Steinways are stiff! Why good?

[allchopin]

I dont understand the hype about Steinways.  As important as sound quality is, you cannot sacrifice playability.  I have played on a Steinway and it was lethargic.  I want a softy-lofty keyboard that is easier to play!

[dinosaurtales]

If you like a truly light keyboard, try a Sauter.  They are beautiful pianos, sound good, and have an extremely light touch.

What model or size of Steinway were you playing, if I may ask?

[allchopin]

i dont have a clue about the model, but i believe it was a 9-ft.

[tosca1]

Dear allChopin,
I do not agree with you as the one of the remarkable features of the Steinway make is the responsiveness and ease of operation of the action.  I am not saying that the Steinway that you played did not have a stiff, heavy action but that was possibly because the instrument had been neglected or was not properly regulated.
Try some other Steinways and you will be pleasantly surprised how easy to play they are.
Regards,
Robert.

[NetherMagic]

allchopin in addition to what tosca suggested, you might be just used to lighter actions, since everyone's different

I personally find Steinway's keyboard very nice and responsive

and wow! 9-ft!  I wish there was a 9-ft Steinway at the music store in my area  

[allchopin]

Well, actually i am used to a Kawai grand, which i believe is one the higher end of the stiffness scale, and the steinway was stiffer than that, so...
(btw i played this at a high school)

[dinosaurtales]

Hm.  Sometimes school pianos aren't kept regulated and tuned particularly well, but reserve judgement till you play a B - the 7 footer.  I have played several and they generally had very responsive actions. One thing to note might be that Steinway builds their own actions to my knowledge, while many of the *upper end* pianos have their actions built by Renner, to their own specifications.  This might cause the action to be *different*, but not worse, or necessarily stiffer.

If you just happen to like a lighter action, which lots of folks do, the Sauter, Bluthner camps might be for you!  

[NetherMagic]

oh Kawai grands are stiff?  Never knew that, cuz I own a Kawai upright many years ago when I was really small and always considered that rather light, like a typical Japanese Yamaha piano

But then maybe its just my memory playin around

[Rach3]

I have played on a Kawai grand recently and I find the action to be very light, though very unresponsive like an electric keyboard. I find light action to often corresponds to unresponsiveness and less dynamic control. Personally I most like the heavier steinway actions, where the keys feel like they have "depth", even though they take more energy and finger strength to play.

[tosca1]

Another point is that before  we make generalisations about a brand of piano or anything else for that matter, we should have at least tried several different pianos of the same make.  Only then can we make an informed judgement.
Greetings to all.
Robert.

[Steinwayman]

New Steinway actions are actually probably less stiff than a lot of other makers'. A properly regulated action should be buttery smooth throughout--I recently played a brand-new Steinway D in a dealer showroom that had one of the silkiest actions I have ever played--not the least bit stiff.  Also, I once played the late Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli's Hamburg D Steinway--this had probably the most perfectly regulated action ever, just miraculously effortless to play.  I've heard that Vladimir Horowitz'  older New York D had an amazingly light action--so light in fact that some people unused to such a light action found it hard to control. So you see, Steinway actions are really not necessarily heavy, just some of them that haven't been regulated to your taste.

[Steinwayman]

By the way, you might think from my last posting that I have some connection to Steinway. I don't, I just happen to love their pianos over all others.

[nyonyo]

New Steinway actions are actually probably less stiff than a lot of other makers'. A properly regulated action should be buttery smooth throughout--I recently played a brand-new Steinway D in a dealer showroom that had one of the silkiest actions I have ever played--not the least bit stiff.  Also, I once played the late Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli's Hamburg D Steinway--this had probably the most perfectly regulated action ever, just miraculously effortless to play.  I've heard that Vladimir Horowitz'  older New York D had an amazingly light action--so light in fact that some people unused to such a light action found it hard to control. So you see, Steinway actions are really not necessarily heavy, just some of them that haven't been regulated to your taste.

 Older Steinways are stiff and heavy, but new Steinways are very easy to play, feels like Yamaha.

[Kassaa]

MAYBE, there might be a distinct possibility that every grand is DIFFERENT?!

I have played on heavy old Steinways, light old Steinways, new light Steinways, new heavy Steinways. Every grand is just different.

[Petter]

This was posted 5 years ago heh.

[rachfan]

I used to own a Steinway M, now a Baldwin L.  Both the older Steinway and the more recent Baldwin featured fairly firm actions, but many pianists prefer that, while others play better with a  light action.  So in choosing a piano (and they do vary within brand), it's really a personal preference.  With a firm action you can attain wonderful evenness in playing.  Two disadvantages are that it's harder to achieve dynamics pp and ppp, and it's more difficult to play at a very fast tempo.  But with a light action, many pianists (like me) would feel that their playing lacked some control or was sounding ragged.  It all depends on the pianist and repertoire too.  Being one who plays mostly lyrical works, a firm action suits me fine.  But if someone usually choses repertoire that calls for velocity, such as Mendelssohn, then a firm action is probably not going to serve that person as well.

Yeah, it good to go back and dig up an old thread.  It would be even more interesting to travel back in time five years.