotrian's are produced in Braunschweig in Lower Saxony.

    S Offline
    S Offline
    SD Tav
    wrote on last edited by
    #37

    @klaus I must have played the older type Schimmel upright. My reaction to a Konzert grand that I played a few years ago was very positive. I really liked it. Older models not so much.

    1 Reply Last reply
    • KlausK Offline
      KlausK Offline
      Klaus
      wrote on last edited by
      #38

      Here's an interesting shopping experience:

      When I tried the Grotrian, I liked it a lot initially, but I was irritated by a range of about 2 octaves in the treble. They sounded too subdued and lacked brilliance. I told the sales person (who turned out to be the owner) that I was in love with everything but these 2 octaves. He also tested the piano and agreed with me. He asked me whether I have 30min of time. He took his box of tools and began working on the hammers. First, he made a few tries with a single hammer and asked me a couple of times whether it already has the tone I'm looking for. When I agreed, he worked on all the other hammers and voiced them in the same way. When he finished and I could play again, I knew : This is it.

      That's the difference between a sales weasel and a proper piano technician.

      LuFins DadL 2 Replies Last reply
      • jon-nycJ Offline
        jon-nycJ Offline
        jon-nyc
        wrote on last edited by
        #39

        That's great.

        Only non-witches get due process.

        • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
        1 Reply Last reply
        • MikM Mik

          No answer. Must be banging away.

          F Offline
          F Offline
          Friday
          wrote on last edited by
          #40

          @mik said in Piano shopping...:

          No answer. Must be banging away.

          😆

          1 Reply Last reply
          • KlausK Klaus

            OK, the dealer managed to bridge another 1K of the gap, and I pulled the trigger.

            This is the baby.

            327937a5-e4de-4813-bc35-3b237f4d0bf1-image.png

            F Offline
            F Offline
            Friday
            wrote on last edited by
            #41

            @klaus

            Happy piano Klaus!
            (haven't said that here in a long time)

            1 Reply Last reply
            • KlausK Klaus

              Here's an interesting shopping experience:

              When I tried the Grotrian, I liked it a lot initially, but I was irritated by a range of about 2 octaves in the treble. They sounded too subdued and lacked brilliance. I told the sales person (who turned out to be the owner) that I was in love with everything but these 2 octaves. He also tested the piano and agreed with me. He asked me whether I have 30min of time. He took his box of tools and began working on the hammers. First, he made a few tries with a single hammer and asked me a couple of times whether it already has the tone I'm looking for. When I agreed, he worked on all the other hammers and voiced them in the same way. When he finished and I could play again, I knew : This is it.

              That's the difference between a sales weasel and a proper piano technician.

              LuFins DadL Offline
              LuFins DadL Offline
              LuFins Dad
              wrote on last edited by
              #42

              @klaus said in Piano shopping...:

              Here's an interesting shopping experience:

              When I tried the Grotrian, I liked it a lot initially, but I was irritated by a range of about 2 octaves in the treble. They sounded too subdued and lacked brilliance. I told the sales person (who turned out to be the owner) that I was in love with everything but these 2 octaves. He also tested the piano and agreed with me. He asked me whether I have 30min of time. He took his box of tools and began working on the hammers. First, he made a few tries with a single hammer and asked me a couple of times whether it already has the tone I'm looking for. When I agreed, he worked on all the other hammers and voiced them in the same way. When he finished and I could play again, I knew : This is it.

              That's the difference between a sales weasel and a proper piano technician.

              Nice..

              The Brad

              1 Reply Last reply
              • KlausK Klaus

                Here's an interesting shopping experience:

                When I tried the Grotrian, I liked it a lot initially, but I was irritated by a range of about 2 octaves in the treble. They sounded too subdued and lacked brilliance. I told the sales person (who turned out to be the owner) that I was in love with everything but these 2 octaves. He also tested the piano and agreed with me. He asked me whether I have 30min of time. He took his box of tools and began working on the hammers. First, he made a few tries with a single hammer and asked me a couple of times whether it already has the tone I'm looking for. When I agreed, he worked on all the other hammers and voiced them in the same way. When he finished and I could play again, I knew : This is it.

                That's the difference between a sales weasel and a proper piano technician.

                LuFins DadL Offline
                LuFins DadL Offline
                LuFins Dad
                wrote on last edited by
                #43

                @klaus said in Piano shopping...:

                Here's an interesting shopping experience:

                When I tried the Grotrian, I liked it a lot initially, but I was irritated by a range of about 2 octaves in the treble. They sounded too subdued and lacked brilliance. I told the sales person (who turned out to be the owner) that I was in love with everything but these 2 octaves. He also tested the piano and agreed with me. He asked me whether I have 30min of time. He took his box of tools and began working on the hammers. First, he made a few tries with a single hammer and asked me a couple of times whether it already has the tone I'm looking for. When I agreed, he worked on all the other hammers and voiced them in the same way. When he finished and I could play again, I knew : This is it.

                That's the difference between a sales weasel and a proper piano technician.

                Buuuut, if he was a musician or an instructor he would have reminded you that every time you practiced on an upright you were damaging your technic as the action would require you to overcompensate for the single escapement which blows your repetition AND your dynamic control, and that you would be better off with a Sejung or Dongbei 4’8” grand than the world’s best upright in terms of the touch, which ultimately drives your progress…

                Sorry, went sales weasel on you!

                The Brad

                1 Reply Last reply
                • KlausK Offline
                  KlausK Offline
                  Klaus
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #44

                  🙂

                  If one has the space, there is the consideration to get a grand piano instead, of course. Say, a Yamaha C2X, which is in the same price range. It would have a bigger sound and all the advantages of a grand piano, but it wouldn't sound as clean and delicate.

                  LuFins DadL 1 Reply Last reply
                  • KlausK Klaus

                    🙂

                    If one has the space, there is the consideration to get a grand piano instead, of course. Say, a Yamaha C2X, which is in the same price range. It would have a bigger sound and all the advantages of a grand piano, but it wouldn't sound as clean and delicate.

                    LuFins DadL Offline
                    LuFins DadL Offline
                    LuFins Dad
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #45

                    @klaus said in Piano shopping...:

                    🙂

                    If one has the space, there is the consideration to get a grand piano instead, of course. Say, a Yamaha C2X, which is in the same price range. It would have a bigger sound and all the advantages of a grand piano, but it wouldn't sound as clean and delicate.

                    The balance is tone vs. touch. Kluurs (I think) touched on the trouble the higher end European pianos have against Yamaha and Kawai in the US, but I don’t think that’s quite accurate. I think their problem is competing against the Yamaha and Kawai baby grands…

                    Heck, I bet Yamaha sold more of their N3X Avant Grand hybrifld piano than all of the Schimmel, Grotrisn, Bechstein, et al uprights combined..,

                    The Brad

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • KlausK Offline
                      KlausK Offline
                      Klaus
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #46

                      Over here, German high end uprights are pretty common, whereas baby grands don’t get much love. You can buy them, of course, but my impression is that these pianos are bought by people who want a piece of furniture and not a musical instrument.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      • kluursK Offline
                        kluursK Offline
                        kluurs
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #47

                        What about the hybrid instruments like the Yamaha N1X which has a conventional Yamaha action in a cabinet not too different from a studio upright? I came close to buying one this year - with the thought that I could use the headphone capabilities. It's also nice having an instrument that never goes out of tune.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • KlausK Offline
                          KlausK Offline
                          Klaus
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #48

                          It’s true, but for me personally even the best digital pianos don’t come close to the experience of an acoustic one.

                          If I would have use for a silent mode I’d have bought an acoustic piano with silent system.

                          Luckily we live in a house where I can use an acoustic piano basically 24/7.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          • KlausK Offline
                            KlausK Offline
                            Klaus
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #49

                            Finally it arrived.

                            A first attempt at banging the shit out of it. The non-butchered version of it is Schumann's "Aufschwung".

                            https://drive.google.com/file/d/104VVFdK-CF34NNm71cDWDElW89vojctO/view?usp=sharing

                            markM 1 Reply Last reply
                            • KlausK Klaus

                              Finally it arrived.

                              A first attempt at banging the shit out of it. The non-butchered version of it is Schumann's "Aufschwung".

                              https://drive.google.com/file/d/104VVFdK-CF34NNm71cDWDElW89vojctO/view?usp=sharing

                              markM Offline
                              markM Offline
                              mark
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #50

                              @klaus said in Piano shopping...:

                              Finally it arrived.

                              A first attempt at banging the shit out of it. The non-butchered version of it is Schumann's "Aufschwung".

                              https://drive.google.com/file/d/104VVFdK-CF34NNm71cDWDElW89vojctO/view?usp=sharing

                              👏 👏 👏

                              Sounds great!

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • kluursK Offline
                                kluursK Offline
                                kluurs
                                wrote on last edited by kluurs
                                #51

                                Nice! I've always liked Fantasiestücke though I've not learned all of the pieces. I have arthritis in my thumbs, and Schumann seems to beat them up more than most other composers.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • taiwan_girlT Offline
                                  taiwan_girlT Offline
                                  taiwan_girl
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #52

                                  Wow!! That is really good!!!!!!

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  • jon-nycJ Offline
                                    jon-nycJ Offline
                                    jon-nyc
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #53

                                    Very nice!

                                    Only non-witches get due process.

                                    • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                                    George KG 1 Reply Last reply
                                    • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

                                      Very nice!

                                      George KG Offline
                                      George KG Offline
                                      George K
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #54

                                      @jon-nyc said in Piano shopping...:

                                      Very nice!

                                      Indeed!

                                      "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                      The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      • LuFins DadL Offline
                                        LuFins DadL Offline
                                        LuFins Dad
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #55

                                        Impressive memorization!

                                        The Brad

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • kluursK kluurs

                                          I believe that Steinway had issues with Grotrian-Stenweg back in the day, alleging that Steinweg was an attempt to confuse the US audience into thinking they were getting a German Steinway. As I understood it, as a result of a settlement, Grotrian agreed to not use the Steinweg name in North America. At least that's the story I was told. Larry or one of our other pros would know if that's true.

                                          LarryL Offline
                                          LarryL Offline
                                          Larry
                                          wrote on last edited by Larry
                                          #56

                                          @kluurs said in Piano shopping...:

                                          I believe that Steinway had issues with Grotrian-Stenweg back in the day, alleging that Steinweg was an attempt to confuse the US audience into thinking they were getting a German Steinway. As I understood it, as a result of a settlement, Grotrian agreed to not use the Steinweg name in North America. At least that's the story I was told. Larry or one of our other pros would know if that's true.

                                          First, that's a very nice piano, Klaus. Very high quality.

                                          Now, regarding what Kluurs refers to... a bit of back story:

                                          Somewhere in the 1960s, Grotrian Steinweg struck a deal with the Wurlitzer piano company to be the Grotrian distributo in the US. Kimball had purchased Bosendorfer, so kimball dealers all over america began mentioning that connection in their sales pitches. So when wurlitzer became the distributor for Grotrian, Wurlitzer dealers all over america began telling customers that Wurlitzer built Grotrian pianos. I mean geez.. Kimball DID build Bosendorfer, since they actually owned the company.... it just wouldn't have the same juice for a Wurlitzer salesmanto say "we don't actually build them, they just sell 20 or 30 pianos a year to us and we retail them"....

                                          Because Wurlitzer dealers and their salesmen were telling the buying public that Grotrians were built by Wurlitzer, instead of adding some panache to the Wurlitzer brand, it created a situation where actual Grotrian competition took advantage of things by saying "I think I heard that those Grotrians being sold in the US were built by wurlitzer"....And the Grotrian brand got kneecapped in the US. Wurlitzer never sold many Grotrians, and that arrangement died out due to a lack of reorders by wurlitzer.. probably (I'm guessing) because they were still trying to sell through that first years quota 4 or 5 years later,..

                                          I'm told that Grotrian Steinweg was bought out around 2014 or 2015 by a Chinese firm, or some group that has ties to a Chinese piano builder. The Grotrian Steinweg are still built in Germany, but they now also offer a cheaper line (Wilhelm grotrian??) Built in China.

                                          KlausK 1 Reply Last reply
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