What You Think of these Instruments?

[starstruck5]

I am so impressed with some recent Chris Venables informative posts - that I looked him up on YouTube!

I found a demo of this this upright
 Sounds really good -

Then a Baby Grand which was also impressive to my ears.

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I am no relation to Chris!  He just deserves a bit of promotion !

[jimbo320]

It's hard to explain but I can hear the difference in the two. I prefer the deep rich sound of the longer strings of the grand. I play mostly DP's but every now and then my friend allows me to play on her C7 and I love it...

[pianoplayjl]

I'm more accustomed to upright pianos probably because the touch is lighter than Baby grands. I rarely play on grand pianos probably because my school does not have one, even though it can afford more than a few. However every now and then in exams I play on grands. My sister usually practices on a grand piano at school. I think their grand pianos are c5, I think.

[starstruck5]

I'm more accustomed to upright pianos probably because the touch is lighter than Baby grands. I rarely play on grand pianos probably because my school does not have one, even though it can afford more than a few. However every now and then in exams I play on grands. My sister usually practices on a grand piano at school. I think their grand pianos are c5, I think.

I played a Steinway Grand  when I was a part time student at a college - it was absolutely amazing - I hated leaving it!  In those days I had a Welmar upright at home - which was very loud!  I never have played a Yamaha grand sadly - who knows, I will buy one if I win the lottery!

[keys60]

Oy. If I Childrens Corner one more time........ Forgive me. My daughter practiced it everyday for months for a recital and......well..........great piece though.
That piano was a good match for that piece. It seemed to have a mellow, kind of waxy tone to it. Good for the Debussy. Can't say I'd love it for most of my playing. I like a more "stringy" sound. Even say...after the bi and trichords start to get a half beat in them, it sort of fattens up the tone.
That is why I love all pianos. There's always that one piece that will do any piano justice. Sure wish I had a bigger house.

[pianoplayjl]

I played a Steinway Grand  when I was a part time student at a college - it was absolutely amazing - I hated leaving it!  In those days I had a Welmar upright at home - which was very loud!  I never have played a Yamaha grand sadly - who knows, I will buy one if I win the lottery!

I've never even seen a real steinway Grand up close. YOu should buy a Yamaha baby grand-I think it is alright. My friend had one and I played on it. The tone was beautiful. No point in buying a concert grand.

[willvenables]

I am so impressed with some recent Chris Venables informative posts - that I looked him up on YouTube!

I found a demo of this this upright
 Sounds really good -

Then a Baby Grand which was also impressive to my ears.

&feature=related

I am no relation to Chris!  He just deserves a bit of promotion !

Starstruck5 - that is very kind...

The grand is our own series Custom-200 6'5". The upright is a Brodmann PE130 130cm tall upright.

In our Venables & Son series, we have 5' (152cm) Studio-152 baby grand, 5'6" (168cm) Academy-168 grand, 5'11" (180cm) Academy-180 grand and the above featured Custom-200 (200cm) chamber grand.

A baby grand is often compared with a big upright as they are usually close in price. Really, grand needs to be 5'8"+ to offer all the advantages of a grand without any compromise compared with a tall upright.

I'm more accustomed to upright pianos probably because the touch is lighter than Baby grands. I rarely play on grand pianos probably because my school does not have one, even though it can afford more than a few. However every now and then in exams I play on grands. My sister usually practices on a grand piano at school. I think their grand pianos are c5, I think.

Yamaha's baby grand 4'11" (149cm) model GB1K https://www.chrisvenables.co.uk/pianos/yamaha/yamaha-gb1k-gb1-grand-piano.htm actually has a lighter key weight than other Yamaha's. The shorter key length due to the piano's compact dimensions would result in a heavier initial feel as the playing surface is closer to the key's balance/pivot point. Yamaha counterweight this by adding weight to the front of the keys to help the key feel more smooth and have less initial weight.

Modern baby grands and grand pianos should all have a roller action which features a repetition lever. The let off/set off is a defined click feel in the key towards the end of the key's downward travel. On an upright, this is very smooth and hardly noticeable. So, an upright may have the same touch weight as a baby grand / grand, yet it will feel different.

We find there are generally 3 specific tonal characteristics that our customers like - each very different and purely a matter of personal preference: warm/dark/rounded; vibrant/attack/projective; colourful/clear/singing. In addition to this, there is always a preference to the amount of brilliance: mellow; neutral; bright - and this is adjusted on any piano by the process of voicing the piano hammers.

Vibrant and colourful characteristics are typically achieved through a piano having a overtones/upper partials. So, there are essentially layers of tones that make up the note you hear. Warm, pure and singing characteristics are achieved with a greater focus on fundamentals - the tone/note itself, rather than a blend of overtones/partials.

This is why we established our own series of piano so we could have, in addition to Yamaha and Brodmann, all 3 characteristics available within the Yamaha price range.