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Has anyone gone down the route of using an institutional piano at home instead of the regular consumer SKU? How would the Kawai ST-1 compare to the K-200, for example?

Would there be any advantage to using an institutional piano at home, such as more tuning stability, etc, in practice? Or is this a bad idea? Thanks!

For home use, the music desk design is the biggest difference. The institutional finishes may be more scratch resistant (or not show them quite as much), but tend to be cheaper, more basic, and less attractive to most buyers.

They often are quite tough all round.Used grey market institutional pianos need to examined by a technician to make sure they have not been overused !
The Yamaha P22 are often really very nice pianos as well.
The K300 is an ideal home piano.(I do not personally know the K200)
Check any used piano with a technician.

I've owned a Baldwin 243, 46" studio upright piano, and a Kawai UST-6. Loved em' both. Think I liked the action on the UST-6 better, and the tone of the 243 better.

I agree they (institutional models) may be less aesthetically attractive, but generally tougher and more robust than some basic home models. But I'm no authority on pianos.

Good luck!

Rick

I would say you are !

I don't think the actual frame, strings, and action are different in the institutional pianos, but they do have longer music desks, and sometimes they have top locks too.

We've got a few institutional Kawai pianos here in AL. I was just wondering, why do they put a bass sustain pedal on them?

At least one (I think a YAMAHA?) we had came with a wide music desk as well as double castors, which made it much easier to relocate across the stage floor.

As I remember when shopping for uprights, but it’s been some years so I could be out of touch, the institutional uprights were typically taller (good), significantly more plain in their designs (might be advantageous or could conflict in the living room design), larger music desk (advantageous for students reading music), and somewhat more expensive (I’m assuming this is because the piano is taller). In my own opinion, institutional pianos have a much more demanding life than your typical home piano. If I were to go back to an upright, I’d probably pick a YUS5 in Black ebony. BTW it’s significantly easier to fix small scratches on black wood, especially on flat surfaces, over burled mahogany Louis XIV scrolled legs.
IMHO, the biggest downside to institutional uprights is they can be rather plain in the looks department, but they do a great job for home use.

In most cased the backposts on the institutional studio uprights are more massive. This helps provide tuning stability if the piano is moved from room to room. The legs are unitized (toeblocks) and generally come with double wheel caster.

One obvious caveat concerns buying used. If it's actually been used in an institution - school, church, practice room (OMG) - that could be a real problem.

Most of the manufacturers designed separate institutional models which are taller (studio and upright models) than the home console and spinet models and therefore have a different scale design. The actions are also built with more durable parts, regulate differently, and offer the pianist a level of expression and control a little closer to that of a grand piano. Advanced and professional pianists will usually choose on an institutional model if they cannot afford a grand or do not have space for one.

I've owned a UST7 and currently have a UST9. To be honest, I've been grand shopping for a few years now and I honestly can't find an action I prefer more than the Millenium 3 on my upright. As much as I want a grand (and I'd be thrilled with a Kawai GL20 or bigger, just can't afford one), none of the ones I've auditioned convinced me to let go of the UST9. Now granted, I can only afford a used grand, so my pickings haven't been that huge. Still, I think it's a wonderful instrument and it's probably found its forever home, lol. 😊❤️

One thing to remember is that institutional pianos are built, in some ways, heavier duty, however they're also built to come in at a particular price point that's on the low side... So, most of them are made in lower cost factories (if a manufacturer has multiple facilities), and/or in very cheap to produce finishes. So, better wheels? Definitely. Better music desk design? Probably. Stronger back posts? Sometimes. Otherwise, the regular line pianos are equal or better, as you go up the range, or have higher artistic aspirations for the instrument. Also, keep in mind that institutional models verticals aren't tall (none I know that are 48"+), because they're made to be moved around and seen over for rehearsals. This limits what they can do tonally, to an extent.

+1

Makes sense to me.