Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Adult Beginner in Singapore: Buying First Piano

Where do you put the silica beads?
Under the top lid?
How do you put under the piano? The action is inside leh. Do you mean under the soundboard?
Hang it with wires?

There should be a heater rod just behind the fallboard, is it there? Should be ok leow.
Then, when not playing, u gotta cover it up with the cover to keep moisture out.
If the lid is close, humid air still gets circulated around the action and inside, lau-hong, you know?

snoopycar, i put 2 big bags of beads inside the lid, on the soundboard. The thirsty hippo is on the floor la just behind the lyre lar. The inside actions already got heater ma. My house has very high humidity. I'm asking my friend to get me the blue gizmo rh meter that you posted from sim lim square for me. I put the lid down when not playing, put down the music desk, slide in and put a table runner to cover it.

Oic. ;D

I saw others slide out the desk and put it on top(with protection cloth, maybe towel) with all the top cover close. Like that can protect the inside, no need to always open - that's if you don't mind a little muffle tone.

Why your house so humid? Got sauna bath? House beside sunway lagoon? hehehe just joking.

hehe, mine's old grand piano, no need to sayang so much

My house is humid because it is made of red bricks that absorbed water and i'm on the high floor. Where do you put your grand? Your house really big, can put so many pianos.

Oh, not really big house, if big house i'll have pipe organ - hehehe
It's just a 3bedroom + 1 living rm flat. grand is in living rm, U1 in rm1, Clavi and kawhy in rm2. No baby yet, so piano is "baby" hehehe
I just imagine the baby grand is a round dinning table lor.

icic, after you get the humidity monitor, you can judge the RH% more clearly. And see whatever measures you take and any improvment, like closing window, turn on little aircon..

No not simlim square, that's for PC stuff.
It's SimLim Tower, diagonally opposite, don't sabo your friend.... :-)

jarjar, snoopycar: silicone beads, "heater rods"? you're confusing me.

Are silicone beads enough to keep my pride and joy in shape?

Oh, thanks snoopycar. I thought it was simlim square. Oh ya, maybe you can have steamboat party on your grand with people sitting around it? Hehe.

timbo77, silicone beads is those disposable dehumidfier in small box. Can find it at supermarket or pharmacies. Heater rod is a heater that will be installed inside your piano to keep the piano warm. I suppose all new pianos come with it. Please check with your dealer.

Heater rod is use to keep the roti-john warm... hiak hiak hiak

No... For a normal non aircon room, heater rod(powered ON) is use to reduce the RH% afew %, like 5~15%.

I suddenly realize, if we spent too much $$ and cost to keep RH to ideal 40~55%, which is good for the wood, but there are still others things we cannot avoid like, wear and tear, mechanism becomes loose, hammer become flaten, keys become click clark, felt compacted, leather parts wears out.... pedals and shinning brass hinges become tarnish. Know what i'm trying to rationalize?

don't beat/hammer me..... ouch ouch

yaya, i'll just do that next chinese new year reunion dinner, and of course, i take pics and post them here
Is my 170 long enough? should i get the bosie 9ft? can fit 2 steamboat you know? n invite you and the gang ... wait a minute, what about wheeling it to the corridor for a barbeque?

LIke I was saying elsewhere (by mistake), I need to rob a bank. Or win Toto. In the last 3 weeks I have been making my first round of visits to various showrooms, playing on grands.

The list so far includes:

• Kawai SK-5
• Kawai SK-6
• Yamaha C5
• Yamaha C6
• Yamaha C7
• Yamaha S4
• Brodmann BG187
• Yamaha C7 (15 years old)
• Bosendorfer Imperial (30 years old)
• Schimmel K189T (5 years old)
• Estonia 190
• Fazioli F185
• Fazioli F212

This is a sickness, you know. And yet so addictive?

ah ha... i see you went Yammie, Kawie and Emman for shopping last weekend...

-The Estonia 190 would be best value for money IMHO. Not too big, not too small, tone is rich, doesn't hurt ears.

-Bosie Imperial good for performance stage
-C7 has real irory? wow!!


Its a hobby(obsession) only ...

Yesterday to E&S. Yamaha sometime during the week last week, and Kawai the week before that.

Frankly the big guys (Yamaha and Kawai) were disappointing in the way they don't keep the pianos at least in tune. I wanted to try the RX-5 and RX-6 as well, but Robert Piano has only an RX-2 in Singapore.

The Estonia actually isn't that far from the SK-5 in terms of price, but I've got to play both more before I can say which I prefer.

The Bosie is, well, a Bosie. I like it a lot because I used to practice on that for a little while back in uni (when I sweet-talked the auditorium staff to let me sneak in from time to time). But its not the sort of piano I could ever have at home.

The C7 at E&S was interesting. It had new hammers and damper felts and actually sounded better than the C7 in the Yamaha showroom. But then again the Yamaha showroom is absolutely awful for evaluating tone. Yes ivory key, but stained from years of obviously heavy use. Apart from the fact that I refuse to use ivory as a matter of principle, about 4 keys in the treble had chipped edges.

Next on the list are Grotrian and Sauter. But I already know which piano I'm going to get with my Toto winnings!

Aa..? E&S open on Sunday meh?

No need to wait for toto. If i have 25k now, i'd grab the Schimmel 189T right away, or you can haggle a bit. It's so lightly used, like new condtion. Do you have anything to lelong off, like golf sticks, spare alloy wheels, share stocks....

Well, the C7, if the price is right, you can alway replace the key tops of your choice for peace of mind.

Did you play the mini pianos??
How about the U5?

Digitus, wow, so fast thinking to get a companion for you K8 already huh? At night drive taxi for 1 year can buy Fazioli already.. hehehe

I rang and Mr Kwan was in. He had come in for a couple of pianists to try pianos. When I rang in the late afternoon they'd just left so he very kindly offered to wait for me.

Don't like the Schimmel. Yes its in very good condition. although the action needed a little work. But the bass was weak, and dynamic range a little restricted.

I do have things to lelong. Will most likely be disposing of one electronic keyboard on eBay. Also have a lot of other crap lying around.

Didn't play anything other than those I mentioned in my list. I didn't want to keep Mr Kwan longer than necessary for the first pass through.

The one I *think* I want is the Fazioli F212. It is an absolutely mind-blowing piano, at an equally mind-blowing price. Some people don't like the Fazioli "sound" but I could definitely live with it. And I could certainly live with that fabulous action.

Yes, you're accoustically observant. It may lack "turbo boost" but it has "mid range". Perhaps its good for certain works.

Oh well, do drop by one weekday, take halfday leave, take mc(flu, backache, ear-ache...) go and play the Fazioli - offer to trade in your K8 as deposit. haha. After that can go Mustafa shopping ..... cheap casio watch, cheap sanyo AA2700mAh batteries, 999 soap?

Oh pls control yourself........ don't get immsonia

Cannot lah, not when the sweet spot is just the two octaves up from middle C.

The Estonia also has dynamic range issues, but not as bad as the Schimmel. Having said that it is also tonally not that appealing to me.

This piano thing is a sickness, particularly when I start to seriously think of ways to swing the purchase of the F212.

Oh no..... piano love-sick.
U need to see doctor...
Be cool, don't be reckless, don't find ah-long.

Or get something within reach like GM10 for the time being to chiam-see-tong first?

No in-betweens. If I can't afford what my heart wants now, then I'd rather just stick with the K-8 until I can. I can't bear to lose so much depreciation with each purchase.

I hope that my next purchase will be the last one ever, so I would like the instrument to be The One. But yes, there is Financial heck to consider as well. Sigh. Reality bites.

Take my cheap advice. Open up the front cover, the sound will come out at you like a grand!! no kidding, try it! You won't want to put it back afterwards.....

Not necessary on the K-8. The front panels of the piano are vented.