Nicest Piano you have ever played on?

[Ed Thomas]

Mason and Hamlin.  Never met one yet that I didn't like at least a litte bit... and sometimes... oh, my!

[aki]

Next week, my sister gets to play at some concert, and the piano is going to be a Steinway 9ft, yes a STEINWAY 9 ft grand piano...  The amazing thing is that she doesn't even seem all that excited.. and I'm dying to play on one.

[Babcock]

Actually,  a Steinway D is not 9 feet long --- it's 8 feet, 11 3/4 inches long.  Steinway has never advertised that they have  a 9 foot piano.  My own D is one of the nicest on which I've played,  but there have been many fine pianos, too many to choose one in particular.  Pianos, like people, have their strengths and their weaknesses.

[LJC]

Aki, There are lots of model D's around. I'm sure you can find one to try. I've noticed several people have commented about owning one privately. Unless you live in a place thats really remote there should be on nearby. Where do you live?

[J E Brewer]

Hello,

I am new here but after seeing this topic I felt compelled to respond. The absolute best piano I have ever played on is a new Mason & Hamlin Model BB (7'). The tone, touch, and power was simply extraordinary. If I had to make a quick decision and purchase one piano immediately this would be the one. Truely impressive I must say.

I have never played on a Bosendorfer Imperial Grand, although I would love to do so. It has a full 97 keys, 9 more than a traditional keyboard. By the way, the extra keys were originally added at the request of the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni, who was transcribing Bach's Passacaglia in C minor and found the he needed the bottom C. The addition makes the compass of the piano CCC - c5.

J. E. Brewer

[chickering9]

Being Australian, have you ever played a Stuart & Sons piano?  The 2.9 meter model is supposedly significantly better than the Bosendorfer Imperial.  There are almost none outside Australia, apparently.  Maybe you could locate one, give it a try, and report back.  I'd love to get a first-hand account of this piano.

I'm intrigued by this piano myself.  I've heard a Stuart used for jazz recordings and classical recordings.  The jazz recordings most seduced me.  I understand the 2.9 M goes for around $250K.      I've played some fine pianos, but I'm happiest with my old Chickering concert grand.  I've truly enjoyed an old Knabe concert grand and a late 19th century Boesendorfer 7-footer.  I loved the fleet of Steinway L's in college (they were new and well-maintained).  Beautiful tone can come in unexpected places.  One such was a massive old 1896 Kimball upright.  Action pretty much shot, but
gorgeous tone.  The larger Stuart, Steingraeber and Fazioli are on my list that I hope to someday find and play.

[valen1]

Stainway and Sons I want to say 5' 11". I play it every Friday at my lessons. The touch is out of this world. The bass could be stronger. My Chickering (6" 5') HAS A
BOOMING BASS SECTION. Well I guess it's a toss up between the two.

[alice oliver]

i shopped intensively for a piano for two years before buying my grotrian grand.  and for the past three years i've continued to play many different makes of pianos in many different venues.

i think there are two categories to this question.  one is, what is the piano that you would want to take home to be your own, more than any other?  and then there is which piano impressed you the most.  there are a lot of very impressive pianos that i would not personally want to own, but still they are very inspiring.

when all is said and done, my grotrian is the best piano i have ever played.  but it sounds and plays differently on different days, depending on the humidity and how in or out of tune the unisons are.  it has had days when i wanted to prostrate myself on the floor before it in gratitude and amazement that i was its custodian.  it has had other days when i could not stand it and had to keep the lid down and covered with a blanket to finish my practicing.

how any piano sounds changes from day to day. and the kind of tuning it has has a big impact, too.

now having said that my grotrian remains my personal favorite as the nicest, there have been other pianos that also moved me very deeply and that i would also consider owning:

the charles walter 6' grand
a shigeru kawai concert grand
a vintage pleyel grand
a petrof 131 upright
a vintage bechstein upright
a vintage and rebuilt steinway AIII
a limited edition 150th anniversary new york steinway B (i think they only made 300 of these, i just played it at steinway hall.  why they don't make all their pianos to this standard i will never understand.)

then there are other pianos that are very nice, but i wouldn't particularly wish to own.


a hamburg steinway D that was voiced to be warmer than usual
a steinway L with hamburg hammers and action and a new york belly.
august forsters are very nice
sauter omega is very nice and quite beautiful as a piece of furniture

i like a warm, powerful, dark, rich, yet clear tone.  rounded and "creamy" as one tech i know calls it.  that describes the grotrian.  it's a very difficult sound to produce on a piano.

[Nina_too]

The best piano I've ever played was a rebuilt Seiler approx. 6-footer of early World War II vintage.  It had a beautiful, tight ringing quality to it that I found unusual and very lovely, particularly for a home.

The best piano I've ever heard is a Boesendorfer 290 here in town, which I will get a chance to play on in a few weeks, I think.  So perhaps I'll need to change my answer after that!

[ivoryplayer4him]

Hey just to update everyone lol  I'm about to play on a $100,000 bosendorfer (Spelling?)  but id otn know what model or anything.  I know its gold.  thats about it.  Its at the university and i'll be playing on it in December so i'll let y'all know just as soon as i find out.

Just for a little update, I played that recital iwas talking about here and omgosh the piano was excellent.  Though i was a little disappointed in the quality of the acoustics   The floor that the piano sat on sucked as well, but the piano its self was great.  And its not gold, i dont know where in the crap i came up with that one lol its Black and still great.  It has 8 extra keys on the bass

[amanfang]

My favorite to play on is our Bosendorfer Imperial grand at school (University) in the concert hall.  It has such a rich sound!

[ivoryplayer4him]

My favorite to play on is our Bosendorfer Imperial grand at school (University) in the concert hall.  It has such a rich sound!

What university if you dont mind me asking you.

[noelle]

I watched my friend play on a Fazioli in London.  It wasn't her piano, and she got yelled at ...

But the nicest thing I've played on is a Steinway Grand.  I don't remember what model it was.
I've tried a few pianos that still have ivory keys, but they weren't exactly ... good pianos.

As a cellist, too, I've played my teacher's $20,000 (US) antique French cello.  It was so amazing.

[ivoryplayer4him]

I watched my friend play on a Fazioli in London.  It wasn't her piano, and she got yelled at ...

But the nicest thing I've played on is a Steinway Grand.  I don't remember what model it was.
I've tried a few pianos that still have ivory keys, but they weren't exactly ... good pianos.

As a cellist, too, I've played my teacher's $20,000 (US) antique French cello.  It was so amazing.

I have never played on a Steinway.  I hope too someday soon

[xvimbi]

I have never played on a Steinway.  I hope too someday soon

The simplest way to get to know a wide range of instruments is to go to a store when you have the chance. They usually let people play on any piano they have, particularly if people pretend that they are in the market for an instrument. You'd be amazed how much you can learn about all kinds of pianos (one has to learn to subtract sales-pitch though). And you will also find that Steinway is by far not the pinnacle of all pianos and that there are a lot of manufacturers out there that make pianos that are at least as "good".

[olivarius]

The simplest way to get to know a wide range of instruments is to go to a store when you have the chance. They usually let people play on any piano they have, particularly if people pretend that they are in the market for an instrument.

hehe, that's right; 
 always take care when choosing you cloths to go to a piano store;
 they'll respect you a lot and will even make the door open for you and treat you like a king  if you say your have a great interest in steinways

[Rich D.]

I've been lucky enough to play on a number of high quality grands over the years, all of which I would love to have.  A few 7 footers that have really stood out for me in no particular order have been the Steingraeber  6'9"(best action in the business with a tone somewhere between a NY and Hamburg Steinway), Grotrian 7'5"(lyrical warm tone, powerful), Mason Hamlin BB (oh what a bass!) and a Hamburg Steinway.   One surprising 6 foot rebuilt piano that really impressed me was a 6 foot something Lester (originally made out of Philly).  Of course the reason for this was that the piano was rebuilt by a top notch rebuilder as his own instrument which only goes to show how critical it is to have a great piano tech rebuild and maintain your instrument.

[Alde]

New York Steinway D rules!