Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Poll (sort of): Will the 'acoustic piano' become a relic?

No problem...I may be a lot of (bad) things, but I am not generally pre...ous (cannot even spell the word)

So what? No one's reason or motive or buying a grand piano is any better or worse than anyone else's reason.

Interesting thought.

So when a person buys a bushel of rice to dump it into a ditch, this is the same as someone buying a bushel of rice and distributing it to the poor and hungry. All purchase motives are equal.

I was speaking about pianos and not rice. When I said that anyone's reason for buying a piano being just as good as anyone else's, I was thinking of at least reasonable motives.

But I do strongly object to those who complain about someone buying a piano only as furniture or for status or because they think it's nice to have, etc..

What if someone purchased a piano to be used in a crime?

As long as it wasn't a tier 1 piano.

Ja. The way I like to say it is, "I am constantly amazed at the way wood, felt, steel and copper can bring such sound into the air as would plumb the depths of the human soul." Or reach into your chest and pull out your guts and crush them with unbearable sonic density... ...Or put wings on your heart and give you such breathtaking altitude... ...Or, something like that. With hide glue that goes "moo."

Another thing about acoustic pianos is durability and sheer numbers. In my neighborhood alone, you can throw a rock in any direction and hit a piano--mostly spinets and consoles. Still, of the houses on my side of the street, four in a row of five each have a piano, and one of them has three. *ahem*

Last week, I worked on a 1903 Schiller upright, a 1925 Conover grand, a 1952 Cable console, and a 1963 Cable spinet, all of them in reasonably good, practical working condition. And what chrisbell said about craftsmanship~~I can say in no uncertain terms that some of these old pianos are built like tanks and sound like angel choirs. They don't make 'em like they used to.

That said, I wonder if the question could be re-framed, "Will there ever be enough pianists to play all the pianos on the earth?"

--Andy

I can honestly say that I never felt anything much for the console-sized vertical on which I spent the first four years learning the piano. It had (and still has, last time I checked) a shrill, tinny, shallow tone which hardly varied from p (pp wasn't possible) to ff (when it was unbearably strident), and its action was far too shallow, unresponsive and light, which made playing the pianos during the ABRSM grade exams very difficult to adapt to. Fortunately, I then went off to boarding school where the practice rooms had far superior uprights, where I made up for lost time....

My digital is a superior instrument in every way (in key action, tone, dynamic range, responsiveness to touch etc) to that vertical - which resides still in my parents' home, now unloved and unplayed by anyone......

Spoken like a true market capitalist, and I agree 100%. Why anyone buys anything may be a mystery to me, but it's none of my damned business. And I would think that piano purchases, whatever the motivation, that benefit manufacturers would be welcomed by those of you who truly are capable of producing beautiful music. Whether those who can afford it view a 9-foot Steinway as a piece of furniture, a planter, or a urinal means nothing to me. Just keep writing those checks.

Old Man, you're pulling our, uh, leg.

I'll take it!!!

You'll change your mind within a minute of playing it, I guarantee you.

It still looks pristine, with nary a scratch, but many of the keys no longer sound, a few are stuck or very sticky, and all that's apart from the fact it's not been tuned and regulated for decades since I left home for greener pastures...

I remember that even when brand new, it was prone to sticking keys - quite randomly (probably because of its overly light action and sluggish key return): I actually had to manually lift the odd key back up in the middle of practising. It didn't improve in this regard after the technician's visits; it just sounded more in tune, that was all. Not knowing any better, I used to think that all pianos were like that......

But I'm sure it looks good as furniture, and its top is low enough to be used as a mantelpiece for garden gnomes who prefer to be indoors .

Ah, bennivis... My first reply to your initial message was that you had a lazy tech. Then, I edited that out to say, "I'll take it!" Now, I edit "lazy tech" back in. (Sorry bennevis's tech, if you're reading this.) O, what the simple key spacing tool might have done with a little twist to the front key pin... Or a little mashing of the bushing felt. Or, a little nudge of the balance rail pin with a well-placed screwdriver. Or a little sandpaper to the capstan end of the key if needed... And a quick regulating pass... Even short consoles can be opened up to hum and sing with the right tuning. I believe that a tech who knows the temperaments can fit a temperament and a stretch to each individual piano, no matter how humble, like a well tailored suit.

In any case, I commend you for your perseverance. I also believe that each pianist has a piano that fits. Personally, I prefer a light action for all that Handel and Bach and Clementi I like to play. No ff needed, either. For someone who plays the rhapsodies, though, a big, solid piano is definitely in order.

Go ahead and ship your childhood piano to me, and I'll fix it up and find it a good home.

Andy has already brought back to life many pianos. He can do it!

Thanks for the vote of confidence, CA! And, since shipping costs are not a factor in this discussion, I would gladly send it to you and charge it to bennevis!

That was how it came across to me too: an implicit statement that there are no values in life other than the value of the almighty dollar.

I'm sure my mom won't mind the gnomes being evicted from their residence on the top of the piano (and the gnomes themselves won't mind, being inanimate objects, despite all appearances to the contrary), so that the latter can be shipped off to you. But I fear it wouldn't survive the journey across the pond......not to mention the cost of shipping is more than what the piano's worth .

I guess I should appreciate the reminder of why I have a person with such an attitude on my ignore list, although I'd just as soon not have read the remark at all. Old Man appears to be heading in the direction of joining him and the rest who are on that list.

To me, it's a shame to waste an instrument for any reason, regardless of what I may think about why it was wasted. I am not going to go into what I think about the social malady known as conspicuous consumption and the people who practice it. Although the argument could be made that pianos can be used in that way (as in the example I gave), and therefore the topic is somehow relevant to PW, it's just not that interesting to me at the moment.

That's not what I said or meant at all. It has absolutely nothing to do with what I said.

I wish there were a compelling philosophical system that would forbid other people doing all the things I find distasteful in them. Unfortunately, I don't think such a system exists, and I conclude, rather reluctantly, that people are going to have to be allowed to set their own priorities for what they do with their time, energy, values, beliefs, opinions, and money, up to the point where their choices may inflict harm upon others or restrict the similar freedom of choice of others.

I hate that conclusion, but the alternatives have been tried, and they haven't worked all that well.