Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Concert Grand Or Baby Grand ???

While on the subject of big grands, I believe the Fazioli F308 is the longest, but Stuart & Sons concert grand 290 (102 keys) is the broadest at 1.75m/5' 9'' among production pianos.

Would anyone like to 'improve' on those?

I am ignorant. I know what an upright is. What is a piano that opens up whether it be 4 feet for 9 feet long?

The funny thing is that no matter how much the condo/apt costs - millions or billions, people complain about pianos being played!

Don't 7, 9 foot pianos cost hundreds of thousands of dollars? What joe who plays a piano has that kind of money, huh? What average joe has a house that can accommodate a 7 foot piano? Rich people, of couse, can and do.

Hahaha... almost! A good 7 foot Steinway usually goes for 30-40 thousand. Not 'hundreds of thousands'.

And much less for a good 7 foot Yamaha. You could grab one of those for around 15-22 thousand. Obviously this ain't cheap but it's a lot better than hundreds of thousands!

OP here. To put it in perspective i was referring to a Baby Grand medium 6- 1/2 compared to a full Concert Grand 9-feet.

In your opinion what would be the overall benefit in sound and performance recording on a full Concert Grand as opposed to a medium Baby Grand ? I ask because I've been given the option to record on either both these pianos.

After trialing the two I'm more comfortable with the Baby Grand giving a more authentic ambiance feel upfront that overall suits my style of music. That being said the Concert Grand is a beast being to over powerful with a completely different attack being difficult to express that gentle touch.

As btb quoted,

If you prefer one over the other, why ask those who have never played either piano? It is quite possible the smaller grand is better than the concert, and you would know best what your music sounds like on it. A lot has to do with the brand and the maintenance of each. Generally speaking, however, the larger the grand, the clearer the bass notes and more room for dynamic contrast.

Can you record the same piece (or a segment of one) on each piano and compare the recordings before deciding?

Actually about double!

But you're right, it's not hundreds of thousands.

Everybody take note.

When you see "baby grand," you can't assume. Even my liberal upper border of 6'3" didn't cover it!

Yeah, I wouldn't exactly call 6'6 a baby grand... When I hear "baby grand" I think anything UNDER 6'.

....and the richer the tone.

As per what you said, he should just judge according to how the pianos seem to him. But I'm guessing he was also wanting to learn some general things about different sized grands, and hopefully we've helped him do that.

When it comes to pianos, generally bigger IS better... that's why we have 9' pianos anyway... If it wasn't so, we'd never have to build 9' pianos.

Bigger pianos are certainly better, because the strings are longer. That means 1) they don't have to be stretched as much to produce the same pitch, and 2) there's more metal resonating, which gives you a superior dynamic range and control. The same rule applies to uprights, which I probably should have considered before I bought my 120cm Schimmel. It definitely has soul to make up for the lack of power though.

I believe it's the opposite. The longer the string, the MORE is must be stretched to reach the same pitch, but this results in a rounder, more full tone. Am I wrong?

You are correct. And now that I do more reading, it seems that because of this increased tension, the bass strings on concert grands have a lighter gauge than those of smaller instruments. The goal of piano makers is to use strings as long, as tense, and yet also as light as possible (for elasticity).

https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...a%20high%20tension%20str.html#Post909463

Man 6/3 is Baldwin L territory. Not what I'd call "baby" by any stretch. But I've had family ask if my 7' Yamaha is a baby grand, so what do I know

I call my 7-footer "Vincent" or "Victor" depending on my mood, but my wife calls it "the monstrosity" either way.

I think any specific guess(like up to 6'3" or any other number) about what the general public calls a baby grand is speculation and just silly.

As far as the other classifications go, most people are unfamiliar with terms like parlor grand, semi concert grand, and concert grand. Non pianists often don't even know the difference between a grand and a vertical.

Exactly!

And heck, the OP here was talking about a six-and-a-half-foot when he said baby grand!

Yes indeed -- because I'm the one who said it.

Sure, it's speculation, but it's not silly. It's based on experience. And, assuming you know how to read fairly well if you go back, you'll see that what I was really saying was that because of the varied concepts of the term, we have essentially no idea what someone means by it. The "6'3" figure I gave wasn't any assertion; it was to say that if you want to guess at all what someone means, you absolutely can't have any confidence that someone means a piano of any lesser size than that.

I await your apology.

As the saying goes, they just don't know which way is up!

Cheers!

(Hamburg) Steinway A-188 (cm) is considered the smallest concert grand. Steinways 180 downwards are called 'Stutzflügel', don't ask me how to translate this into English.
A-188 have already a very balanced sound, although for an average smaller concert hall, I would always recommend a Steinway B-211.
Grands which are shorter than an A-188 often have almost to no sound on the high strings, because they're just too short to vibrate well.

But the length of a grand doesn't only influence the sound, also the action feels quite different, if you play an A-188 / B-211 or a D-270. C-230 are not very popular around here, their action is often considered to feel a bit unbalanced.

By the way, here in Europe, a new Hamburg Steinway B-211 costs over a hundred-thousand $...