Estonia 190 (6'3") high gloss, black polyester finish, Renner Action & Hammers.
This is a wonderful piano.
I played many and it came down to a "real" Pramburger," an M&H 7', or this Estonia.
Finally choose the Estonia. (the other two pianos were sold within the week & someone came in the afternoon I bought the Estonia, to buy it.)
The Estonias are exceptional buys for the money.
I had this one checked over by the head of piano tech dept at a local University school of music. His assessment is it is a top-tier piano.
I had it checked by the head of the piano tech dept from a school of music in another university in another city. These are all concert/performance piano technicians. His assessment: it is a top-tier piano.
Essentially, it is very close to a Hamburg, Steinway B; which is exactly what I wanted.
The upkeep on this piano is about $700/year. --it takes lots, to keep a sports-car going.
Pianos at this level are all about the same. It becomes a matter of personal preference.
This piano is mild, sweet, ringing, warm. The Renner action will do anything you want.
I am going to have a concert regulation put on it ($3,000), to really balance the keys and action parts. Its down & up weight is okay, but the touch weight (play weight) is a bit heavier than I want--so we are going to pull it down a few grams. That will make a huge difference in the ease of being able to play quickly.
In any concert instrument, this kind of regulation must be done--even with Steinways.
The factory makes wonderful pianos, but the final steps are done after the piano is where it's going to be.
I went from a 100 yr old upright to this piano. It was like moving from a Yugo to a Lamborghini. Step on the gas on this thing and it goes, back off and it comes down quick. It is extremely expressive. --As I played Chopin Waltzes, it almost seemed as if the piano was playing itself. It let me do things I could never do on an instrument not of this quality.
When the una corda is set correctly, the tone is bell-like, angelic--a timbre shift without loss of power, or I can put the pedal all the way down and go for a true una corda--keeping the strings in the groves, but playing only two instead of three.
My technician loves to work on it because of how it responds. I drive him crazy though, because I listen and will say, "no," that's not quite right. He'll say it sounds okay to him, but let him check with his electronic tuning instrument and sure enough, I'm right.
We usually set a two octave temperment, with nearly a 1/2 step stretch in the last few notes of the top and bottom. A "concert stretch" tuning gives the piano the dazzle you hear from good instruments in recital or recordings. The tuning is not the same as a "regular" tuning. Tuners who do concert/performance pianos know what I'm talking about.
The problem with having such a sensitive piano is just breathing on a string will send it out of tune--of course, it comes back right away, but it is that sensitive.
It has duplex tuning in the treble that is adjustable. Most pianos with aloquats, have them fixed. With the Estonia, the aloquates are movable, so you can do different things to the duplex tuning.
This piano has increased in value. It is worth about $20,000 more from 2 1/2 years ago, when I bought it. It is hand made--somewhere around 450/year. The factory is some 40 miles south of Helsinki.
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regarding double strikes.
--they go with the territory.
The faster you play, the more you ask from the piano. from ppp to fff, the closer the hammers have to be to the strings. This means double strikes are inevitable.
The choice has to be made between speed or the probability of double strikes.
If you listen to recordings of great pianists, you can hear double strikes. Glenn Gould had almost no distance between the hammers and strings. His recordings are full of double strikes.
Once you decide what you want---speed & double strikes or slower and no double strikes (I go for the dbl strks), its a matter of learning the piano and working with it.
You can tell where there are likely to be double strikes and make accommodations to limit them. So, dbl strikes are not necessarily bad, especially when you are playing very fast, at p or pp, ppp.
A fine regulation, attempts to get the most from the piano that is possible. The best hammer sound on all dynamics. Playing ppp is dangerous, because all pianos have a point where the jack will not escape, if played too lightly. This is the catastrophic failure point. You have to know your piano, to know where that is and how softly you can play. But you should (on a good piano) be able to go from ppp to fff to ppp in three notes.
So, Estonia = Hamburg Steinway at less than half the price.
Bob
Topic: What piano do you have?