Wierd Piano?

[xhunterjx]

I practice piano at my church.

The piano is a Yamaha Grand thats about 5'6 in length.

Whenever I practice with the lid shut it sounds beautiful and awesome, but whenever i open the lid, i feel like i am the worse piano player ever.  I understand that with the lid shut you cant hear as much as with it open, but, i know i am playing these pieces right. 

any reason for this?

[jlh]

How old is the piano?  Yamahas are NOTORIOUS for getting shrill sounding with age.  If that's the case, then when the lid is shut, the "tinny" sound is being softened and is more pleasant to listen to, then you raise the lid and it becomes more shrill.  Is there a regular technician that works on the piano?  You might want to talk with him/her and see if there's anything he can do (like needle the hammers or something) to make the sound more pleasant.

[tompilk]

How old is the piano?  Yamahas are NOTORIOUS for getting shrill sounding with age.  If that's the case, then when the lid is shut, the "tinny" sound is being softened and is more pleasant to listen to, then you raise the lid and it becomes more shrill.  Is there a regular technician that works on the piano?  You might want to talk with him/her and see if there's anything he can do (like needle the hammers or something) to make the sound more pleasant.

hahaha... i heard a concert type speech with some guy from steinway and Barry Douglas and i hear about needling... people try to avoid that like the plague the guy said... 90-100 pricks can really damage the hammers apparently..
Tom

[donjuan]

It should be the church that maintains the piano.  ask the head priest or whoever is in charge about getting piano seen to. 

and needling is risky.  Steam treatment should be done first, because it is less permanent and you can get a chance to see if hard hammers are the cause of the problem.

[xhunterjx]

it was bought about 4 -5 years ago i think, but i know a tech comes and works on it about once every 2 months.