A good technician can make any piano sound like any other

[Jazzer]

"I am one of those people who believes that you can get any piano to sound like any other if you have a good technician," said Freddie Kempf in an interview when he was asked why he recorded his [excellent] Rachmaninov CD on a Yamaha. (He also said, "it was the best instrument that we could get in the studio at the time and without spending too much money. It was the best compromise...")

So is this true?! I have a Yamaha, with which I am very pleased indeed, but it doesn't sound like a Steinway (nor does the Yamaha on Kempf's Rachmaninov CD, for that matter, but it sounds much more like one than mine!) and I would be even more pleased with it if it did. So is it a case of my having to find a good technician to make my piano sound like a Steinway? Could I then opt for a more Bosise-like sound a few months later?!

[Barrie Heaton]

A good technician can bring out the best in that piano but you can't make a Yamaha sound like a Steinway but you can make a piano sound foul if you get it wrong

Barrie,

[andyaeola]

I was told a tale that when Peter Salisbury sold Yamahas he voiced them to sound like Steinway; but he was told not to by Yamaha as they wanted Yamahas to sound like Yamahas (go figure ).

My only experience of this was playing a small grand, I think it was a Waldstein made by Pearl River, that had been voiced to sound like a Bosendorfer. Anyway it was a couple of years ago at Hurstwood Farm pianos and it did sound remarkably like a small Bosie! I think the tech who did the work would have been Geoffrey Sapsford. Mr Dain said it would revert to it's natural tone over a few years.


Andy

[PianoGuy]

I was told a tale that when Peter Salisbury sold Yamahas he voiced them to sound like Steinway; but he was told not to by Yamaha as they wanted Yamahas to sound like Yamahas

Seeing as Yamaha frame and action designs closely ape those of Steinway, this is hardly surprising!

In the early 1960s, Yamaha tried to curry favour with S&S to allow them to become Japanese distributors and collaborate on designs. When S&S were repeatedly less than enthusiastic, Yamaha decided to go ahead and design Steinway-beaters themselves. With the CF111S, they've all but succeeded.
Of course when Steinway later needed a Far Eastern collaborator for the Boston range, they had to put up with cast-off Kawai technology.

My only experience of this was playing a small grand, I think it was a Waldstein made by Pearl River, that had been voiced to sound like a Bosendorfer.

God help us.

You'd need a lot of work to make a Waldstein actually play like a Bosie. They're very indifferent out of the box. Nothing like as bad as a Petrof of course!

In general, it's very difficult to make one random piano sound like another unless there's some common ground in the sound to start with. Note that some makers can't even make two pianos of the same type sound alike!

[Jazzer]

Seeing as Yamaha frame and action designs closely ape those of Steinway, this is hardly surprising!

...Yamaha decided to go ahead and design Steinway-beaters themselves. With the CF111S, they've all but succeeded.

OK, so there's more chance of making a Yammie sound like a Steinway than making various others sound like a Steinway.

I think I need to find a good technician!

[andyaeola]

You'd need a lot of work to make a Waldstein actually play like a Bosie.

Sapsford spent 3 days prepping a 290 Stuart & Sons for a concert( I played it the weekend after ), so goodness knows how long he took on the Waldstein. I remember Mr Dain said that when Sapsford agreed to take on the Hurstwood Farm pianos his only condition was that he was allowed to work on them until he was satisfied. Dain had the Waldstein done just to prove it could be done.

Anyone know of Mr Sapsford? He lives towards Hastings I believe.


I must admit to not being a Yamaha fan...tried a Yamaha CF111s in the new Chappells showroom and found it OK but pretty ordinary sounding. Lovely action. But I wouldn't spend 50k on an ordinary sounding piano however well designed it may be. Still, the next one I try may be glorious.

Regards

Andy