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joseph

For what it's worth, the pre war Blüthners were made with a damper system that deliberately doesn't cut off the sound as immediately as say, a Steinway. It was part of their pre-war sound. These days if a pre-war Blüthner is rebuilt in Leipzig, you can request that the modern damping system is insta...

joseph

I'm coming to this late: I have always found that Boston pianos had a short sustain, as you describe, particularly on the models which pre-date the Performance Edition. The Performance Edition seems to be much better, but I've only ever played the first generation of the P.E models and not the new o...

joseph

Sorry to resurrect this 2 years later....

But in Norwich I used an Otto Bach piano for a church choir practice, and it was identical to a Knight I used to own, same sound, same touch, same case, different name on the front.

joseph

Hello everyone, long time no see.... I'm going to chip in about the Blüthner. It's true that there are Blüthners from the later part of the 19th C, up to the 1930s that make good candidates for a full restoration. This is because these Blüthners follow a largely conventional design, perhaps you coul...

joseph

I don't think they're currently sold in the UK Ian. They have in the past been imported by the Edinburgh Piano Company, and Alan Makin Pianos also in Edinburgh, and Biggars music in Glasgow. Even in the late 1990s there were some pretty nice sounding Estonias coming out, but it's been a very long ti...

joseph

Yes, Yamaha uprights are excellent, but they're not British. I think the OP was asking which of the classic British uprights (Broadwood, Challen, Welmar, Knight, Hopkinson, Chappell, etc) do we think were the greatest, up to and including the 1990s Barless Broadwood, and the new pianos from Broadwoo...

joseph

Not unless you want to admire it as a piece of furniture and insert a clavinova into the key frame.....

it looks like its musical life is probably done.

joseph

Hi There, Personally I've preferred the sound of every YUS5 to every YUS3 or U3 that I have played, and I'm not quite sure why that is. If the YUS3 and 5 are of identical scale design then it must have been down to the preparation of the models I played. Basically if you're choosing between two pian...

joseph

I've owned two English uprights in my life - a 1953 Challen, and a 1984 Knight. The Knight was solidly built, but it was always too bright, and the tone, frankly, was never that good. I had it from 1996 until 2002. The Challen I have had since 1992 and actually it's still in my parents house. While ...

joseph

This is such a hard question to answer having not seen the Grotrian. What I can say is that I have played some Feurich uprights, some Wendl und Lung uprights and grands and I've been unimpressed with them, in fact left cold by them. I found them all a bit thin and nasal even after prep work, and the...

joseph

Hello there and well done for sitting your exam anyway. The truth is I've no way of knowing whether you could pass or fail from a forum post. I would have to hear you play. There are many things that make a good performance - and the right notes are only the starting point. At LTCL level I would be ...

joseph

It is a beautiful looking piano, and personally I find these straight strung under damped pianos very interesting.

If I could afford it I would buy it myself.

joseph

The Estonias from that period weren't excellent pianos but it was due to the quality of parts available rather than anything else. I know of one Estonia concert grand from that period that has been fully rebuilt by Piano Restorations Ltd in Twyford, with a new soundboard and plank, and the results a...

joseph

In my view, Yamaha digital pianos are hard to beat, and have been for a very long time. Have you tried Arius models? They are cheaper than the Clavinova models but they incorporate many of the same features, including a Graded Hammer keyboard which is only surpassed by higher end models in the Clavi...

joseph

That's quite a statement Vernon! I agree that if you have a piano that is old but is still that good, you might want to leave it as is, and give the next buyer the chance to purchase it original and do what they want with it. Probably most people would play that and think there was no point in resto...

joseph

This isn't a thread about the viability of piano rebuilding - I know about that, but bear with my long-winded question: At one time, when rebuilding old pianos, that using outsized pins in the pinblock, and repairing original soundboards was a better option than replacing the board and pinblock, and...

joseph

I'm pretty sure it would improve the tone, if the strings had deposits on them on certain nodes for instance, it might be possible that a build up of dirt would produce odd whistles etc in these places - although I think it would have to be very dirty. I suppose the other danger is cleaning them too...

joseph

Hi Iain, In Steinway Hall I know the sales staff mainly, although I have chatted with the technical staff. The technical staff in the basement there are usually preparing rebuilt pianos for sale, so it would more than likely involve re-stringing the piano - even if the piano is only 20 years old the...

joseph

Hi Iain, No, I haven't had that job done, ever. The piano will tide me over for a couple of months until my next acquisition comes in. Then, the old Bluthner will be my second piano (again) until such time as I can afford to have a full rebuild done. I will have the soundboard and plank replaced on ...

joseph

I just thought I'd let you know that I have sold my Brodmann 187 for the price I paid for it originally, minus the servicing I put it through. I had the action completely stripped down and rebuilt before I sold it, in order that the new owner would be happy with it. To be fair, I had given it many h...

joseph

I know that Paul Leverett at piano restorations can fit QRS systems, but they are expensive and probably something you would consider fitting to a higher-end grand rather than a mid-range upright. This thread is a bit old now, but how feasible would it be to trade in the K2 for an 'anytime' version ...

joseph

Hi Gill, Fact is that was the only negative! It didn't put me off, but the size of the piano was just a bit too much for me sadly. Anyway in January 2014 I'll be taking delivery of something quite special.... I'll post pics when it arrives!

joseph

Kawai RX-2 is an excellent piano. The KG-2 (the predecessor) was also an excellent piano, but I think the RX-2 is far better. Has anybody tried the new GX pianos yet? The Kawai vs Yamaha thing really just comes down to which individual piano you like. Talking about the newest instruments, I would sa...

joseph

Hi Joey, The V-118 was branded the 'Vienna' model. They are good instruments from the Kemble factory, with the usual high standards of work. It's a smaller piano than the U1, but not by much. I'm not sure why they were discontinued. Perhaps they were limited edition. I suspect that it was the standa...

joseph

No, but seriously Vernon, did that actually happen? Did someone honestly ask if violin practice would disturb your tuning?

joseph

I haven't seen SAP renovations pianos in the flesh so to speak, but I believe they at least install new soundboards by Strunz, which is a good maker of soundboard. How it's installed is very important and as I say, I haven't seen their work. I HAVE seen some PianoFiks pianos, but to be honest I woul...

joseph

If this was any old Brinsmead baby grand, I'd suspect that at best, it's worth what you paid for it, and probably a fair bit less. However, it's not any old Brinsmead grand, because you've stated it has sentimental value, so in that case, it's worth it to you to keep it. A couple of things to consid...

joseph

Colin is right. Restoration means various things to various people. To me, a full restoration is replacing everything required to bring the piano back to the condition it was in when it was new. In many cases (but not all) this would include replacing the soundboard and the pinblock. It might includ...

joseph

You've done well not to sell it. Yes, there are better pianos than the Yamaha S6, but you'd have to spend A LOT more to get one. Unless you were going for a Bosendorfer, Bechstein, Bluthner, Steinway or Fazioli, or perhaps a Yamaha CF, you'd have felt cheated buying a smaller piano. Actually even if...

joseph

Sounds like you are a happy customer! Enjoy your piano, and enjoy making music, and thanks for the update!

joseph

Re Bechstein grands: I find the old ones are terrible, and in that very section which you don't like Vernon, they are clunky, they are unreliable, the tuning is never good, and I honestly never look forward to playing one. Actually it's been a very long time since I did. I've played a couple that ha...

joseph

Anyway back to the original topic of the thread - I'm glad you're trying everything else before selling your S6. I think you would regret losing it! I think it's one of Yamahas nicest pianos, and certainly all the ones I have played have been beautiful. Some are loud and bright, some are very myster...

joseph

Actually, I played on a Bluthner patent action rebuilt by Paul Leverett and I was really surprised at how fast the repetition was. It was faster than a roller action, actually, which was the surprise. It was also a good bit lighter, or at least that was my perception. Beautiful to play on, but I'd r...

joseph

Seems like a fair price for buyer and seller - not too high but not low either.

joseph

Where are you based? I could recommend a couple of techs if I knew where you were. You should try and have the voicing taken right down, if there's still enough felt on the hammers. A Shigeru Kawai SK2 or even a Kawai RX2 won't necessarily be quieter than your S6, to be honest, and I think you'd rea...

joseph

Unless you need to downsize, I would think VERY hard about selling your S6 and getting an SK2. An S6 isn't actually all that much bigger if you think about it, but the tone is far superior. Perhaps you just need a decent tech and some servicing done on your Yamaha. I think Chamberlain had an S6 'ex-...

joseph

In my entire life I think I've used the sostenuto pedal in performance once. Even then it wasn't actually needed.

joseph

YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE KAWAI! because the yamaha's downbearing is set to cause the piano to implode after 25 years, so that you HAVE to buy a new piano, and the Kawai has three pedals, and it's IMPOSSIBLE to play a piano with only two pedals since manufacturers started to put three pedals on the...

joseph

Strange how a new customer,strangely becomes a friend ?. Hi Joe, perhaps he was a friend first and then became a new customer, and perhaps the pianoman referred to him as a new customer first because if he had said 'friend' then everyone would have said 'don't go messing around in other people's pi...

joseph

The Silent Grands are better these days, with the introduction of the latest range, but before they were pretty rubbish tbh. The sound of the silent system on the new grands is convincing, but yes, it lacks a certain finesse, and of course you're playing through headphones. The problem isn't just vo...

joseph

On my Bluthner - and many pianos of that age I've seen (c.1910-1920) that haven't been restored - the colour was almost light honey colour, appearing somewhat yellow with bloches of some things I don't know what all over it. Then, under the fly lid it was slightly darker, but not much, and down the ...

joseph

I'm in complete agreement with NewAge. I've been doing a lot more work on a digital due to neighbour restrictions and problems with the piano and my dynamic range has been cauterized a bit. It's very frustrating. it's better than not practising at all, but it's been a bit of a leap of imagination at...

joseph

We're just trying to steer you away from a piano that, in the long run, wouldn't be up to much. You'd need to spend a fair bit of money on it making it comfortable to play, and even then, it would never be that great. As I said, I believe there have been improvements in the young chang line up since...

joseph

I believe young chang pianos CAN be nice, but I've yet to find the nice one..... They have pretty poor tone, really quite hard on the ear, and the actions are terrible - very heavy, unresponsive and even when set up properly they still perform poorly. The new ones are meant to be much better, but ev...

joseph

I would say, that unless you have a high budget and you know that the piano is going to be a long term fixture, buy a good digital to start with. OK, they don't quite have the touch or the sound, but they are fine. The keys are heavy enough and the sound is realistic enough, even and in tune. The dy...

joseph

As both a concert artist and piano teacher I am happy to say that at the beginning, a good digital piano is all that is required until you know if your child will continue with lessons. I think that on your budget a good digital will be a better option than an acoustic, but go and try things. There ...

joseph

Hi David, I think it sounds like an exciting project, I take my hat off to you! It's a rather expensive mistake if you get it wrong (a set of bass strings is in the region of £600 at cost), but I wonder if you might befriend a restorer who can help you with some of the easier stuff by showing you wh...

joseph

The Brodmann has been tuned, the hammers re-faced and the offending notes voiced. It's now playing as it did when it was new. It's not perfect, but I will have to upgrade to a far more expensive instrument for that, but I am happy to say it works, it sounds good and I can use it. I will be putting m...

joseph

I must add, that Chris Venables did pay for the work, so thank you very much to Chris.

joseph

Fergus spent two days on my piano, re-profiling the capo bar, and replacing the strings in the top section. He's re-shaped the hammers and tuned it, and he's coming back to do another tuning next week. He's re-centred some of the action, and in June will do a full regulation. I'm hoping that for now...

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