Steinway Grand Action

[jnlje]

is Steinway's grand accelerated  action superior to all other piano makers in the market today ?

[Bosendorfer_214]

No.  I my opinnion Renner makes the best actions.  Especially those that are manufactured to Bosendorfer specs.

[Hmoll]

is Steinway's grand accelerated  action superior to all other piano makers in the market today ?

If it was, them the Hamburg steinways would have the accelerated action.  The last time I checked, the US S&Ss made in Astoria, NY were the only Steinways with that action.

I like the accelerated action, but not everyone does, which is why Bosie, and Fazioli not to mention numerous other manufacturers still sell a lot of pianios.

[Bosendorfer_214]

Well said Hmoll!

[xenon]

In my opinion, Steinway actions are pretty good, but not my absolute favourite.  They do have their purposes.  Renner actions have to be my favourite, appearing on the pianos in my top 5 list.  The worst actios are probably by Kawai.  They are too heavy and chunky.  Well, the bad ones that is.

[Hmoll]

I like the Renner action as well.
One reason S&S enjoys the market share they do is because so many concert halls use Steinways, so a lot of pianists want to practice on the same type of action they will be playing on stage (unless they are rich enough or well known enough to tour with their own Bosendorfer or Fazioli).

Just ot make things more conplicated, if memory serves me right - and it frequently doesnt' - S&S has been contracting out to Renner for the actions of their Hamburg pianos since before WWII.

[classicarts]

I do have to agree Renner actions are the best.  I owned a Kawai upright and I hated the action because it was too heavy and too deep.   

[lau]

I think yamaha makes the best piano's

[serge1paris]

Yamaha S series have very good action which is joy to play.  Unfortunately the tone is not  exactly up to the action.

Today I played a grand with great tone and great action: Steingraeber 205 S

[wzkit]

I beg to differ on the Kawai action. Although it is true that the old Kawai grand actions are heavy and too deep, the new Millenium 3 action (especially on their Shigeru series) has the exact opposite feeling. Light and fast, but not so light that playing soft is difficult. In fact, playing soft is extremely easy on this piano. In fact, I would say that this is the best action I have yet to see in my piano search.

[jolly]

Nope.

In fact, some of the old, old actions were pretty durn good.

Ever play on a good W,N &G?

[kamike]

During my recent search for a piano I found the Renner action of the Bluthner to be my favorite of all the pianos that I played.

[bearzinthehood]

I'm suspicious as to how much of the perception of "quality" action can be attributed to the tone of the instrument as opposed to the mechanical response of the keys.  There was a study on this somewhere, IIRC.

[faulty_damper]

The accelerated action refers to the balance rail which is rounded, not flat.  It has no reference to any actual action part, like the whippen.  So the keys pivot on a rounded surface instead of a flat one.

In my opinion, on a mechanical technical aspect, this is a beneficial development as it allows the keys to pivot on a much smaller area which allows for a faster shift in weight which means faster keys response.


And since Kawai Millenium 3 action was mentioned, it is far superior to any current manufactured whippen.  It is significantly stronger and stiffer and thus has a very fast response.  And from a maintenance perspective, it will outlast all wood-made whippens since it is significantly less affected by climatic changes.

[kamike]

Regarding the difference between tone and feel, I suppose these could be confused, but I'm not sure how.

I was amazed at the difference in action (feel) and tone (sound) between individual pianos.  Tonal quality was most easily identified only on pianos that were well in tune.