Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum German uprights, again.

We have a member (Beemer) who owns a Bluthner A .It sounds like a really
nice piano.
On this thread we have some sound clips from his Bluthner and my Sauter.
In my case the recordings are not good because a cell phone is used.
The recorder from my husband's phone is awful.Also I REALLY need to do some
practice.
Anyway you can here a sound clip of the bass of his Bluthner A.



https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...-130-and-cathing-echoes.html#Post2939454

Interesting! Thanks for the link. Sounds like his was a tiny bit better tuned than the one I was hearing today. I'll be hearing another batch next month-- and IIRC, someone here did once yell at this particular shop for having badly prepped pianos out on the floor.

At this stage of the game, my filter is coarse enough to allow just a few impressions. "Definitely magical" and "could be pretty damned good, but who can be sure," are the two I've been seeing the most.

One thing I also seem to be finding is that some pianos need to be at their best to show off what they do. It will be most true for those without an obvious killer, but that speak through more subtle things like perfect balance, integrated overtones, etc. Going back to one of my other similes, like a Strad violin, not a Guarneri, which can sound rich and extroverted and captivating even when it is not at its best.

Bluthner pianos are one of the most mellow uprights.
I think his piano is well tuned .He said he tunes his piano every two weeks.(I think I once read that ?)
Perhaps Beemer will appear and talk to about his piano.
What did you think of the low bass notes ?
Of course you can only hear so much by recordings .

And your Sauter sounds very nice! More assertive than the Bluthner, but also very cultured. A nice singing quality from soprano down to tenor.

If you want a Strad, perhaps Concert 8 or MC Sauter ?
(trouble is you have to pay for the Strad ! )
I think you are a real idealist Maestro?

Thank you ! What do you mean by "cultured " ?
My imagination is running wild !

Sadly, yes. Others might have a more derogatory word.

Must try the MC Sauter if such can be found. Yours gives a different vibe from the (old, probably in need of attention) upright and the (very fine 10-year-old) 7-footer I have tried to date.

The Grotrians were quite captivating, though, in their own way. Too much of their own personality? Not sure. And the samples of Forster on YouTube seem to have much of what I've liked in other brands.

Can you please at least tell me what you mean?
How can a piano sound cultured ?
Are you talking about my saying you are a real idealist ?
We are all piano nerds in this place .I myself am a "pianomaniac "

Per the online dictionary: cultured is educated, Polished, refined

Well I hope my piano is not more "cultured" than me .
However that is quite possible! (joke .....I suppose? )

It looks like most of the uprights that you feel problems with the bass are shorter than
49". This would make sense.
At 49"and taller you have more soundboard and string length.
Being a violinist you would have a very well trained ear.
So you have actually played a Strad violin ?
That would mean you are a performer or you could easily afford a very
high quality piano .,or otherwise you are concert performer who was allowed
to perform on a Strad violin ?
Maestro Lennie I do not mean to be difficult, I am just feeling confused.

Sorry. I am an amateur violinist, which keeps me off the streets at night. I do not own a Strad, but have tried a few and heard many more. When I began looking for a new (as in, brand new) violin, my first choice was to find a maker who used a Strad pattern. Of course, the first really great maker I found used a del Gesu pattern, but my main axe at the moment is a Strad model. Plus a nice one my grandfather used in college, but that is its own situation.

I used to play the violin but I gave it up and switched to the classical guitar.

Christophe Landon builds some instruments based on Strads:

http://www.landonviolins.com

I owned a Paul Bailly from 1900 but sold it off when I got out of the game.

I knew an old lady whose father owned a Strad. He sold it off too early, lol, decades ago. The trouble is that you might find yourself in the grave before getting any money out of a fiddle, lol. It took five years to sell mine, and two dealers. Christophe told me he couldn't sell it because it was under $100k and only violins above $100k were selling. I was flabbergasted when I heard that news.

I didn't hear yet through good headphones. My impression, though, is that pitches became much less distinct about 2/3 of the way down. A bit better than what I heard this afternoon, though, even through crappy speakers. Will try again with better sound fidelity.

Thanks that helps ! Of course there would be different brands which would try to follow same design as the Strad.I presume you live in Europe, since you have had the opportunity to try all
these used German pianos ?

I wonder what Beemer thinks ?

It is difficult to hear right down there......
One almost "feels a good bass" in a piano ,than hears down there.
A good bass of course affects the whole piano.

I believe Beemer's recording of his Bluthner is of the lowest octave ,not 2/3 of the way down ?

Perhaps you mean't two-thirds down the final.octave ?
I would have to to try the piano. My trust in recordings are not great ,although if I remember in the other thread where he played the recording of ,his Lower bass notes ,quite few were impressed.
I think he does have quite sophisticated recording equipment. (not like that ancient Samsung phone I used for my piano.)
In the downtown store, I tried a Bluthner 46" ,which was very impressive.
Perhaps string players are much more difficult to please, or perhaps it was better prepped than the
Bluthners you heard Maestro Lennie.
However I wish you well in finding your piano.

The most impressive upright I ever played was a new Blüthner Model S (145 cm). Very well prepped in the show room of the Blüthner factory in Leipzig, ready for delivery. The price might be between that for a Yamaha C3X and a C5X grand piano.

https://www.bluethnerworld.com/index.php/de/bluethner-classic-models-2/model-s-page