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Hi,

I'm interested in the opinions of those that have played, or are aware of, a Yamaha S700.

It is a 7'6" with the following attributes:
Hand made. CF action. Manufactured using maple (the rim is much thicker). Different scale to the C7. The S700 is a piano of higher quality (apparently) to the C7 (hand-made to order). The S700 has a heavier plate that is different in it's design to maximize tuning stability and depth of tone.

Any thoughts as to comparing it to similar sized Bosendorfer and Steinway (tone is different) as far as quality and action (playability).

I'm in the process of purchasing a good quality piano to go into a studio designed strictly for recording the piano chosen.

The S700 is rare, so I guess it may be hard for to comment.....but any feedback on the S700 is welcome.

Cheers....

The S700 has been superseded by the S4 and the S6. The S4 and S6 are superb pianos and IMHO surpass the Kawai SKs (I'm expecting to get some flak here)in tone, touch and finish. The S700 shouldn't be too far off.

They are all hand-made to order and extremely rare pianos. Yamaha doesn't seem to promote this range of pianos as much as Kawai does for the SKs. They very rarely come on the market used. I would seriously consider the S700.

I've played S6, S4, S400 which would be the smaller version of the S700. They're all beautiful sounding pianos.

It doesn't have the same harmonics as Steinway. It is a lot cleaner sounding. More fundamental tone compared to Steinway. The sound of an S400 was pretty similar to an S4 so I would imagine that the S6 wouldn't be that far from an S700.

Action wise, I'm sure this varies a little from piano to piano like anything else. Being older I would imagine the action would be very light and very controllable like the S400 I spent so much time on. I play regularly on an S6 and the newer piano has a stiffer action (at least this particular one). Not too different from a Steinway though.

Although I played the Bosie at the time I played an S400, I could recall the tone difference right now. It was easier to compare to Steinway because it was right next to the S400.

Since I have a Steinway now, I always see a stark difference in tone each time I play the S6. They are two different animals, sound wise and preference will be a personal taste. Both still beautiful though but I have come to prefer the Steinway harmonics.

There's another thread on Schimmel and I would probably prefer the tone of the Yamaha S to Schimmel, which sounds to me to have an even stronger fundamental tone to it. So the S piano is somewhere in between.

Flak.

Thanks for the feedback. There is a S6 coming into Melbourne this week (from Japan), so will be checking that out. It is a 2003 (6M serial number) model...so should be in reasonable shape. Fingers crossed....

Being in Australia it is rare to find excellent pianos at reasonable prices. Bosendorfer importer in Australia has one Concert piano in the display room (Adelaide - 1000km away) and we are waiting for Bosendorfer to allocate the next shipment. Probably a 200 and a 214. Steinways are super over priced....Looking at the number of pianos available in the States makes me green. Even the S700 is in Miami!!!! Oh well....on with the journey

Do try the SHIGERU KAWAI SK 6 or 7, a truly magnificent instrument.

.

...Dave has been channelling Bill Evans again.