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Boy, the piano concert giving profession is certainly far beyond market saturation if this is the case Norbert.
In a seemingly infinite universe-infinite human creativity is-seemingly possible. According to NASA, 93% of the earth like planets possible in the known universe have yet to be formed. Contact: toneman1@me.com
Now the question is, would a lay person or an occasional hobbyist player be able to discern any differences between several pianos from the same batch?
Marty, I'm shocked. Whatever do you wear in the evening?
J-C, well, I was assuming it was a daytime shopping trip. I would wear black tie for the occasion, unless an early dinner was planned and then I would choose a grey cutaway.
Marty in Minnesota
It's much easier to bash a Steinway than it is to play one.
Now the question is, would a lay person or an occasional hobbyist player be able to discern any differences between several pianos from the same batch?
Sure you can, they vary a lot more than you think.
Marty, I'm shocked. Whatever do you wear in the evening?
J-C, well, I was assuming it was a daytime shopping trip. I would wear black tie for the occasion, unless an early dinner was planned and then I would choose a grey cutaway.
Thank heavens! I feel entirely reassured.
J-C.
Sauter Alpha 160, Yamaha N3 Avant Grand, Sauter Studio Upright (1974)
What happens to the remaining pianos that aren't perfect? Dealer prep?
For auto dealerships they have a saying "there is an a.s.s for every seat"
Someone will like the other pianos. They are not necessarily not as good, but probably.
That's why it's not a good idea to go to selection towards the end of the year. All the "bad" pianos have been skipped over and they are all that is left.
In my opinion the hamburgs are all good, but they are still different from one another. It really depends what they will be used for.
But in my personal opinion, a D should always be a "monster" and be capable of filling a large hall with sound. If not, what's the point of it being a D?
I liked the mellow one(for my home)but I can hear the differences and understand the gentleman's explanation for choosing different sounding pianos for their particular situations..I didn't hear "bad" ones.. no humbugs from those Hamburg's!
Mellow D is good for a home, but you can always tame a monster. Cant make a monster out of a dud.
Some pianos just cannot produce big sound no matter how much you harden the hammers. The sound starts to break up at certain volume and doesn't sound good. This has to do with the individual soundboard, rim, bearings etc...
I read this in an article a while back.
One method is to press the sustain pedal and thump on the bottom of the keybed with equal strength on each piano. The piano that resonates the most at higher volume has the potential to be louder.
This article also makes a good point that even while choosing a D for your home, you never know one day if you need to sell it, it will most likely sell to a concert hall, so having capability for big sound is a must.
Once the piano is at your home you can always raise the hammer line and or soften the hammers to make it more appropriate for a small space.
The pianos chosen were just the personal preference of the people doing the choosing. Other professionals might just as easily choose different pianos or even hear the pianos very differently from the pianists in the video.
Now the question is, would a lay person or an occasional hobbyist player be able to discern any differences between several pianos from the same batch?
Sure you can, they vary a lot more than you think.
Yea I can believe it. Like acoustic guitars, pianos are very organic. I just never imagined there would be that much difference between pianos from the same factory. But its all down to the wood isnt it. Boy would I like to visit that kind of factory!
Yea I can believe it. Like acoustic guitars, pianos are very organic. I just never imagined there would be that much difference between pianos from the same factory. But its all down to the wood isn't it.
Besides natural variances in the wood there are factors like consistency of production, different voicing done on purpose to appeal to different customers, differences due to the different people working on the piano for a particular step, etc.
That IS a very nice video of a careful selection and I was surprised that the recording does indeed capture the details she talks about (to some extent). But to be fair, her repertoire was a (beautiful but) rather narrow one, not probing certain areas of these wonderful pianos...
PS. Sorry to say but the video in the OP is actually just an advertising video and does not tell you much about the individual pianos.
