Yamaha vs Kawai vs Steinway | Piano VST Comparison | Yamaha CFX vs Hamburg Steinway D vs Kawai SK-EX

 

Anyone whose been a subscriber to our channel or blog will know we’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of years exploring the world of piano VSTs. As a result, our resident piano reviewer and company president Stu Harrison has become something of a VST aficionado.

In today’s video and companion article, Stu will be joined by his wife Annie Bonsignore, who also happens to be a professional vocalist and frequent collaborator of Stu’s.

Annie is going to randomly toggle between three meticulously recorded VST instruments from some of the most well-known brands - Yamaha vs Kawai vs Steinway and some of their high-end models with the Hamburg Steinway D-274, Shigeru Kawai SK-EX and Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Pianos - to see if Stu can actually tell the difference between these three pianos without knowing which one he’s playing and hearing.

This should be a good test to see how our pre-conceived notions about a given instrument affect our musical perception of said instrument since Stu will not know which instrument he is playing.

We’ll get started here with a little bit of background information.

 

Yamaha vs Kawai vs Steinway - Background Information & Piano Design

Let’s start by covering some of the differences that make a Yamaha, a Steinway, and a Kawai different from one another. These are three of the most recognizable piano brands in the world, and in terms of full-sized concert pianos, their flagship concert grand pianos- the Hamburg Steinway Model D, Yamaha CFX and Shigeru Kawai SK-EX - are among the most commonly selected instruments by pianists who perform in concert halls and with symphony orchestras.

All three piano manufacturers and these specific pianos have a very interesting pedigree and interesting history, but for our purposes, what’s really important is to look at the major differences in the design and materials used in these instruments that contribute to the unique sound that they each produce.

We’ll take a quick look at each instrument.

 

Hamburg Steinway Model D

The Steinway & Sons Model D’s most people in North America are used to are of course New York Steinways which use Sitka spruce for their soundboards. Since we’re working with a Hamburg Steinway Model D Concert Grand Piano made at the Steinway factory in Germany here, the soundboard will be either be an Austrian or Bavarian white spruce. In either case, it would be slow growth, high altitude spruce grown in the 700 to 1,000-meter range, such as what would also be used in other high-end European pianos like a Bosendorfer or Steingraeber.

This soundboard material is different from what Yamaha and Kawai are using, and the Steinway has some other things that make it unique as well. For one, they use an inordinate amount of Hard Rock Maple in their inner and outer rims and feature a remarkably strong pinblock.

There are several aspects of Steinway design which make it unique. It uses an inordinate amount of Hard Rock Maple in their inner and outer rims, which gives it a very specific tonal flavor that is often described as a blended tone.

The Hamburg Steinway also has a treble bell, and in combination with the specific duplex scale, this tends to create a very particular treble experience with an ambient wash and well-defined attack. Steinway D’s are also known for having an extraordinary dynamic range to them, to the point that it’s almost impossible to make them distort.

Now, they’re not known for having the widest tonal palette compared to other fine instruments, but in terms of dynamic potential and ability to project across the range, they’re really quite exceptional and one of the main reasons Hamburg D’s are often cited as one of the top two or three concert pianos in the world.

Pianos from the Hamburg factory are also generally regarded as a tier above their New York counterparts, and that includes the Steinway Model B, Steinway Model A and Steinway Model M.

 

Shigeru Kawai SK-EX

The Shigeru Kawai SK-EX has borrowed quite a bit from the Steinway grand piano heritage, as have most modern pianos (fun fact, Kawai manufactures the Steinway sub-brand Boston). The SK-EX uses vertically laminated bridges, just like the Steinway does and a Hard Rock Maple cap, just like the Steinway does also.

The rims also feature some Hard Rock Maple, though not as much as the Steinway, and it also blends a number of other hardwoods as well. The SKEX does not use a treble bell, and the approach to the treble generally in the Shigeru is quite a bit different. The SK-EX also uses Sitka spruce, just like a New York Steinway but different from the Hamburg’s Austrian or Bavarian spruce.

The end result is a tone that isn’t as blended as the Hamburg Steinway, but at the same time, it’s not as clear and defined as a C.Bechstein or Bosendorfer’s tone. Really, it's sitting somewhere in the middle and is overall very warm but also very colorful.

It’s capable of both a very intimate sound but can also be pushed for serious fortissimo volume and power as well. In general, SK-EXs are often regarded as very versatile instruments which is why they’re so popular.

 

Yamaha CFX

The Yamaha CFX first hit the market several years ago and served as the next-generation update to the CFIIIS concert grand piano, which was the Yamaha Corporation’s previous flagship model CF Series 9 footer.

That said, the CFIIIS was seen a step below a Steinway or Shigeru Kawai, whereas the new CFX is at a level where it can now properly compete with these other two concert grand pianos by upgrading the specs to what one would expect out of a top-tier instrument.

For instance, they’ve gone with a high-quality European spruce soundboard and are also vertically laminating their bridges. The rim consists of a blend of Beech and Mahogany for its own unique tonal experience as part of what they’ve called their Acoustic Resonance system.

They’ve also improved the piano wire and bass string material and levelled up their hammer design while going with a very realistic ivory substitute they’ve dubbed as Ivorite for the white keys and a matte finish for the black keys.

The end result is a tone that is still on the brighter end of the tonal spectrum, but the middle partials are much more present than they were previously. Overall, it’s a more natural sound than what Yamaha has been able to achieve in the past.

Note that the CFX is also available as the Disklavier Enspire Pro version (DCFX) which allows you to record and playback right on the CFX as a digital piano can.

 

Piano VST Comparison

As mentioned above, we’re not going to be in a showroom playing the actual acoustic piano versions of these musical instruments, but rather VST versions. In the case of the Hamburg Steinway Model D and Yamaha CFX, we’re using the Vienna Symphonic Libraries Synchron engines, while for the SK-EX, we’re using the Kawai’s NOVUS NV5’s SK-EX Rendering Engine, which combines a multi-channel sample of the SK-EX with a resonance modeling engine.

The reverb is set up as similarly across the 3 samples as possible, and we’ve tried to make the settings as evenly as possible as well.

 

Stu’s Blind Playtest

We would definitely recommend checking out the video to see and hear the blind playtesting for yourself. In the end, Stu was able to guess 9 out of 10 right, only at first mistaking the Hamburg Steinway D for the SK-EX, but he would subsequently realize this and eventually change his answer.

Stu is obviously a gifted and highly experienced piano player, but it does speak to how distinct these three samples truly are with how accurate his blind play-testing proved to be.

 

Annie’s Ranking from a Vocalist’s Perspective

We’d also recommend checking out the latter portion of the video to hear professional vocalist Annie Bonsignore sing along with each sample and give her feedback as to how she would rank in terms of compatibility with a vocalist.

She ultimately enjoyed the SK-EX the most due to its warmth and very dynamic tonal range. She had the Yamaha CFX ranked second and liked it overall, she just, however, felt it was a little bit too bright and perhaps a bit like an upright piano.

In third, she had the Hamburg D as she felt it was least equipped to compliment the contours of the natural human voice.

 

Closing Thoughts

Thanks very much for reading! This has been a very interesting experiment comparing these three superb concert grand piano samples that we hope you’ve enjoyed.

The post Yamaha vs Kawai vs Steinway | Piano VST Comparison | Yamaha CFX vs Hamburg Steinway D vs Kawai SK-EX first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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Bechstein vs Steinway Pianos | Everything You Need to Know

 

If you're a piano shopper or performer and you're investigating the highest echelons of the piano business, it's going to be awfully tough to miss these two titans - Steinway & Sons and C. Bechstein. Sure, there are a small handful of other pianos in the same top-quality tier that garner an equal level of musical respect, such as Bosendorfer, Fazioli and Steingraeber & Sohne, but no other two piano makers have achieved the same scale and dominance in their respective markets than Steinway or C. Bechstein have.

Whereas Fazioli and Bosendorfer sell just a few hundred units per year, C. Bechstein produces over 4,000 musical instruments annually in Seifhennersdorf Germany, and Steinway also remains well into the four-digit territory between their Hamburg Germany and New York factories.

But what many don't realize is just how close in design these two instruments actually are, despite the fact that they are musically very different from one another.

In today's article and companion video, we're going to cover the musical and technical differences between Bechstein vs Steinway pianos. We’ll also look at their similarities, a rundown of their histories, and a snapshot of how things look for these manufacturers today.

Let’s start with C. Bechstein.

 

C. Bechstein

Early History

German company C. Bechstein has been producing pianos for over 150 years. Their story begins in the city of Berlin in 1853 when German Master Piano Maker Carl Bechstein began constructing highly personalized, bespoke upright pianos for the top artists of the day - a tradition of excellence with the vertical format that continues to the present day.

The small shop quickly grew to a large-scale operation, and by the turn of the 20th century, C. Bechstein was producing several thousand pianos annually.

 

WWII

At the height of C. Bechstein's popularity, their pianos were the preferred choice of European and British aristocracy, as well as the preeminent concert halls of the day due to their superb build quality, musical capabilities and stunning cabinetry.

Unfortunately, the tensions and the destruction resulting from the two World Wars virtually ended the company. Luckily for us, C. Bechstein has undergone a complete rejuvenation over the past couple of decades.

 

Today

With new ownership and a massive investment of capital into the company, C. Bechstein has been experiencing a renaissance since the early 2000s. With the purchase of the already existing Bohemia Piano Factory in the Czech Republic, they've also begun producing pianos under the C. Bechstein Europe umbrella with the resurrected W. Hoffmann brand, serving as a high-value European alternative to the top-level professional Japanese pianos from Kawai and Yamaha.

In addition to that factory acquisition, they've also revamped many of their flagship piano models with more advanced scale designs, improved cabinetry, and very notably, a brand new action and hammer division, making them one of the few piano companies worldwide to manufacture their own hammers in-house.

 

Current Piano Lineup

In addition to the three quality lines from their Czech factory, C. Bechstein produces German-made upright and grand pianos in two quality levels. The lower-priced Academy Series line is on par quality-wise with the very best handmade Japanese pianos and certain other German companies.

The higher-priced C. Bechstein Concert Series sits right at the top of the heap for overall quality and craftsmanship in terms of what’s available anywhere in the world today.

With extensive recent redesigns throughout the entire C. Bechstein Academy and Concert Series lineups, the current C. Bechstein pianos are noticeably superior to what the company was producing even 10 to 15 years ago.

Certain C. Bechstein grand pianos and C. Bechstein uprights are regarded as the best pianos available for their specific size - the C. Bechstein Concert 8 is held by many as the finest upright piano money can buy, and the C. Bechstein C234 is widely considered as the best semi-concert grand piano currently in production.

 

Differences Between Academy and Concert Series Lines

Materials

Some of the specific material differences include the AAA Austrian white spruce in the Academy Series versus the much more expensive Val di Fiemme spruce used in the Concert series - this is an extremely rare red spruce, and is sourced from the same forest that Stradivarius cultivated for his legendary violins.

Mahogany hammer moldings are used in the Academy line versus the stronger and lighter walnut hammer moldings in the Concert line. From there, C. Bechstein uses the high-quality Silver Line Action in the Academy Series versus their top-tier Gold Line Action featured on the Concert Series. The geometry is quite similar between these two actions, but the Gold Line Action is built to an even stricter tolerance level.

Manufacturing Time & Designs

The manufacturing time for the Academy series is roughly half that of the time they spend on their Concert Series. Certain specific design differences include non-tapered soundboards in the Academy Series versus tapered soundboards in the Concert Series. A thicker, full hardwood rim with more laminations is used in the Concert Series along with solid beech bridges and a pinblock that also has more laminations, contrasted with a slightly thinner rim and less complex bridge design and pinblock in the Academy series.

There is some debate amongst C. Bechstein lovers throughout the world as to which design is superior. The mid-20th century C. Bechstein’s had a very romantic sound with a less complex tone and less projection often described as intimate.

The present-day C. Bechstein models use virtually every best practice and design feature known to the piano industry and as a result, the tone is probably described best as something falling between a Steinway and a Fazioli in terms of the dynamic response, extremely wide color pallet and staggering cabinet resonance.

 

Steinway & Sons

Early History

Steinway & Sons is without a doubt the most recognizable piano brand in the world. German immigrant Heinrich Engelhart Steinweg, eventually known as Henry E. Steinway, opened a small workshop in Manhattan in 1853 after years of piano making in Germany.

After obtaining over 100 design patterns, multiple location changes, and of course, anglicizing the family name to Steinway, Steinway would emerge as the dominant force in American piano manufacturing. In the 1880s, wanting to expand to the European market, Steinway opened a facility in Hamburg, Germany to supply Europe and the rest of the world.

 

Rise to Worldwide Prominence

Into the 1900s, Steinway became one of the most successful consumer brands in the world, pioneering many of the marketing techniques that we would now call product placement. Steinway Concert halls in London, New York, and Germany became the center of culture for many affluent and newly moneyed successful families and business people.

The newly minted Steinway Artist Program created and to this day maintained a monopoly among touring classical pianists.

 

Today

Steinway still produces pianos in both New York and Germany, with the New York factory supplying the Americas and the German factory supplying the rest of the world.

Steinway is no longer family-owned, and it has changed hands several times throughout the last 100 years. The company has had stable ownership since about 2013 after it was acquired by a New York-based private equity firm.

While the pianos from both factories are renowned for their quality, pianos from the German Hamburg factory are often regarded as superior to New York, though, there has been an effort in recent years to bring the American factory up to a similar standard that was established by its German counterpart.

 

Current Piano Lineup

New York Steinway

Steinway’s New York facility currently produces a single upright piano, the well-regarded 52” K52, which is available in a couple of different finishes.

In terms of the grand pianos, they offer a full lineup ranging from the 5’1” Model S baby grand piano to the 9’ Model D with four models in between. Their pianos are very popular in the high-end market among musicians and play the role of a sort of status symbol.

Despite improvements to quality consistency in recent years, the NY Steinway’s are still generally regarded as a step below their German counterparts.

 

Hamburg Steinway

Like the New York facility, Steinway’s Hamburg facility also offers the 52” K-52 as their only upright piano currently in production.

The grand piano lineup is the same except for one extra model, - the 7’5” C227. The German pianos are voiced quite differently from their American counterparts and do feature some differences in materials.

 

Differences between Bechstein vs Steinway

Sub-Brands

When we sit down to compare these two venerable brands, several key differences emerge. The first thing is their approach to their sub-brands and sublines. In Steinway’s case, we're talking about the Boston and Essex lines, and with C. Bechstein, we're talking about W. Hoffmann and Zimmermann.

Where Steinway elected to contract the construction of Boston to Kawai (Samick now manufactures one model as well) and Essex to a series of changing Chinese manufacturers, C. Bechstein directly manufactures all aspects of their five European-made lines and contracts the manufacturer of the Zimmermann line only.

The major differences between these two approaches has to do with consistency, both in terms of a model-to-model comparison, but also in terms of the overall quality of a given line from year to year.

For example, Essex have gone through different manufacturers over the years, with varying degrees of success. On the other hand, every single W. Hoffman acoustic piano from all three lines (Vision, Tradition, Professional) leaves C. Bechstein’s Czech factory with no detectable differences from one year of manufacture to the next.

 

Design

There are of course also a number of design differences between these two manufacturers when comparing lines of equivalent quality. Virtually every structural part of a Steinway grand is made with hard rock maple, including the rim. This focus on a specific, very dense wood colors the tone in a very distinctive way and also creates a very resonant structure.

C. Bechstein uses a variety of dense hardwoods in their grands as opposed to only maple. In addition to maple, they also use mahogany as well as beech. Whereas maple tends to produce a mid-range heavy tone with great projection, C. Bechstein’s use of multiple hardwoods combined with a super precise structure produces a tonal profile that is much closer to that of a Fazioli - very colorful, but with a dynamic response closer to that of a Steinway. New York Steinway & C. Bechstein actions are also quite different.

New York Steinways feature their patented Accelerated Action while C. Bechstein uses an action that is much closer to a Hamburg Steinway action. On first touch, C. Bechsteins feel lighter with a sense of a deeper key bed, whereas a Steinway will have a heavier touch and the sense that the key bed is more shallow.

 

Musical Differences

Musically speaking, Steinways tend to have a much more broad range of tone between dynamic extremes. In other words, the character of tone is quite different when playing softly versus when playing loudly. This is less consistent from model to model and less consistent through the top to the bottom of the range, however, whereas C. Bechstein’s tend to be extremely consistent throughout all ranges and across different models.

Steinway’s tend to have a slightly darker color in the upper range with less clarity, and the softer dynamic ranges are more notably flat in tone compared to a C. Bechstein. Bechstein’s are also known for their unique bloom-like character of tone.

 

What These Differences Mean

The real-world implications of these musical observations mean that anyone considering a Steinway will most definitely want to play the exact piano in the showroom that they’ll be taking home due to the lack of consistency from piano to piano and model to model.

This also brings us to another question people always ask; will a piano from either of these manufacturers increase in value over time? The short answer is no.

Although there are instances where one could sell their piano for more than they bought it for, i.e. a high-end piano purchased in the 1920s will of course sell for a higher price than one hundred years ago, this completely ignores the effects of inflation.

Ultimately, these instruments are highly complex machines that unfortunately do not improve with age over time. Unlike a violin or cello, in which age may legitimately make the instrument more valuable as the wood seasons, a piano is at its absolute peak at some point within the first five years of its ownership. When inflation is accounted for, the best that an owner can probably hope for is a lifetime of wonderful music-making with a slow and predictable depreciation against its replacement cost.

 

Similarities Between C. Bechstein & Steinway & Sons

Despite many differences, there are surprising similarities between these two manufacturers that not everyone is aware of. For one, C. Bechstein Concert and Hamburg Steinway grands use a treble bell in their larger models. This is something that was originally innovated by Steinway and later adopted by C. Bechstein.

A second similarity is that both manufacturers use a highly tapered, old-growth spruce soundboard in their top German instruments. Steinway doesn't disclose their exact type of sourcing of spruce, but by all accounts, they still use Alpine Sitka. C. Bechstein on the other hand is a little more transparent in this regard and they use a minimum of 1,000-meter altitude red spruce from the Val di Fiemme, which is in Italy, of Stradivarius fame.

 

Closing Thoughts

We hope that you've enjoyed this exploration of the history, similarities and differences between C. Bechstein and Steinway & Sons pianos. Thanks very much for reading, and be sure to check out the companion video!

The post Bechstein vs Steinway Pianos | Everything You Need to Know first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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Steinway Model M vs C Bechstein L 167 | Baby Grand Piano Comparison

Baby grand pianos are the best-selling size of grand piano by virtue of the fact that they don’t take up a ton of space, and their relative affordability, especially compared to a 9-foot concert grand piano such as a Steinway Model D which lists for around $200,000 USD!

Today we’re going to be comparing two of the world’s finest baby grand pianos as we pit a Steinway Model M vs C Bechstein L 167 in our showroom. Some might consider these too large to be considered baby grand pianos since they’re both a little bit bigger than 5’5” while others would disagree.

In any case, this is still a very worthwhile comparison of two of the world’s finest grand pianos in this size range so we’re very excited to get into it. You’ll definitely want to check out the companion video to hear these pianos for yourself.

Steinway Model M vs C Bechstein L 167 - Background Information

Steinway Model M

The particular Steinway M we played for this comparison is a restored Golden Age piano, and there’s something about Model M’s in general that we really love here at Merriam Pianos that we don’t get on Model A’s or Model B’s for example.

Model M’s are 5’7” and are manufactured both in the New York and the Hamburg factories. The one we’ve sampled for this review is a New York example that has been completely restored with all-Steinway parts such as Steinway hammers, Steinway strings, and a preserved original Steinway soundboard.

C. Bechstein L167 Concert Series

Sitting opposite the Model M is the C. Bechstein L167. It’s slightly shorter than the M at 5’6”, but both are still on the upper end of what one might consider a baby grand piano. There are a number of reasons why we were very interested to get these two pianos side by side.

For one, Bechstein isn't shy about the fact that they have taken some inspiration from Steinway's designs over the years, as has everyone including big players like Yamaha and Kawai. On the other hand, Steinway wasn’t shy about the fact that when they first arrived in New York and started building, Bechstein was a big influence on them.

It’s fair to say that these two piano companies have been the two dominant luxury piano brands on opposite sides of the ocean for well over a hundred years, and their widespread presence in Concert Halls attests to this. So, with that said, it absolutely makes sense to see the ways in which they’re similar and how they diverge.

Design Commonalities - Materials and Construction

There are a number of commonalities between these two pianos in terms of their technical design. Both pianos use a capped, vertically laminated bridge system (extensive laminations), extremely thick pinblocks (the M has the famous Steinway Hexagrip pinblock) and they have a very similar scaling in terms of the string thickness and tension, as well as pure copper bass strings.

Both pianos also featured tapered solid spruce soundboards (though the spruce itself is different, more on that later), and front as well as rear duplex scaling and agraffes. Of course, both pianos are also made with the highest possible level of craftsmanship.

Let’s move on to some observations with regard to piano sound.

Steinway Model M vs C Bechstein L 167 - Sound Comparison

Sonic Impressions

Despite their similar size, these pianos sound very different from one another. There's more mid-range warmth from this Steinway grand piano, and we don’t mean the mid-range of the piano, but rather the types of harmonics that really stand out on a given note.

The sound on the M also draws more into the center of the piano and comes across as a very blended tone.

Over on the C Bechstein L167, you're given the impression that you're playing a wider piano overall. This isn’t necessarily a good or a bad thing, but it’s a huge difference between these two pianos.

Cabinet Resonance

Another thing is that although the M has a good amount of cabinet resonance, there’s much more of that happening on the L167, and this is largely due to the thicker stretcher bar on the L167.

The stretcher bar also helps in providing more sound directly from the soundboard, and the effect is a sort of 3D musical expression in terms of how the player perceives the sound.

Sustain Comparison

Both pianos have a phenomenal level of sustain. We actually timed it out on a concert A and the M came in at 31 seconds, while the L167 came in at about 37 seconds.

There aren’t any works of classical music we’re aware of that call for 30 seconds of sustain, but this just speaks to the overall level of quality here, and the potential for the highest level of musical expression.

Hammers - Design and Materials

Another interesting difference between these pianos is with regard to the hammer design. Steinway makes their own hammers and for the last several years, Bechstein has been making their own hammers as well, but this is very rare for the industry where most piano makers outsource their hammers.

Bechstein uses walnut moldings on their concert series grand and upright pianos, and Walnut is among the most expensive materials with which to build hammers. Walnut is quite light, but it's also very rigid so energy loss is minimized while at the same time the hammers quickly swing back into position.

Steinway uses a hard rock maple on their hammer moldings and shanks. Now, hard rock maple is denser than the typical maple you’ll find with entry-level grand and upright piano hammers.

Hard rock maple delivers more mass than walnut, and this in turn is used to generate power, which Bechstein accomplishes in a different way.

Philosophical Differences

C. Bechstein's philosophy has always been to generate tone throughout the entire instrument. They want a lot of cabinet tone, duplex tone, and a well-defined bloom from the soundboard. Really, they believe in generating just as much secondary tone out of the instrument as primary tone with all of it really precise.

Steinway has been always known for their very powerful instruments, especially the Steinway & Sons Model D. The particular design of American concert pre-amplification technology meant the need for loud, powerful instruments - a void that the Steinway Model D concert grand was able to fill for concert pianists. Hamburg Steinway’s are not quite as brash.

Heavier hammers can certainly help serve this purpose. The danger of course is that heavier hammers can make a piano prone to distortion, but Steinways quite famously really don't distort even when you push them right up to the upper limits.

We’ll finish off our discussion by going range by range through both instruments and reporting our observations.

Bass Register

Starting over here on the M, and we’re getting really good rim activation in this register. It’s not particularly warm, but it’s quite clear and very consistent with plenty of power.

Over on the L167, the character is quite similar to the M, but a little less powerful, but also warmer, especially as you move up the bass range.

Tenor Range

The next range often tends to be fairly unremarkable on many pianos, but on the L167, there's so much rim activation and a ton of resonance in this particular zone. This makes the L167 an overwhelming choice for jazz since this is the area where the pianist comps with their left hand.

Over in the M, there's less warmth and resonance, but there's more projection, making it a great fit for jazz.

Treble Range

As we continue through the range, this is where the instruments really start to diverge in terms of their sound. The L167 has an incredibly precise treble range, lots of power, and beautiful sustain happening right to the very top with a stunning top C.

The M has a slightly murkier treble, but then there's all of this other inharmonious resonance going on that really delivers an engrossing experience.

Final Thoughts

It’s clear we’ve got two excellent pianos here, much beloved by many of the world’s greatest pianists over the years.

Both are delivering a remarkably clear, powerful bass for the size, and both are giving phenomenal sustain throughout the entire range.

At the same time, the sonic experience of playing one or the other is very different. The C Bechstein L167 gives a more separated, much wider sense of sound, almost like you’re hearing it in 3D.

Over on the Steinway Model M, there’s this really beautiful washy kind of crashing into the middle of the instrument coming at you with a more blended texture.

Both pianos have really strong trebles but there’s a huge difference in the approach to how much of the actual fundamental you’re hearing versus a more blended tone.

Both instruments are available in various finishes beyond the standard polished ebony or satin ebony, with the M in particular available in a ton of exotic finishes such as East Indian Rosewood.

Thanks for reading!

The post Steinway Model M vs C Bechstein L 167 | Baby Grand Piano Comparison first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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