New School Piano

Openwood · Post by **Openwood** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:36

I'm hoping to get the go-ahead to buy a new upright piano for a practice room in the school where I work. I reckon I might be able to spend up to £3000.

I see from other posts that PianoGuy thinks highly of the Kawai K15. I'd like to avoid the brightness of Yamaha but equally I don't like the 'plastic' sound of some institutional-style uprights. What do folks think of the Kawai or similar models?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 03 Jan 2007, 23:53

The Schimmel school piano is very good there quite a few schools up here got them, they are very robust

Barrie,

Nyiregyhazi · Post by **Nyiregyhazi** » 04 Jan 2007, 02:21

[quote="Openwood"]I'm hoping to get the go-ahead to buy a new upright piano for a practice room in the school where I work. I reckon I might be able to spend up to £3000.

I see from other posts that PianoGuy thinks highly of the Kawai K15. I'd like to avoid the brightness of Yamaha but equally I don't like the 'plastic' sound of some institutional-style uprights. What do folks think of the Kawai or similar models?

NO!

Andrew

Openwood · Post by **Openwood** » 04 Jan 2007, 10:57

Thanks for comments. I'm interested in the Schimmel piano and I see Forsyth's have a clearance sale, which might be useful. Which model is the 'school' one?

fumbler · Post by **fumbler** » 04 Jan 2007, 17:40

Hi,

It looks (from Forsyth's website) that the Academie or Studio range are suitable for 'institutional' use. I can't see any prices but it looks as if the Studio is the less expensive. I've no idea if 3000 pounds will cover one though.

I can't say that the word 'attractive' applies, though. Well, to the piano, anyway. Good luck.

PS To slightly hijack this thread, the Pegasus looks rather unstable, no?

Openwood · Post by **Openwood** » 04 Jan 2007, 19:28

Thanks for the input, Fumbler. I looked at the Forsyth's site this morning and thought exactly the same thing about the Pegasus - I used to own an Eavestaff of a similar design and it was about as stable as a plane crash (sounded not unlike one, too).

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 04 Jan 2007, 19:46

Openwood wrote:Thanks for comments. I'm interested in the Schimmel piano and I see Forsyth's have a clearance sale, which might be useful. Which model is the 'school' one?

The ones I have tuned are dedicated school pianos built like a tank about 114cm but an amazing bass for the size
http://www.schimmel-piano.de/e/pianos/120-S.html

Barrie,

fumbler · Post by **fumbler** » 04 Jan 2007, 20:53

Yes, I rather like the idea of a piano with bumpers!

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 04 Jan 2007, 21:59

The bumper is a plastic coated steel handle for moving the piano - they have a wire mesh grill protecting the soundboard, locking castors, a nice long deep music desk and 2 barrel locks

For a practise room where there is very little supervision of the children they are ideal

One other thing you have to budget for, if you buy a piano aimed at the private market are safety castors the school has a duty of care to its staff and the children.

If a piano falls over and it has not got safety castors the purchaser as well as the school will be held responsible

Barrie,

Openwood · Post by **Openwood** » 04 Jan 2007, 22:38

Thanks, Barrie. I had a look at the link and it looks ideal for the practice room. Flippin Eck, you weren't joking about it being a tank! The kids will be too scared to go anywhere near it - perfect! I expect there are a couple of rocket launchers and a flame-thrower in there somewhere. I might get one myself, just to keep the burglars out.

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 05 Jan 2007, 00:07

The last time I was in Forsyth's they did have one on the shop floor in oak but that was a wile ago

All the schools I do acquired their pianos from fire insurance calms, as they are expensive. I believe the insurance company that covers Lancashire has a deal with Schimmel. Not that I am saying your kids should start a fire in the music block

Barrie,

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 05 Jan 2007, 20:52

The Schimmel Studio is a fantastic piano, but you'd never get a new one for 3K. If you manage it, let me know, and I'll send every school I tune for up to Forsyth's for similar treatment. As I recall, a school I used to work at in the mid '80s bought one and it was close on 4K then. They really are bullet-proof, until the double-folding fall goes wrong, but it'd take a determined vandal to wreck it.

As an alternative, try a Kawai K3 with school castors fitted. No bumpers, but still good bangs for your buck. A Brodmann B121 could be bought for about 2.5K, which is a Yamaha U1-style piano with pillars and toes which aid stability. I'd still invest in some rear outrigger castors though.

The popular choice these days is the Kemble Cambridge School, which I'm sure you'd bag for 3k, but it's really not much more than a small Yamaha with a mildly reinforced wooden case and castors. They once did a nice oak version with a blackboard-style top door, but I think it died a death. Worth asking Kemble themselves though.

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 05 Jan 2007, 21:27

PianoGuy wrote: The popular choice these days is the Kemble Cambridge School, which I'm sure you'd bag for 3k, but it's really not much more than a small Yamaha with a mildly reinforced wooden case and castors. They once did a nice oak version with a blackboard-style top door, but I think it died a death. Worth asking Kemble themselves though.

Kemble did a lot of research for that school piano, extras like pull out table for laptop, cup holder, white board with music lines, but they sold very few so they dropped it

As I under stand it Schimmel are taking the same view as Yamaha on school pianos "cradle to grave product placement" cost + R%

However, with Yamaha you have to be a major music school to qualify and you can only get them from main dealers

I wonder if the new City Academies qualify

Barrie,

Openwood · Post by **Openwood** » 07 Jan 2007, 00:46

I was quoted £4,400 for the Schimmel by Forsyths. We don't pay VAT so I guess that would bring it down some more.

Post by **Barrie Heaton** » 07 Jan 2007, 12:12

They are not the only one who supply them in the UK However, I don’t think you will find anyone in the UK who will give you 30% off

You could look to Germany or France but the cost of shipping may kill the savings

Barrie,

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 07 Jan 2007, 22:14

Openwood wrote:I was quoted ?4,400 for the Schimmel by Forsyths. We don't pay VAT so I guess that would bring it down some more.

Still 630 quid over budget without the VAT!

Openwood · Post by **Openwood** » 08 Jan 2007, 12:45

I might be able to wangle it even at the over-budget cost. The Schimmel sounds like it would be best in our main music room and I would then move the Yamaha upright we've currently got there into the practice room. Something as bomb-proof as the Schimmel sounds like a good investment for a bigger room where it would get moved around a lot and those bumpers might keep the munchkins at bay.

Initially I put a budget request form in for a Yamaha C3 just for a laugh and to see what would happen - predictably enough what happened was that I was told to stop being so bloody cheeky.

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 08 Jan 2007, 20:38

Good luck!

Bomb-proof is a good way to describe the Schimmel studio. Worth the money at that price.... especially if you can get the rent back from Gordon.

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