Quality in Pianos

[Low Sye Yuan]

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Both Steinway and Bosendorfer GRANDS deserve top honours for their =
consistency in quality and excellent product image. However, I have to =
say that Yamaha has never attained the level of Germany made piano. =
Thus,I am somehow puzzled as to why Yamaha and Kawai are perceived as =
equivalents to Steinway and Bose. in the States. Because here in Asia, =
they are, generally speaking, treated as beginner-class pianos. This =
might be due to the way Yamaha and Kawai exports its products; as the =
Asian market receives Yamahas with parts gathered from Indonesia and =
later assembled elsewhere. This caused the general public over here to =
discount Yamaha a little.  Only the 100% made in Japan Yamahas deserve =
top scores for their quality, though they still are far behind the =
Germany made ones, in terms of 'perceived quality' and brand image.
I would however, rank Yamaha(100% Japan made) together with Schimmel and =
place it above the other Eastern European mades without hesitation. I'm =
kinda surprised as to the inclusion of August Forester into your third =
class. Most techs and non-techs alike have praised Forester for its =
unique tone and strong construction. Even Larry Fine in his book refers =
to it as a high quality piano. Personally, I would rate it in the same =
category as Steingraeber & Sohns, Feurich and one level above Seiler and =
Sauter.
The pianos that I am refering to above are all grands. For uprights, I =
am really impressed with Sauter and maybe Bluthner. The reason why I do =
not endorse Bechstein, Bosendorfer and Steinway uprights, is because of =
the way they themselves advertise their pianos. By strongly promoting on =
their grands, they are in fact telling the consumers that,' We make 1st =
class grands, buy our uprights if you don't have the money' I mean they =
are in fact degrading their uprights, which is why all of the techs. =
here say to buy a Steinway( or Bechstein or Bose) upright is one's =
greatest folly.=20
Richard, have you encountered any problem with the regulation and =
maintainance of the R2 mechanism as some of our friends on this list =
have?=20
Any comments on the quality of the various germany made uprights is =
greatly appreciated?

..Zeng
  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Richard Brekne=20
  To: PTG=20
  Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 4:49 PM
  Subject: Quality in Pianos


  List=20
  Ok.. the recent two threads on advice about buying a piano has left me =
a big paffed about the seeming equality in how many techs range pianos =
in terms of quality, sound, and durability.=20

  I personally operate with 4 "classes" of pianos. I arrive at this from =
an admitedly somewhat subjective evaluation process, yet I strive to =
include as much objectivity as my humanity allows for. Evaluation of =
sound is of course  tough, at least above a certain level of quality. =
Things like tuning stability and action quality are much easier to =
observe, as is basic construction. How a piano holds up over time (both =
with and without proper sevice) is also something rather easy to observe =
over time.=20

  In that light I find that I would place three pianos without any =
further consideration in the top class. Both Steinways, and the =
Bosendorfer. I would be tempted to place Bechstein in this class as =
well, but something holds me back just a bit.=20

  The second class I place pianos like Bechstein, Yamaha, Bluther, =
Boston, Grotrian, Sauter, Schimmel, Seiler, Baldwins and a few others. =
Pretty much in that order as well. These are all good pianos, well made =
in most regards and will hold up well over time. But all lack something =
or another (some more then others) to allow me to put them in the same =
class as the three mentioned above. The Bechstein, Yamaha and Bluthner =
come closest tho.. especially the Bechstein.=20

  In the third class, which is where I personally draw the line for =
minimal quality that should be allowed, I place pianos like Samick, =
Young Chang, Petrof, August Forster, some of the cheaper Yamahas and =
Kawaiis (I see some CX5's over here) and  several others. Typical for =
all of these are that they have lots of assorted problems that irritate =
the patooties out of me. They all have their ways of cutting corners or =
choosing where to do shoddy work and they all have their strengths. =
Petrof is perhaps my favorite amoung these because of a rather pleasing =
general sound picture, and because of the fact that one can really =
accomplish alot by ripping apart the action and putting it back =
together. (Almost any competent tech can make a bit improvement on =
Petrofs by doing this) I dont like the bass strings on Petrofs, but =
those can be changed. Worse is all the false beats in the treble and the =
all to often lousey pinblock work found in these instruments. Samicks =
are also a piano I recomend often in this class. Pretty solid, really =
clean sound, nice scale and good bass strings. Pretty stable. In fact I =
would be tempted to place them lowest in class two had it not been for =
an observation about what happens to these over time. I find time and =
time again 12 - 15 year old Samicks that have just gone dead sound wise. =
I am not sure why this happens as it probably has to do with soundboard =
concerns that are outside my scope of knowledge. They just develop this =
"thuddy" quality over the whole piano. Not all of them mind you.. just =
enough of them that I cant get myself to range them better then class 3. =


  Then there are the non piano pianos. Class 4 I do not recommend to =
anyone, advise against, and personally would like to see forbidden. =
These are pianos that come out of the factory with so many serious flaws =
that I cant for the life of me understand how anyone who knows anything =
about pianos can in good concious accept them as viable instruments in =
any sense of the word. These are pianos that come with really loose =
tuning pins, actions that are falling apart, soundboards that crack and =
pull away from ribs and rims before they get to the store, pinblocks =
that delaminate or have horrible workmanship with regard to =
installation, etc., etc., etc., ad absurdum. You know the lot and I wont =
mention any of them. These kinds of "pianos" are clearly substandard and =
represent pretty blatant fraud to my mind of thinking.=20

  I would be interested in hearing how other techs roughly classify =
pianos. I was, mildly said, supprised to see the assistant director of =
the PTG annual convention seemingly throw Steinways and Young Changs in =
the same "box" as being... "acceptable".=20

      "All of the brands that have been mentioned are quite=20
      reputable as are such names as Seiler, Schimmel, Baldwin, Young =
Chang, etc."=20

  I am reasonably sure he didnt mean to say the Young Chang is just as =
fine an instrument as Steinway, tho it could easily be misread to that =
affect.=20

  --=20
  Richard Brekne=20
  Associate PTG, N.P.T.F.=20
  Bergen, Norway=20
   =20


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