Friday 3 July 2015

Is This The Piano Of The Future?

I think we can all agree this is a stunning piano. The curves and overall shape give the luxurious curvy overtones (no pun intended) of a 1925 Rolls Royce Phantom. The futuristic V shape makes you question how on earth it stays standing upright. The body is beautiful. The lines are gorgeous and the styling is exceptional. The action on this piano should also be exceptional. It is using a German made Renner action which is considered one of the best in the world. We know that this piano is going to feel similar to other pianos using this action - Bechstein, Boesendorfer, Grotrian, and (Hamburg) Steinway. It sounds as though the action was left mostly untouched. Here we get to the interesting part. These folks sound like they're taking 'Out with the old, in with the new' quite seriously. They have decided to use a carbon fibre soundboard. For those of you who are new to pianos, the soundboard is the piece of wood that acts as the speaker for the piano which resonates and creates the sound you hear. Almost all soundboards are made out of wood, specifically spruce. I am all for innovation. I am all for using carbon fibre in pianos. However, I am uncertain about this carbon fibre soundboard idea. Carbon fibre actions are incredible. Carbon fibre is an excellent material to use in the mechanical side of a piano due to it's lightness, and strength. Unlike wood, it is not effected (in any noticeable way) by humidity. This makes it a very reliable, fast, and low maintenance material to build the piano action out of. The soundboard however, is the voice of the piano. This is what gives the piano its characteristic tone and colour. You can hear a difference between soundboards made from spruce collected from different forests. It is incredibly important! I have not heard this piano firsthand, nor is there much information online about this piano. That being said, I would be very surprised to hear the sound quality come anywhere close to that of a well selected spruce soundboard. The complex colours and textures that come from a spruce soundboard are so dependent on the quality of the wood. The "super clear" tone they are claiming it has, could be colourful wording for "Flat". They claim it has a unique tone which I am certain it has. It would be nice to hear it in person to see how pleasant this unique tone really is. Take a look at the piano in the photos below, and read what they are saying about their piano!   Hungarian pianist Gergely Bogányi recently gave the classic grand piano a makeover with a futuristic twist. The Bogányi Piano presents a sleek two-leg design that looks like a sideways “V” in profile. The streamlined style offers practical benefits: Supporting the piano with two legs instead of three lets sound waves waft unobstructed to the audience. Inside, when struck by the hammers attached to the keys, the strings vibrate against a composite wood-and-iron [...]

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