The standing grand. It will be a while before this becomes a reality however.



She does have an older prototype of a prototype though.

Cute, but it seems the hammer action is still as in uprights, horizontal instead of vertical? Which sort of makes a difference to real grand.

Interesting but the main feature of a grand is the action vs upright...true?

I don't know, a real grand piano is great instrument, and a thing of beauty.. this piano lacks the latter

That silly artist's representation is very wrong - the bass strings are way too short, and there's a gap above the bass keys where the hammers would be. Looks to me like the artist that did that knows nothing about pianos - which doesn't inspire confidence in the project...

Sam

She may have gotten the idea to go vertical from her hair stylist

The old "giraffe" piano. The idea is at least as old as the upright.
The harpischord in the same configuration had jacks at an angle, behind the strings.
Wasn't there some wacko maker whose grands would tilt up (when not played) so you could roll them into a corner?

I suspect it has upright action, grand action is not possible because of changed gravity vector.

Curiously enough, here's a giraffe made in 1910 by Conover:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Symphonic-Concert-Grand-Giraffe-EXTREMELY-RARE-1910/273828190390
I think it looks at lot better. You have to watch out for the heating ducts, though.

Yes it is.
But in the article she says that her main focus is the sound. So I guess if this project takes off, sound enthousiasts will buy this giraffe, while people who care about action and space will buy digital hybrids, like the Yamaha AvantGrand or the Kawai Novus.

That looks like it'll be very top heavy. The prototype has some substantial legs coming out of the back, which defeat the purpose of space-saving.

What sound advantage would this offer over a tall upright - say, if height wasn't a concern for an upright style piano?

PS Digital piano user here - not out of choice I'd like to add!