Upright Pianos - Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Upright Pianos

 

In today's article we are talking about Upright Pianos - literally everything you need to know about Upright Piano. If you're in the market for an upright piano, this is the article for you.

We're not going to tell you what piano to buy or how much money to spend, but we are going to cover all of the critical areas of difference between these lovely instruments, including the price ranges, the sizes, and what makes one different from another, and finally, how to go about selecting one.

Please check out the accompanying video for an even more in-depth explanation and some playing examples as well!

Opening Thoughts

Since, 2020, we have experienced an almost two-fold increase in the number of medium-range and premium-range upright pianos that are sold in Canada.

One has to ask the question - why? What are the trends that are driving these spikes in sales? Dovetailing with this question is another that often gets asked; "Why would I buy an upright piano that costs as much as a baby grand piano?" Most people have a traditional paradigm in their mind that says if you can afford the baby grand, that's always the preferred option, both from an aesthetic standpoint as well as a musical one.

That said, there are a number of realities that are pushing people towards these higher-end uprights, chief of which is the bevy of musical reasons why an upright piano might be a better alternative. Let's start there before moving into our upright piano overview.

Upright Pianos - General Overview

Space

The first reason someone would go with an upright is obviously space. More and more people out there are living in smaller urban situations, often times in stacked townhouses. Stacked townhouses of course come with a lot of stairwells. Grand pianos not only take up a lot of floor space, but they're also really challenging to deliver inside 0stacked townhouses and condos.

Design Innovations

A second reason is that there has been more innovation on the upright side of things than the grand side of things over the last several years. A big one is an advancement in hybrid and silent upright pianos available. Hybrid and silent grand pianos exist too, but there's been more advancement done on the upright side of things, and hybrid grands also happen to be very expensive. Now, let's look at upright pianos as a whole.

Upright Piano Sizing

Acoustic Upright pianos come in a number of different sizes. They typically start around 42" in height (generally known as a console piano), and go up inch by inch until about 54". The common sizes you'll typically encounter are 44", 46", and 48", which happens to be the size of the extremely popular Yamaha U1 and Kawai K-300 professional upright pianos.

The Yamaha U3 at 52" also happens to be a very popular vertical piano, and there are a few high-end German uprights that get up to 54".

You can't always draw absolute conclusions on things like scale design, string length, or soundboard size simply based on the cabinet size, but the size is a general barometer for how loud and powerful an upright piano is.

Price Ranges

Used Upright Pianos

What can you expect to pay for an upright piano on the private market or from a retailer? Starting at the very bottom, you can find used pianos for as little as free. These are typically smaller North American-made wood finish uprights from companies like Baldwin and Heintzman, typically built anywhere from 50 to 100 years ago.

 

Free Uprights

A free upright piano of this vintage is not going to be particularly musically successful. In many cases, if you really strip away all of the bias associated with acoustic versus digital, a digital piano for around $1,000 or so is actually going to give you a better instrument to play on than a free acoustic used upright, especially if the upright is a spinet piano.

 

$1,000-$4,000

Moving up from there and you'll start to find used Korean, Indonesian and Japanese pianos, anywhere from about $1,000 to $4,000 generally speaking. These are the instruments such as Yamaha U1s, Yamaha B series, Kawai K3s, Samick's, Young Chang's, etc., built from the early 1970s and on.

There's a thriving market for this kind of piano, especially Kawai and Yamaha uprights, and there are certainly some great deals to be had, even if you're not getting the piece of mind that comes with a new piano warranty.

 

$5,000-$20,000

This category is less common, but you will of course find lightly used uprights out there, as well as used high-end handmade upright pianos that will typically fall somewhere between $5,000-$20,000.

Of course, anyone spending upwards of $20,000 on a used upright piano is looking for a very specific type of instrument that is probably going to retail for in excess of $40,000 new.

 

New Upright Pianos

$4,000-$10,000

New upright pianos start at around the $4,000 USD range, and these are going to be for 44" (sometimes called studio pianos) factory-made upright pianos, typically built in Indonesia or China. If you're going with an instrument from a reputable company, Kawai and Yamaha, you can expect a mechanically sound instrument with a fairly consistent tone and stable tuning. There's not a lot of tonal refinement available at this price range, but for people who are just starting out, you can really start developing proper techniques and have an enjoyable musical experience.

 

$10,000-$15,000

The next jump brings us to about $10,000, and this is where you start to see 46", 48", and maybe even 50" pianos from those same companies. As the height increases, in some cases, so will the quality of the materials and the design, and a lot of these instruments are built both for the home, and for institutional settings.

Once we cross the $10,000 threshold, we start to get into the hybrid pianos, and hybrid in this case means pianos where there is some component of European manufacturing, combined with Chinese manufacturing. There are a number of brands that mix and match both labor and parts between a European factory and a Chinese factory.

In this category, we're basically trading off the advantage of Japanese assembly, for slightly more expensive components and design, offset by the lower costs of Chinese assembly.

 

$15,000-$20,000

The sweet spot for people looking for a really great balance of high-quality tone, high-quality materials, and manufacturing quality that is equal to that of a Japanese plant is when you get above $15,000. These are going to be European-built pianos, likely either from the Czech Republic, Poland, or possibly even Germany. These are instruments that can match or exceed the musical performance of a similarly priced baby grand. 

$20,000 & Up

Once you hit about the $20,000 mark it becomes a real connoisseur's marketplace. You're largely into European and American-built pianos at this point, and it becomes a highly subjective, highly personal matter of taste with fantastic sound quality, excellent responsiveness of touch, and timeless design. That $20,000 ranges all the way up to about $60,000 or $70,000 for the most expensive upright pianos in the world, such as the C. Bechstein Concert 8 or the Hamburg Steinway & Sons K-132. So, that's a rundown of the price ranges you can expect to see out there for upright pianos. Let's move on and discuss the key differences between a factory-made instrument, versus a handmade one.

Factory vs Handmade Craftsmanship

The term handmade is actually a bit of a misnomer, because there's actually some hand workmanship that goes into most factory pianos, and machines involved in making traditionally defined handmade pianos.

A much better way to look at these two categories is to think of limited production vs mass production, with limited production instruments also taking way longer to build.

Most of the upright pianos that carry the label handmade have had some machining that's been used along with computer automation, but there's been an enormous amount of time by one or several members of the assembly crew that has gone into assembling and regulating the action, the assembly of the shaping of the soundboard, and into the engineering of the carpentry to allow for the maximum resonance of all acoustic materials.

 

Manufacturing Time

The difference in the manufacturing time can be extraordinarily large. For a $4,000 or $5,000 factory-made upright piano, we could be looking at a total manufacturing time of just a few dozen hours, somewhere in the range of 30 to 50 hours. On the other hand, with the C. Bechstein Concert 8 for example, the manufacturing process takes over 300 hours!

As we would say, this huge amount of extra time leads to massive refinement in the soundboard, regulating the action at fanatical levels, and studiously voicing all of the hammers for maximum bloom on every note. And in the case of an instrument at this quality level, the entire cabinet is actually resonating as another acoustic component.

That pretty much sums up the difference between factory-made and handmade. Let's move on to differences with regard to country of origin.

 

Country of Origin

Another common question or line of research people get into is understanding the difference between American, Asian, and European-made upright pianos. Does the country of origin affect the musical performance or build the quality of a given instrument?

 

American Made Pianos

Let's talk about the quintessential American sound first. There are only three manufacturers remaining in the United States right now making upright pianos, which are Charles Walter, Mason & Hamlin, and Steinway.

Are there any consistent factors across these three piano makers? American uprights, much like American grands, tend to have a very mid-range heavy tone. There's often high use of maples and other hardwoods, which tend to accentuate mid-range frequencies. American pianos tend to have large dynamic ranges, and they're also known for their exterior furniture as well.

On the negative side, American pianos aren't known for particularly great actions or control. They are also not known for a great deal of tonal consistency from the lower range to the upper range. But, if you're looking for that specific American tonal profile, you won't find it elsewhere.

 

Asian Made Pianos

If you're looking for a more precise experience,  Asian and European pianos will offer a little more in this regard. When it comes to Asian pianos, it's very difficult to lump them into a single category, because while you have some very basic low-quality pianos from China, there are also so much nicer, more advanced pianos coming out of certain Chinese facilities.

You also have Japan with a very mature piano market that's literally 100 years old. There are also still Korean pianos, but that market has greatly declined and production has instead moved to Indonesia.

Is there any sort of tonal consistency to any one of these 4 Asian countries? With Japanese-made pianos, yes. Japanese Kawai and Yamaha pianos sound pretty consistent, if Kawai is considered darker and warmer, while Yamaha's are usually thought of as brighter with more attack.

Indonesian pianos are generally pretty consistent too. Beyond that, it's a complete mash of tonal styles, designs, and materials being used, to the point that isn't fair to say that there's an 'Asian' sound.

 

European Made Pianos

On the European side of things, you're generally getting higher grade materials, such as a more expensive or higher grade hammer felt and a higher grade of spruce used for the soundboard. The action regulation typically done at European factories tends to be very high also.

These refinements are generally going to deliver a more precise tone, especially with regard to the consistency across all ranges. There's typically going to be a higher degree of control in terms of the touch, and the quality of the build means the instrument is going to last longer.

We've covered some of the basics. Now, how do you go about choosing one of these pianos for yourself and for your home?

 

How to Choose an Upright Piano

Upright vs Hybrid Digital

What are the questions you should be asking while you decide on a piano? The first thing you'll have to decide is if you're going to go with a traditional acoustic upright or a digital/acoustic hybrid. An acoustic/digital hybrid is something that combines both digital components as well as acoustic components.

This combination allows an otherwise fully acoustic piano to be played completely silently. The Kawai K300 Aures for example has a digital piano control panel built right into the side, and you can mute the piano and plug-in set headphones so you can play without disturbing others. This added flexibility is a huge deal for some people, but it does add about $5,000 to the price.

 

Bass Clarity

Once you've decided whether you're going acoustic or with some type of acoustic-digital hybrid, the next questions really come down to playing style, tonal style, and spending some time in front of these prospective instruments.

There are areas on upright pianos that tend to be weak spots, and this is where a really great design immediately solves a lot of issues. One of the things that people focus on with upright pianos is bass clarity, and this is very difficult to achieve in a shorter instrument due to the shorter string length.

When you're first shopping for an upright piano, one of the things you'll want to look for is to make sure you're getting something that's got a nice clear bass tone. It doesn't mean that you have to get a 52-inch piano or even a 48-inch piano as there are shorter uprights out there with great bass registers.

 

Break

Another weak spot you'll find on some upright pianos is the break, which is the transitional area of the piano where it switches from steel strings to copper-wound strings. This transition can sound very abrasive and metallic if the design isn't well executed, so pay attention to that.

 

Action

The third weak spot can be the action. There are actions out there made entirely of wood, and others that combine wood with synthetic parts. While there's been debate about incorporating synthetic parts in the past,  the vast majority of the professional community, both on the technical side and musical side have both accepted and recognized that a really great synthetic action can be just as musical, and in some cases have significant maintenance benefits over inexpensive wood action.

So, don't focus on the material so much as the playing experience, which is the true test of whether or not you're playing a good action. Make sure to play the action at a very soft dynamic range, as well as medium and loud dynamic ranges to see how it responds. The hardest thing for an upright piano to do is to deliver accuracy when playing softly, particularly if you're playing fast at a low dynamic range.

Ultimately, you want to make sure that the action on the instrument you're considering can deliver what you need. This can be especially important for students and beginners who do their lessons or perform on a grand piano but practice on an upright at home.

 

Clarity of Tone

Our last suggestion for where to really judge an upright piano is going to be in the clarity of the tone, particularly in the top-end range of the instrument.

Upright treble strings are so short, proportionally speaking, that you need even more refinement at smaller tolerances in order to achieve really great clarity on the top of an upright piano. What we mean by clarity, in this case, is an absence of buzzing or uncontrolled harmonics.

Higher-quality uprights have great clarity and no distortion, while lower-quality ones start to distort when the volume gets pushed. Let's move on to our final section.

 

Differences Between Upright Pianos

In this final section here we'll discuss why one upright piano may differ from another upright piano. For instance, why does one 48" piano cost $8,000 while another 48" piano costs $30,000? Well, there are about eight or nine components in an upright piano that will directly contribute to both the cost and thus the quality of the musical experience.

Cabinet Construction

The first thing we'll focus on is the back post and overall cabinet construction. On our example instrument in the accompanying video, you'll see five large back posts. There is a variety of approaches that manufacturers take with back posts in general. The function of back posts, as well as the overall construction and design of that cabinet, is to provide strength and rigidity. When you get into a higher-level instrument, it actually also takes on tonal importance.

On something premium like a C. Bechstein, Bösendorfer, or Steingraeber, the cabinetry on the back is so precise and designed in a way that not only is it giving the instrument strength, but it's actually contributing to the transmission of energy and tone throughout both the soundboard as well as the cabinet.

On lower-grade instruments, back posts strictly serve a structural purpose, and they're not actually contributing a lot to the resonance of the instrument. So a key difference here is the level and design of the carpentry on a given piano.

 

Agraffes

Agraffes are another feature you'll generally only find on higher-end uprights. These contribute to further string alignment and ensure precise termination after the string has been struck. Their presence can help eliminate things like false beats and uncontrolled harmonics. Less expensive pianos will use a pressure bar for the same purpose, though a pressure bar is not considered as good as a set of agraffes.

 

The Bridge

A third difference is how the bridging has been approached. Like on a grand piano, there's quite a variety of bridge designs you'll see on various pianos, and an equally wide range of costs to execute said designs.

There's everything from a solid bridge with a single piece of wood, to hardwood bridges with a cap, to vertically laminated bridges, which is by far the most expensive type of bridge. The better the bridge, the better the energy from the strings is transmitted to the soundboard.

To pull this off effectively can get very expensive very quickly, so generally speaking, the less expensive the piano, the less expensive the bridge design.

 

Soundboard Material

The next difference is the soundboard, and this one is a big deal. Soundboards come in different sizes and with different materials selected. Virtually all soundboards use some type of spruce, but whether or not the spruce is solid or laminated makes a huge difference.

Laminated soundboards are actually significantly stronger and more stable, but the big knock against them is that with all of the layers of wood and glue, the soundboard's ability to resonate and sustain the vibration is dramatically reduced. You've got all sorts of factors that are actually going to suck up more energy.

As such, pretty much all mid-range and high-end soundboards are made with solid spruce, as the acoustic properties are just that much better.

 

Soundboard Design

The next difference in soundboard design is whether or not to taper or leave it untouched. All soundboards have some type of curve, but a tapered soundboard has been thinned out towards the edges, which allows more of the soundboard to activate and resonate. This means that a smaller tapered soundboard will resonate as much or more than a larger, non-tapered counterpart. This is a time-consuming process, so again, tapering starts to appear as you move up in quality, so less expensive pianos generally don't have tapered soundboards.

The last distinction with soundboards is the choice of spruce. The two main types are some form of White spruce (typically Alaskan or Austrian), versus Sitka spruce. Sitka is a very common, less expensive spruce that tends to have a warmer tone, but with less clarity and sustain. White spruce tends to be more expensive and has a tighter grain, meaning the wood is older and grows more slowly.

 

Action Refinement

Last but not least is the action, but it's quite simple - the more expensive the upright, the more refined the action is from a design standpoint and the more time that has gone into regulating the action at the factory level.

 

Closing Thoughts

Thanks so much for sticking with us through this long read. We hope you've found it helpful, but in any case, definitely check out the accompanying video at the top of the article so you can see and hear some of the things we discussed for yourself. If you're new to our channel, we would sincerely appreciate it if you would subscribe to our Youtube Channel.

And if you're in the Greater Toronto Area, don't hesitate to pop into one of our showrooms to try some used and new pianos out for yourself with a selection covering much of what's available out there in the piano world.

Visit Merriam Music for more piano reviews and articles.

The post Upright Pianos - Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Upright Pianos first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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Where to Find the Kawai Serial Number & Where are Kawai Pianos Made?

 

One of the questions we get on pretty much a daily basis from customers all over the world is where to find the Kawai serial number on their piano, and more specifically, where does Kawai put them on their acoustic pianos. This is of course very important information if you’re looking at a second-hand piano, or looking to sell your own.

In this article and companion video, we’ll cover how to find the Kawai piano serial number production dates and actual dates of production, what the serial numbers actually mean, and by extension, where Kawai pianos are currently made.

Hopefully, this FAQ answers the questions you have and means you don’t have to contact Kawai directly.

 

Where to Find the Kawai Serial Number on a Grand Piano

So, let's start by addressing the easiest question of all; where to find the serial number on a Kawai piano.

Kawai grand piano serial numbers are going to be imprinted directly on this iron plate. The easiest way to see it is to simply remove the music desk and look just behind the tuning pins. Here you’ll find two different pieces of information stamped onto the plate.

The first will be the serial number - a 5 to 7-digit number that is preceded by a letter two. The second thing you’ll find stamped there will be the exact model number, whether that’s KG2, RX3, GL10, etc.

On some of the higher-end instruments, the model number might be a crest or emblazoned marking as in the case of a handmade Shigeru Kawai SK-7. In most cases, it’s likely to be ink directly on the plate just like the Kawai serial number is.

 

Where to Find the Kawai Serial Number on Upright Piano

The serial number is going to be located in a similar place on a Kawai upright piano, but given the inherent physical differences, you’ll go about finding it in a different way.

Typically, you’ll be able to see both the serial and model numbers if you flip open the top lid as both will be stamped towards the top of the plate.

The serial number will generally be on the right-hand side, and like on the grand pianos, will be anywhere from a 5 to a 7-digit number that may or may not be proceeded by a letter. To the left, you'll see an alphanumeric code that indicates the model, such as K-300, ND21, or a KX model for example.

 

What Does the Serial Number Tell Us?

The serial number can actually tell you quite a bit about a given piano besides the age. The Kawai Technical Support website has a fairly extensive list of serial numbers and serial number ranges separated by Country of production, which goes all the way to as recent as 2020 production.

 

Japanese Built Kawais

A couple of quick ways to tell where your musical instrument was produced are based on the format of the serial number. If you’re looking at a seven-digit number, that means that the piano was produced in Japan, very likely at the Ryuyo factory in Hamamatsu.

A seven-digit number also indicates that the piano was built from about the early 1970s onward. The current serial number ranges that you’ll find in more recently built pianos all start with a 25 or 26, with the latest crop getting up to about 2.7 million.

If there’s any doubt about whether or not a Kawai piano was made in Japan, you can rest assured that if there’s no letter in front of the seven-digit serial number, it was definitely Japanese-built.

Indonesian Built Kawais

Any Kawai serial numbers that are preceded by the letter F indicate that the piano was built at Kawai’s secondary factory in Karawang, Indonesia. They produce a number of different models at their Indonesian facility including the GL-10 baby grand piano, and K-15, and they also finish production on the K-200s here as well.

In some of those models, there are also a number of components coming in from Japan with final assembly taking place in Karawang, Indonesia.

These pianos usually start with the letter F which is followed typically by about a five-digit number. These numbers are also available on Kawai's website. Most of these pianos are usually no older than about 15 years old to 20 years old.

Chinese & North Americans Built Kawais

There are always questions about whether any Kawais are coming from China or whether another company that does a lot of OEM like Pearl River produces pianos for them.

In North America - and we can say this with complete confidence - every single Kawai piano coming into North America for sale is either produced at the Japanese factory in Ryuyo in Hamamatsu or at the Indonesian factory in Karawang. There are no Chinese-produced, partially Chinese-produced pianos that are landing in North America for sale within North America currently.

In the past, Kawai did produce their KX series uprights in China for the Canadian market, but production of the KX series pianos stopped in 2013. These pianos feature 5-digit serial numbers with no preceding letter.

Kawai was also produced from 1988 to 2004, and these pianos have 4 to 6-digit serial numbers preceded by the letter A.

Production Date vs Sold Date

One last consideration we need to point out; when looking up a serial number, we need to caution potential buyers about one idiosyncrasy of the piano industry that happens to be very different than electronics and cars.

In the piano business, there are a lot more difficulty warehousing products in the specific region where said product will eventually be sold. As a result, manufacturers tend to ship in very large batches which means that some pianos might end up sitting in the warehouse for a long time.

For example, this means you may be looking at a piano with a serial number stating it was built in 2017, yet the current owner is able to produce a receipt showing that it was purchased new in 2019.

Discrepancies like this are common and simply indicate that the piano was finished at the factory in 2017, but not sold until 2019. This is still a brand new piano in 2019 that never would have been out of the box and well taken care of in a climate-controlled environment up to the point of sale.

 

Wrap Up

We hope that this article and companion video has been able to shed a little bit of new light on where you can find the serial number on your Kawai pianos, and what that serial number may mean. We also have a handy serial number lookup on our website that may be of use to you too.

Thanks for reading!

The post Where to Find the Kawai Serial Number & Where are Kawai Pianos Made? first appeared on Merriam Pianos

2359 Bristol Cir #200, Oakville, ON L6H 6P8

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(905) 829-2020

Kawai K-300 AURES 2 | Hybrid Piano Review | Play Silently with Headphones Anytime

 

Even before the onset of the 2020 and 2021 global lockdowns that saw much of the world spending much more time at home than usual, hybrid pianos, i.e. fully acoustic pianos augmented with digital piano features, were becoming increasingly advanced and increasingly popular.

With the onset of the events of 2020 and 2021, demand for these instruments went through the roof to the point that they were rarely ever in stock without being presold. After all, many people live in crowded households or in close proximity to neighbors making it hard to find a time during the day to make all kinds of noise on an upright or grand piano. Having the option to flip a switch and play your otherwise fully acoustic piano with headphones opens up all kinds of possibilities.

This brings us to the Kawai K-300 AURES 2 hybrid upright piano, which serves as an update to the first-generation AURES. There’s been a few critical upgrades, yet everything that made the first-generation AURES so popular and so well-liked remains in place.

With all of that out of the way, here’s our review of the new K-300 AURES 2.

 

Kawai K-300 AURES 2 - Background

AURES vs ATX

It’s important to clarify off the hop exactly what kind of instrument the K-300 AURES 2 is and how it differs from a standard K-300 or an ATX K-300. So, what we have here is a standard K Series Kawai K-300 Upright Piano augmented by the digital sound engine technology featured in Kawai’s premium NOVUS series hybrid digital pianos and Kawai’s Hybrid Soundboard amplification system which features nothing short of 4 high-performance transducers.

This means that in addition to being able to plug in a set of headphones and play without bothering others, you’re given full reign of the cutting-edge SK-EX Rendering Engine, and Harmonic Imaging XL engine (with 90 total sounds), both of which can be used acoustically via the transducer powered solid spruce soundboard speaker system. You can also stream music through the soundboard speaker system via Bluetooth Audio, giving you what amounts to a high-fi stereo setup.

The contrast here with the ATX-labeled instruments is that while they still have the silent functionality and tone generator, the transducer soundboard system is absent.

This is important to note because while the Kawai K-500 is available in an AURES 2 model, the Kawai K-200 is only available in an ATX format.

 

Differences from AURES 1 to AURES 2

Next up, many people will be wondering what the differences are between AURES 1 and AURES 2. While there are certainly more similarities than differences here, let’s get into exactly what the improvements are.

First of all, there has been an update to the transducers, though Kawai hasn’t been very specific as to what those improvements are. It seems like the placement of the transducers has been changed, and it sounds like there's also been an update to the mechanism of the transducers themselves.

While there seems to be some confusion online as to the amount of transducers with some people suggesting that the AURES 2 has more transducers than the AURES 1, this isn’t actually the case as the AURES 1 also had 4 transducers, so the differences really seem to be in the placement and the design.

The second big difference with the AURES 2 is the absence of the control panel on the left side. For most users, this will be a positive thing because many will agree that this improves the overall aesthetic of the instrument.

While not everyone was bothered by the constantly backlit control panel, there were plenty of users who felt it cheapened the look of an otherwise beautiful upright piano. The other advantage here is that by removing the screen, they’ve removed one of the components most prone to mechanical failure down the road.

This means that to get in and control all of the digital piano-related functions, you will do so from a smart device by connecting either through Bluetooth MIDI or through the USB port.

The last difference with the AURES 2 is that it features an updated version of the SK-EX Rendering engine, which happens to be one of the most advanced digital piano tone engines currently on the market available in any new piano.

Update to the K-300 Professional Upright Piano

In terms of the acoustic instrument portion, there has been a small update to the K-300 itself, which is the addition of the microcell dampening rest rail for the underfelted hammers (double felted hammers).

This takes the already great repetition speed of the exclusive Millennium III upright action (with ABS-Carbon composites, extended key length and textured key surfaces) and makes it even better. Kawai first deployed this microcell technology in the K-800 and K-500, and how it’s made its way into the K-400 and K-300.

When looking inside the piano, you can see that the mahogany core hammers have virtually no bounce at all when resetting.

Otherwise, this is the same high-quality upright piano that has won Acoustic Piano of the Year for consecutive years in MMR magazine with perks like a soft fall fallboard, heavy-duty back posts, steel reinforced keyslip and high-quality casters.

 

AURES 2 Functionality

Let's dive in now and still cover the bulk of what you get with an AURES instrument for people who are just exploring this technology for the first time, or for those who might be comparing the K-300 AURES 2 to an equivalent product from Yamaha or another piano company.

Given that the K-300 AURES 2 is a fully acoustic piano augmented by digital technology, there are multiple different playing modes to choose from, as we have alluded to throughout this review. Let’s get a little bit more specific about each mode.

Mode 1: Acoustic Piano

The first playing mode would of course just be as a standard acoustic piano. To have it play in acoustic piano mode, you’ll need to make sure that you have the electronics totally turned off or the volume knob set to zero, otherwise, you’ll still get sound coming from the transducers. You’ll also need to make sure that the middle pedal, which serves as the mute rail, is not engaged.

With many silent upright pianos of the past, the piano action was compromised as a result of the added technology. This is not the case with the last few K-300 ATX and AURES pianos where the acoustic piano experience is completely maintained. Pianists can rest assured that they’re getting a K-300 of equal quality, performance and craftsmanship to their non-AURES brethren.

 

Mode 2: Transducers Engaged

The next playing mode is when you engage the damper rail which stops the hammers from striking the strings and turns on the electronic components. The transducers engage and the sound generated via the digital sound engines actually plays through the K-300’s tapered soundboard. This is definitely one of the coolest and most unique aspects of AURES musical instruments.

Honestly, it’s worth visiting a piano gallery or showroom that carries Kawai products just to see this in action for yourself, or with your favorite music streaming through the soundboard via a smart device.

 

Mode 3: Acoustic Piano Layered with Digital Sound

The third playing mode is a sort of hybrid mode that adds the AURES’s tone engine to the acoustic piano sound. With the mute rail not engaged, simply turn on the electronics, adjust the volume, and you can layer any one of the AURES 2’s many sounds over the acoustic upright piano sound.

For example, an absolutely classic pairing is to layer some strings over the acoustic piano sound, but any of the AURES 2’s 90 sounds are available here.

 

Mode 4: Silent Mode

The fourth and final mode is commonly referred to as silent mode. This simply means you have the mute rail engaged and electronics turned on, but instead of playing sound through the soundboard, you plug in a set of headphones.

This of course allows you to practice anytime you’d like with a fantastic acoustic upright piano action without disturbing others.

 

Stu’s Advice to Present & Future K-300 AURES 2 Owners

When drilling down to do this review, Stu noticed that there are two or three notes on the piano that produce some odd acoustic effects when using the default SK-EX concert grand sound when playing with the transducers and soundboard.

An easy thing that dramatically reduces that effect was simply switching the Rendering Character to Classic 2. This odd acoustic effect will probably only be audible in certain rooms, if you happen to be noticing this, simply switching to Classic 2 fixes the issue.

 

Connectivity

Given the K-300 AURES 2’s digital piano components, it naturally has a number of connector ports built-in right underneath the keyboard.

There are dual headphone ports so two people can actually play or listen with headphones on at one time. There’s also classic 5-pin MIDI in and Out, as well as USB Type A and B.

Next, there’s a 1/8” stereo line in, and a 1/8” stereo line out. Rounding out the connectivity is the Bluetooth MIDI and Bluetooth Audio connectivity. As we mentioned, having an AURES 2 is essentially like having a high-end stereo system. Being able to stream music and hear it played through the K-300s soundboard is a truly singular experience!

 

Closing Thoughts

Thanks very much for checking out our review of this truly special instrument. If you aren’t yet familiar with hybrid instruments or have been exploring the option for a while, the K-300 AURES 2 is a class leader through and through.

The post Kawai K-300 AURES 2 | Hybrid Piano Review | Play Silently with Headphones Anytime first appeared on Merriam Pianos

2359 Bristol Cir #200, Oakville, ON L6H 6P8

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C Bechstein Concert 8 | Upright Piano Review

 

C Bechstein has been making high-end upright pianos longer than almost anyone else in the industry. Given their pedigree, it’s not a huge surprise that today they’re known for producing some of the finest hand-made upright pianos money can buy.

In this article and companion video, we'll be taking an in-depth look at their ultra upright piano - the crown jewel of their entire upright piano lineup with the legendary C Bechstein Concert 8 Upright Piano.

 

The World’s Finest Upright Piano?

Whether it’s respected industry critics, elite pianists, aficionados or simply connoisseurs, there’s a veritable legion of people who think that the Concert 8 is the best upright piano on the planet. There’s a litany of upright and grand piano best-practice piano manufacturing techniques and materials employed on the Concert 8 that support this opinion, such as the extremely rare tapered Val Di’ Fiemme red spruce sourced for the soundboard, or an action so extensively regulated that it outplays most grand pianos.

We’re to cover a lot of ground as to what makes this piano so special, and why many of the 20th century's greatest artists, such as Simon & Garfunkel, Sir Simon Rattle and even the Beatles relegated their Steinways to compose on a Concert 8.

Let’s get into it.

 

C Bechstein Concert 8 - Background Information

Let's start with a bit of background about this instrument. As we stated in the intro, the C Bechstein Concert 8 Upright Piano has a reputation going back many decades as being the finest upright piano in the world.

Now, this is not something that we would throw out there lightly or as a Bechstein dealer trying to sell their products. To prove our point, if you refer to the Larry Fine "Piano Book", the current Piano Buyer edition states in writing that the Concert 8 is consistently held as one of the finest upright pianos ever made. Larry Fine is considered one of if not the foremost critic in the piano industry as a whole.

 

Country of Origin

The Concert 8 is made entirely in Germany, and it's handcrafted with fanatical attention to detail. It is the only upright piano that Bechstein label's as being part of their Concert piano series, alongside the C. Bechstein grands, at least partially because it's more than capable of the sophisticated dynamics typically only found on German grands.

Compared to their other top-level uprights, the Concert 8 has a thicker pin block, and longer tuning pins, giving better hold and control of the pins, resulting in a more stable tuning and consistent pitch.

 

Recent Redesign

The Concert 8 has been a staple C. Bechstein instrument for most of Bechstein’s existence, but it received a fresh design upgrade in recent years that brought it more in line with a grand piano and to an even higher overall level.

 

Who Should Consider a Concert 8?

If you’re in the market for a premium quality acoustic piano and you’ve got the budget, even if you haven’t previously considered an upright piano, you simply can’t avoid a Concert 8 if your list were to include the absolute best of the best.

Quite frankly, even if you even were in the market for a grand piano, in the 5 to 5.5-foot range with a budget of $70,000 - $80,000 USD, such as a larger W. Hoffmann Professional or smaller Bechstein Academy, there's a good chance you’ll get a higher level musical experience out of the Concert 8. There's no question it dramatically outplays many run-of-the-mill grands on the market.

With some background information out of the way, let’s move on to a discussion of the action.

 

Piano Action

Bechstein’s ‘Gold Line Action’

Bechstein's upright actions have always been part of their overall appeal, and this is especially true of their top ‘Gold Line Action’ because they spend an inordinate amount of time regulating and prepping them - the same amount of time you can expect on grands that cost $100,000, which is extremely unusual for an upright piano.

The Concert 8 has over 170 measurable man-hours of manufacturing time at the factory applied to it. A good amount of that time is specifically devoted to regulating and weighting the acoustic assembly of the C Bechstein Concert 8, and the result is an incredibly responsive action that's also super fluid, and with the large 52" frame, you can match the sound volume of grand pianos with little effort.

 

Action Materials

In terms of the materials, this action is getting the same highest quality wood and hammers as their Masterpiece Class grands, even the concert grands, which is a dark burl walnut crown hammer and burl Vavona. Every C. Bechstein piano also gets its own custom-made hammers, including the Concert 8, which is again, very rare in the industry.

 

Action Weighting

The weight of the action is also worth noting. If somebody is used to an upright piano being a little bit lighter than a grand, you're not going to get that on the Concert 8. The Concert 8 is instead weighted much closer to a grand piano. We should emphasize that we’re not saying the piano is heavy or arduous, but rather that they've weighted it to create an authentic grand piano experience.

 

Upright Piano Sound - Timbre and Construction Materials

Color

Let's move on to sound. If we could describe the sound profile of the C. Bechstein Concert 8 in a single word, it would be color. The tone of the C Bechstein Concert 8 is complex and sustaining, with a very clear fundamental tone. Each note produces a vast array of well-balanced harmonics, and the soundboard is responsive enough to maintain the clarity of every tone even when pushed with thick chords at high volumes.

The treble is strong with a beautiful singing attack with very low hammer noise, and the mid-range is lush with plenty of tonal palette to play with. The bass is warm without being overly resonant, and the transition to the bass from the tenor is barely detectable, like a fantastic 6’ grand.

 

Soundboard: Val Di’ Fiemme Red Spruce

At the heart of this magical tone and distinctive timbre is of course the Italian Red Spruce soundboard, from the famed Val Di’ Fiemme. The very same source of spruce that Stradivarius used for his violins.

If every piano could have an optimized sound development or a unique sound like this, I'm sure every manufacturer would love for that to be the case. But this is cold, hard science and engineering with an untenable price tag for most manufacturers that actually gives us the tone that we are hearing.

 

Other Notable Design Features

The Concert 8 has agraffes from top to bottom, a “double duplex” stringing technique, and a fully integrated frame and plate structure for maximum sympathetic resonance.

The entire frame of the instrument is designed to amplify the tone, much in the way a grand is, while deadening the less ‘attractive’ resonating components within the instrument. This same philosophy is also applied to every C. Bechstein grand piano.

Cabinetry

We also need to talk about the cabinetry. By cabinetry, we’re not referring to the exterior appearance, but rather the actual substructure of wood that holds this instrument together.

At the back of the piano, there are six full-size back posts, all of them being solid hardwood. These back posts are mounted directly to the frame along with inner rim-type material to help activate some of the less naturally responsive parts of the soundboard.

In terms of aesthetics, on the top left at the back is a beautifully milled-in Bechstein logo that's just an extra nice little touch of elegance and precision on the instrument.

 

Optional Sostenuto & Vario System Upgrades

It's also worth mentioning that the Concert 8 is available with an optional sostenuto pedal, and recently, it's also available with Bechstein's Vario System add-on, which allows for silent practice with headphones.

 

Conclusions

As much as one must marvel at the high price tag for this instrument at over $80,000, the inevitable question gets asked: even in a grand piano, could you purchase an instrument with a finer tone for less money?

The answer of course is no. We have the occasional Shigeru Kawai in our showroom that may come very close, but by and large, most customers would, on average, need to spend $100,000+ to achieve this level of finish and detail in a piano.

The Concert 8 is as deserving of the claim “Finest Upright In The World” in 2022 as it was 50 or 100 years ago, and every bit worth a try if you can find one.

The post C Bechstein Concert 8 | Upright Piano Review first appeared on Merriam Pianos

2359 Bristol Cir #200, Oakville, ON L6H 6P8

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Upright vs Grand Pianos | Which is Better for You? | Common Misconceptions & Myths

 

As one of North America’s largest piano retailers, we’re blessed to get to interact with piano shoppers looking for upright, grand and digital pianos face-to-face, every single day.

As a result, we’ve been able to observe many of the common misconceptions a lot of people have with regard to upright vs grand pianos - specifically, as to how these two types of piano relate to one another. There are misconceptions surrounding every musical instrument, and pianos are certainly not immune.

In today’s article and companion video, we’re going to cover the 6 most commonly held misconceptions and myths we encounter related to comparing upright and grand pianos. Our goal is to clear up these misconceptions and hopefully shed some light on the conversation, especially if you’re trying to decide between these two types of acoustic pianos.

Let’s get into it.

Upright vs Grand Pianos - Background

Anyone who watches our YouTube channel or reads our blogs with any regularity will know that our company President and in-house piano reviewer Stu Harrison has a soft spot for great upright pianos.

This sentiment has definitely trickled down to the rest of us here at Merriam Pianos, and as a result, we often find customers shopping for a used or new piano surprised when we articulate some of the many virtues of the upright piano since some people have the idea that grand pianos are automatically superior to uprights.

This simply isn’t the case, and the topic requires much more nuance - you’re not necessarily compromising even if you have less space and have chosen to go with an upright. That’s really the impetus for this article - to clear up some of those biases lingering around out there that are simply not rooted in fact.

Here’s myth #1.

 

Myth #1: Grand Pianos are Always More Expensive than Upright Pianos

This myth simply isn’t true, but we need to add some additional context. Upright pianos vary in price with regular production models starting at around $3,000 and $4,000 and going all the way up to eclipsing the $70,000 mark. Of course, there are grand pianos that can be much higher priced than $70,000, but generally speaking, the vast majority of grand pianos that get sold cost somewhere in the $10,000 to $30,000 range. In other words, there's tons of overlap.

Now, why are the most expensive grand pianos more costly than the most expensive uprights? The single biggest reason for this price difference is the grand piano's rim. There are several different manufacturing techniques and material options that various manufacturers use ranging in price, but no matter what, constructing a rim greatly increases production time.

Generally, a good rule of thumb that we've used for guiding customers in this is if you want an equal quality upright to grand, then you generally have to double the price of a grand piano to get the same as what you're getting on a comparable upright. A Yamaha U1 for example will outplay just about any new equally priced grand piano.

 

Myth #2: Grand pianos are Louder than Upright Pianos

Just like our first myth, on its face, this myth is false. An upright piano with a similar-sized soundboard and similar-length strings will produce exactly the same volume as a grand piano with the same dimensions. For example, if you were looking at a 52” upright with approximately a 51-inch bass string length, a 5’8” to 5’10” grand piano will give you approximately the same size of the soundboard as well as string length.

We actually did this experiment for ourselves and measured the decibel output of a 50” C. Bechstein upright piano against a 6’2” Shigeru Kawai SK-3 and found that the volume output was exactly the same, and arguably even the overall sound quality.

As a result of inherent design differences and the reality that most people keep their upright piano lids closed, grand pianos will generally have better projection and sound louder, but this disparity lessens if the upright piano lid is opened. The other factor is that larger grand pianos from about the mid 6’ range up to 9’ simply don’t have comparable upright piano alternatives, thereby creating the impression that grands are simply louder than upright pianos.

 

Myth #3: Grand Pianos are for Advanced Players, Uprights are for Beginners

Out of the three myths so far, this one is closest to the truth, although, just like the other two, there are plenty of instances where this is simply not the case. Sure, at a certain level of advancement as a pianist, a grand piano is probably what you’ll want to have if you're preparing for performance, or doing some recording, but that only applies to certain people.

Grand pianos and upright pianos have several physical differences, but one of the most important differences is the action, and that’s very relevant here. On a grand piano's action, the hammer returns to its rest position almost entirely due to gravity at a low dynamic level and a combination of gravity plus rebound from the hammer striking the string when we're in an upper velocity or higher dynamic range (often referred to as escapement).

On an upright piano, gravity plays a role, but the hammer is not directly returned to its resting position because of gravity and its own weight. Instead, a piece in the action called a bridle strap helps reset the key. And it's a bit of a clumsy motion. In higher dynamic ranges control is just fine, but in lower dynamic ranges that control gets a little bit compromised.

Those differences between upright and grand actions mean that for advanced players (especially classical advanced players), a grand piano is going to give you a level of control and consistency that most uprights simply are not capable of.

Now, 99% of all piano buyers and players simply are not at that level which means that for beginners, hobbyists and even for people playing up to conservatory level 9 or 10, a really good upright piano is going to deliver a great musical experience without much or any compromise.

One other factor is if you’re practicing advanced repertoire and specifically need a sostenuto pedal you might think that an upright piano is out since the middle pedal is typically a mute pedal (the other two pedals are still the traditional soft pedal and damper pedal), but there are many fine uprights that are available with sostenuto pedals instead.

Myth #4: Upright Pianos Have a Lighter Touch than Grand Pianos

We hear this one a lot - sometimes from piano lesson teachers, other times from people who have owned a grand piano at some point in the past or know someone who has. A common phrase is, "An upright piano is okay to start with but to really build your finger strength, you need to get on a grand piano."

It is true that larger grand pianos usually have a slightly heavier touch. The reason for this is that larger grand pianos will tend to have larger hammers because they are striking longer strings.

But for a smaller grand piano where there isn’t the need to have a hammer that's any larger than what you get on an upright piano, there's actually no technical reason why a manufacturer would choose to have a grand piano with a heavier feel than an upright piano of a similar size in terms of string length or soundboard size.

If there is a difference, there's a very good chance that it’s because the grand piano has been under-regulated or under-lubricated, and the less expensive the piano, usually the less time is spent lubricating and regulating the action at the factory level.

If you've got a $10,000 upright piano, and a $10,000 grand piano, that upright piano is probably going to feel lighter because it’s received more lubrication and regulation. Pay a technician to regulate the action of that $10,000 grand and suddenly the weighting difference disappears.

 

Myth #5: Upright Pianos Have No Bass

This myth is false on its face and largely relates to the first myth about grand pianos being louder versus upright pianos being softer.

There's a huge overlap in bass string length and soundboard size between upright pianos and grands, and since the bass tone is largely (though not exclusively) a function of the length of the string and soundboard shaping, there's no reason why you can’t have a 52” upright piano producing about the same bass response and lush overtones as a grand piano up to about 6’ in length.

Anything beyond that size, and of course a larger grand piano is going to have longer bass strings and a larger soundboard, equaling a more powerful bass presence.

A 9’ foot Steinway D certainly has a better presence than any upright piano, and just about any grand piano will have a better bass than a spinet upright, but there are many vertical pianos that will outgun many baby grand pianos and other smaller grands in terms of bass response.

 

Myth #6: Grand Pianos Offer More Control than Uprights

This is probably the myth that’s the closest to being true out of the six on our list. Relating back to the technical differences we covered regarding the action mechanisms, grand pianos do offer a higher degree of control than uprights, assuming we’re talking about two instruments of the same quality.

As we mentioned, this is due in large part to gravity assisting in getting the hammer back into the rest position on grand pianos. The other reason grand pianos tend to offer more control is due to having longer key sticks, which means you’re working with a longer lever which in turn delivers the player greater control.

But again, there are going to be plenty of instances where a high-quality upright is going to offer superior control to a lower-quality small grand, so some nuance is required here.

To sum up, if we’re comparing apples to apples, then yes, a grand piano will offer superior control to a similar quality upright piano, especially in the hands of a professional pianist, and there’s no upright piano that matches the control of a good quality 9’ concert grand piano.

 

Closing Thoughts

We hope you’ve enjoyed this article covering the 6 most common myths we run into regarding the differences between upright and grand pianos.

We find some combination of these myths comes up constantly among folks shopping for a new upright, new grand or even a used piano of either persuasion, both among folks looking for a piano for their living room, and even committees shopping for a space somewhere short of the concert hall.

Thanks for reading!

The post Upright vs Grand Pianos | Which is Better for You? | Common Misconceptions & Myths first appeared on Merriam Pianos

2359 Bristol Cir #200, Oakville, ON L6H 6P8

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C Bechstein A124 | Upright Piano Review | C Bechstein Academy Series

 

If you're considering a premium upright piano from Germany in the $20,000-$30,000 USD range, it's quite likely that you've come across the C Bechstein A124, and for good reason - from the material selection to the precision of the craftsmanship, the A124 is without question one of the top upright pianos available in its class, and more than holds it's own against the truly elite uprights from the C Bechstein Concert class.

In this article, we're going to do a deep dive into what makes this piano of high technological expertise so special, covering the design, sound, touch, and why C. Bechstein are one of the foremost piano makers operating today.

 

One of my Personal Favorites

Before we do an overview of the C. Bechstein A 124, I'd like to share why I feel a particular connection to it, and why it's definitely one of my favorite upright pianos in the entire world. Not to say that I necessarily think it's the absolute best since there are instruments that are two and three times the price that on an analytical objective level outperform it.

But something about this instrument holds a special place in my heart, which comes from my first experience with the instrument several years ago.

Stu’s First Time Playing the A124

The first time I played the A124 was about 5 years ago, and prior to that experience, I wasn’t overly familiar with Bechstein pianos in general other than playing on my friend and superb pianist Adrean Farrugia’s Bechstein Academy upright, which was very nice.

The first time I played the redesigned A124 was at Bechstein’s NAMM booth several years ago. I sat down at the A124 and instantly had a super connective, incredible musical experience. The bass response was so well balanced, I felt like I was sitting in front of a 6-foot grand, and clearly, the scale design had ideal proportions. It made such an impression on me that day, and it's what ultimately led to us making the A124 a staple at our showrooms (when they’re in stock that is.)

 

C Bechstein A124 Overview

Here’s some general background information on this piano; the A124 is of course 124 cm tall, which is just shy of 49”, and is 100% made in Germany by C. Bechstein - a company with more than 160 years of piano-making experience, and one of the leaders in piano manufacturing today.

 

C Bechstein A124 - Academy Line

The A124 is part of Bechstein’s Academy line, meaning it’s part of the second highest quality line of pianos they produce, under only the top-quality C. Bechstein Masterpiece line, and was designed by the top C. Bechstein engineers and sound specialists at the C. Bechstein R&D department. The rich Bechstein heritage is known today for the blending of traditional craftsmanship with high technology.

Some of the material and design costs are reduced with the Academy series, but they are built to the same quality standard, on the same production site and by the same craftsmen schooled in the Bechstein tradition as the Concert line. Bechstein makes their own hammers, one of the few piano manufacturers still doing this, and every single model has its own hammer made specifically for that piano. This goes a long in helping to achieve the distinct character each C. Bechstein piano displays, and the A124 is no exception to this.

Piano Sound

If I had to use one word to describe the overall sound of the A124 it would be a balance - everything about this piano is incredibly balanced, and it doesn’t require much effort on the part of the player to achieve this.

 

Soundboard

The response is amazing, and one of the main reasons for this is how picky Bechstein is with the mountain Spruce they select for the soundboards in their instruments. In every Academy upright, Bechstein uses Alpine Spruce exclusively grown at a minimum of 800 meters, which means the wood is going to be incredibly consistent and have very little moisture. Spruce grown at these altitudes is consistent with what you’ll find in other pianos at the very top of the market.

 

Hand Wound Bass Strings

Another contributor to the tone, especially with regard to the bass, has to do with the fact that the bass strings are hand-wound, and sourced extremely selectively. There are no fall beats, and the bass is super clear, as is the treble. There’s not a ton of complexity to the mid-range and treble, but its select sound is laser-focused in its clarity and boasts impressive sound volume.

 

C Bechstein A124 - Piano Action

Bechstein’s always been well known by piano players for their action assembly in their acoustic pianos, especially with regards to the lever ratio, accuracy and how well-regulated they are. The overall control and repetition speed here is super impressive.

The resistance is closer to a grand piano, which is a huge plus since this is a typical drawback of upright piano actions - a lack of resistance which can make playing classical music a challenge.

 

Bechstein’s Silver Line Action

The action assembly is specifically referred to as Bechstein’s Silver Line Action. This is the second-best action Bechstein makes, bested only by the Gold Line Actions that are used exclusively in the Concert series uprights and grands.

What separates the Silver from the Gold? Simply, tolerances. While the Silver Line Actions are built to very high tolerances, the Gold Line Actions take this a step further, with fanatical level tolerances.

 

Cabinet

The A124 is available in two cabinet styles of timeless design, the A 124 Imposant (featured in the accompanying video) and A 124 Style. It’s also available by special order in a variety of finishes.

Conclusions

The type of person I think will be most intrigued by this piano is not only someone not constrained by budget, but someone who had no idea an upright piano could provide the musical experience of a premium piano. Also, if you’re already looking at a grand piano with a $30,000 budget, such as a Yamaha or W. Hoffmann, you should definitely consider the C Bechstein A124 as an alternative with an equally voluminous sound.

For some, making that jump from a mid-range grand to a premium instrument in the form of an upright is worth it. Ultimately, the A124 is going to meet the requirements of both professional pianists, and those seeking a top-class instrument, for a relatively affordable price when everything is considered.

The post C Bechstein A124 | Upright Piano Review | C Bechstein Academy Series first appeared on Merriam Pianos

2359 Bristol Cir #200, Oakville, ON L6H 6P8

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Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132 | Upright Piano Review & Comparison | Boston Built By Kawai

 

When it comes to Japanese upright pianos, there’s no question that the Kawai K-300 and Yamaha U1 absolutely dominate the conversation. That said, Boston has a very nice lineup of Japanese-built pianos as well, and Kawai has other great options available as well beyond the vaunted K-Series.

In today's article and companion video, we’ll be comparing and contrasting two of the top Japanese-made uprights available today with the Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132 professional upright pianos. These are both full-size, 52” upright pianos, and it's an especially interesting comparison because both pianos are actually made by Kawai in the same factory.

Their designs however are quite different, with the Boston UP132 having been designed by Steinway & Sons, while the K-800 is a Kawai product through and through. Kawai also implements a number of special features into the K-800 as their flagship upright.

We’re going to cover exactly how these two pianos compare musically as well as the critical design differences, and what that means for the pianist at the end of the day. It’s not every day we have two of these pianos side-by-side in one of our showrooms so we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

 

Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132 - Background

The Kawai K-800 and the Boston UP132 are the largest examples of upright pianos from both of these respective brands. As a result of being built by the same company in the same factory and even on the same production line in Japan, there is a ton of mixed heritage between these two acoustic pianos.

Steinway & Sons have designed the entire Boston series, so if you come across the sentiment that a Boston is really just a Kawai with a different logo, you can immediately discard that claim as false. While there are certainly a lot of shared components, and complete sharing of the labor force, these are distinct pianos from one another.

On the other hand, if you hear the common claim that Boston’s are built in an entirely different part of the factory by different employees, this too can immediately be dismissed as false. The Kawai K-800 upright piano is technically a 53” piano, while the Boston UP132 is 52” in height, but they are both approximately the same height and positioned against one another in the market in terms of price.

 

Commonalities

Starting with what's in common between these two pianos, both use mahogany core double felted hammers (Royal George hammer felt on the K-800, unspecified on the UP132), and have duplex scales, which is somewhat unusual for an upright piano. Both pianos feature tapered solid spruce soundboards.

They both use the same gauge treble wire, and there is not a great deal of difference in the scale tension at the upper end of the range, though there does appear to be some difference in scale tension at the bottom.

Both pianos have soft fall fallboards and heavy-duty casters and ship with a height-adjustable bench.

 

Key Differences

Moving over to the differences and these are much more numerous. For one, we’re looking at very different back post construction for these two instruments, and this can have a big effect on the sense of overall cabinet resonance.

The bridging system is very different with the K-800 having an enlarged section of the treble bridge as it transitions into the bass bridge which is designed like this to increase resonance in this section of the piano. The K-800 also has a full complement of agraffes which ensures ideal string spacing and is generally reserved solely for high-end uprights.

Perhaps the biggest difference is with regard to touch. The K-800 uses extended-length key sticks, whereas the Boston uses a standard upright key stick length. This results in a significant difference in the sense of weight and keybed depth between these two pianos. The K-800 feels like you're playing a grand piano with a wider dynamic range at your disposal due to an increased level of control.

There are pros and cons of extending the keys when you do this on an upright piano, especially with a hammer shank. The increased control results in a slightly degraded repetition speed, and we have noticed that the K-800 has a slightly slower repetition speed than that of the Boston UP132. So really, the question here comes down to whether you want to prioritize control and a greater dynamic range or speed.

Both pianos come standard with soft, muffler and damper pedals, however, the K-800 is available with an optional true sostenuto pedal in place of the muffler pedal by special order. The K-800 incorporates a steel-reinforced keyslip which can aid in minimizing the odds of sticky keys from the piano getting bumped.

In terms of aesthetic differences, the K-800 comes with a New England grand-style hard finish music rack, while the UP132 has a more conventionally sized music desk.

One other key difference for some - the Kawai warranty is transferable to future owners within the warranty period, while the Boston warranty is not. If resale value matters to you, keep this important fact in mind.

Let’s move on to a discussion of sound.

 

Upright Piano Sound

The tone is quite different between these two pianos, and the differences are similar to the differences between the Kawai GX-2 and Boston GP-178.

Ironically, the GX-2 was actually reminiscent of a New York Steinway-esque tone, with a little more mid-range power and warmth. Over on the Boston GP-178, the tone is brighter with some higher overtones.

This general description is also apt for the K-800 vs UP132 comparison. Let’s move through the ranges one by one.

 

Bass Register

The bass register really opens up on the K-800 at a low B or C, and you’ll notice some great resonance down here.

The bass is considerably bigger on the K-800, but the UP132 has a nice bass register of its own that happens to be a little bit warmer.

 

Tenor Register

Getting into the lower tenor range, the UP132 has certain localized areas where you can really hear the cabinet activate, and then other points where the cabinet is not really resonating at all.

The K-800 is pretty consistently resonant across this range.

 

Treble Register

As we move into the treble section, the differences between these two pianos start to fade away. In the top two octaves especially,

The overall character is very similar, and this makes sense because we know that there's no difference in string gauge, hammers, and duplex scale.

 

Overall Thoughts on the Sound Differences

The biggest differences between these two pianos are in the mid-sections. There is a brighter sound on the UP132, though at the same time it’s very nicely blended.

The K-800 takes on more of a New York Steinway tone with lots of mid-range partials, and the sound comes at the player in quite a direct way. Generally speaking, there are more guts and power out of everything on the K-800, and this is due in some parts to the extended key lengths.

 

Piano Action

Beyond the difference in the keystick lengths, there’s a pretty considerable difference in terms of the action designs themselves. The UP132 uses a Steinway-designed maple action.

The K-800 alternatively uses the Millennium III Upright Action with ABS-Carbon fiber composites like all Kawai K Series uprights. Kawai uses this same action concept in their handmade Shigeru Kawai grand pianos, and it’s known for its excellent durability and resistance to changes in humidity and temperature.

Ultimately, both actions are well-built and reliable, though the use of ABS composites in the K-800 is certainly enticing to certain people due to the superior strength and durability of ABS to wood.

As we said earlier, however, the difference from a playing experience is that the K-800 offers a greater degree of control and wider dynamic palette, while the UP132 offers a slightly faster repetition speed.

Both pianos have their own versions of synthetic ebony and ivory key surfaces with Kawai referring to theirs as Neotex.

 

Closing Thoughts

Thanks so much for checking out this comparison of the Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132. Both of these big uprights would be a great alternative to a baby grand piano and even work very nicely in an intimate performance setting.

The post Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132 | Upright Piano Review & Comparison | Boston Built By Kawai first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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Zimmermann S6 | Upright Piano Demo & Review | Designed by C Bechstein

 

Famed high-end German piano maker C. Bechstein offers a wider range of product offerings in terms of price than perhaps any other manufacturer. From the C. Bechstein Concert Series which are among the most elite pianos on Earth, to the new Zimmermann pianos available at an affordable price, built to compete with Japanese-made grands and uprights.

Today, we'll be taking a look at the Zimmermann S6 upright piano, an exciting new product for us, and an instrument that to this point is pretty well unknown to the North American market.

Utilizing a timeless design and Bechstein-supervised exacting quality standards, we're excited to be carrying Zimmermann instruments moving forward and thrilled to be diving into the S2 for you here. Let's start by checking out the action.

 

Zimmermann S6 - Upright Piano Action

Why Action Matters

it's really important that whatever piano you ultimately choose for your home, you're happy with the action and how the instrument feels.

It's more difficult to create a good connection between player and instrument as far as actions are concerned with upright pianos because you don't have the benefit of gravity working as the counteracting force as you do in a grand piano.

On an upright piano, it's a little more complex to get that really nice fluid motion because it has to be done with springs, counterweights and counter-movement. Often times upright actions feel slow, and a little bit clunky, and the repetition speed isn't quite ideal unless you're ready to drop $20,000 or more on a handmade upright piano. Here, great pains have been expended to produce a truly dynamic action.

 

Bechstein’s Bronze Line Action

With that preamble out of the way, let's jump back to the S6. We had a chance to try the S6 at Bechstein's Berlin showroom about a year ago and were quite surprised to see a product from Bechstein that was very much in line with what you'll pay for a Japanese product from Kawai or from Yamaha.

Naturally then, we're of course instantly thinking about how this action, the Bechstein Bronze Line Action, compares to a taller Kawai such as a K-500, or Yamaha U3. First of all, we noticed the S6 definitely has a more robust feeling construction than a U3, and that's obviously by design as the S6 has a heavier hammer.

There's more power that you're able to extract from S6, so particularly for people who already have some acoustic experience, they might really appreciate going to an instrument with such a pleasant touch that also happens to be very responsive.

 

Wide Dynamic Range

The geometry has been set up to produce a bigger dynamic range than what you would get out of a Kawai K-500 or Yamaha U3.

When you dig in, you feel a little bit more resistance, but it delivers this huge big tone, and then you start to understand why this is a very credible and interesting option to consider.

 

Action Wrap-Up

To sum up the action, we've got an instrument that is very responsive but also happens to have a few extra grams of resistance. The trade-off to that is if you already are familiar with how a grand piano feels or already have the muscles built up from spending lots of time with an upright, this is going to respond very naturally to you.

Let's dive into the sound now and some of the design features contributing to that tone.

 

Zimmermann S6 - Upright Piano Tone & C Bechstein Design Features

Features

Our impression is that the S6 is giving us somewhere between 15% to 20% more upward dynamic range than what the K500 and U3 are able to produce. Now, whether or not you like the type of tone that it's producing is a very subjective thing, but it needs to be noted.

The S6 simply doesn't sound like a Japanese piano and instead sounds a lot closer to what you would normally be getting out of a C. Bechstein Academy, W. Hoffmann or some of the darker German pianos that are out there in terms of tone. Steingraeber would be another example of this general tonal profile.

Hammer Materials & Design

There are several interesting design choices contributing to this specific sound. One of them is the hammer, which as we've mentioned, is a little bit bigger than what you'd normally expect out of a 50-inch piano. What's more, the hammer on here is actually mahogany. This is somewhat unusual until you get up into the $15,000, $20,000 range, though Kawai notably uses mahogany on all of their K series pianos.

Most pianos in this price range use Maple for the hammers as it's less expensive and easier to work with. Mahogany is superior though because it's a bit lighter and thus doesn't stay on the string quite as long, meaning any potential distortion is cut down.

 

Solid Spruce Soundboard

Second, we're dealing with a solid spruce soundboard here. Some people will assume this is somewhat of a given considering the price class, but it's always nice to see manufacturers still putting a white solid spruce soundboard on new pianos.

We've got hand-wound bass strings here and nice premium-grade Roslau strings in the treble.

 

Designed in Germany by C Bechstein’s R & D Department

Now, let's talk about where and how it's made since it says right on the piano "Designed by Bechstein" as opposed to "Built by Bechstein". Does that automatically mean that they've submitted the design to the factory and now they don't have anything to do with it? Not at all.

Bechstein has designed this piano from the ground up with their own Bechstein scale design, and Bechstein-produced hammers and a technical staff member from Germany directly supervises the assembly process at the production site.

 

C Bechstein Quality Management

Now, a lot of manufacturers with a sub-line that gets produced in another factory make the claim that they supervise the assembly process without really being able to back it up. In this case, Bechstein's Quality Management team has a full-time German engineer that literally lives at the factory and supervises a small group of employees who exclusively assemble the Zimmermann product in a separate area of the factory.

The factory we're talking about is of course the Hailun plant in China. This is a factory that was set up as a western-style factory, a business experiment a couple of decades ago. It has achieved a great level of success to the point that it has set a new standard for quality control and consistency for Chinese piano factories.

You'll notice that on all the Zimmermann products, there's actually a badge on the left-hand side of the keyboard that says, "The Bechstein Quality Management System." Obviously, a company with a reputation like Bechstein's wouldn't put a quality seal badge like that on something unless it was a high-quality instrument.

 

Limited Production

When some people hear Chinese assembly, they immediately think mass-produced, without much if any actual hands-on human attention. One of the most special parts about the whole Zimmermann project for Bechstein is the fact that it is actually a limited production piano. This is an instrument that is only being outputted at a rate of between 750 to 1,000 units per year, maximum. In fact, we're only at number 8,217 for the particular piano here that we're reviewing. This project is a little more than 10 years old, so that gives you a sense of how much individual attention each one of these instruments is receiving.

Closing Thoughts

To wrap up, we've got a piano here that is a 50-inch class upright that is going to compete very well against other pianos in the size and price range like a Kawai K500 or a Yamaha U3. It is part of the Bechstein family with a Bechstein design, Bechstein components, and is assembled in China at the Hailun factory.

We think it's delivering an extremely unique and interesting option in a price range in the size range that is usually just a binary decision between Kawai and Yamaha.

So, if you have a chance to check it out, get into a showroom close to you. Of course, if you're anywhere near Toronto, come visit us. We've got the Bechstein Zimmermann product, both the grands and the uprights, like the Zimmermann S2, on the floor.

The post Zimmermann S6 | Upright Piano Demo & Review | Designed by C Bechstein first appeared on Merriam Pianos

2359 Bristol Cir #200, Oakville, ON L6H 6P8

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(905) 829-2020