Showing posts with label tone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tone. Show all posts

Saturday 30 August 2014

New Pianos

Surely, buying a new piano should to be straightforward enough, shouldn't it? As there are not so many piano shops around, if you wish to compare prices or try pianos in more than one shop, your hunt for a new piano will mean a good deal of travelling.

A piano can seem perfect in the shop, but at home in your music room, the sound hardens into a strident, in-your-face tone which is difficult to control and hard on the ears. Second thoughts, regret and disappointment are not easy to overcome when you have bought an expensive piano. Surely a piano costing so much should be satisfactory from Day One!  

It is not uncommon, as a technician, to be called in to deal with a brand new, expensive and newly-delivered piano that is terribly out of tune and/or the action is very heavy and difficult to play. Promises that the action would loosen up or the tone would mellow after being played for a while, prove to be disappointingly empty. The owner is very unhappy - and understandibly cross that there is a problem at all!

These issues can all be sorted but not in about 10 minutes. It is not rare to find a brand new piano which is so heavy to play the action needs re-centring. Frequently one finds keys that are sluggish, hammer-felts that are as hard as nails, notes going wildly out of tune or pedals that squeak every time they are pressed down. 

I have a great deal of sympathy for New-Piano-Buyers who feel so let down by their new piano. Piano brochures - without exception, make bold claims about the quality and care of manufacture. But sadly, too often, modern pianos never quite live up to expectations. 

In an ideal world, all pianos would be ready and 'match fit' long before it is delivered to the home of an excited pianist who has invested their hard-earned money in their dream piano. 

Perhaps 50 - 60% of new piano owners would say they are totally satisfied with their purchase. Possibly, the tuner/technician's satisfaction rate would be rather less, but the reality is that if brochures were written by the purchaser there would be less use of extravagant superlatives to describe the piano. 

Buyers should insist on standards that match the price they pay for a piano. One expects the quality of a cheap piano to match its low price. Equally, the quality of an expensive piano ought to be at least as high as the price - certainly, no lower!


Tuner's Journal

©
Pianology

Friday 22 August 2014

Bluthner Pianos

At Leipzig, in 1853 Julius Bluthner began making pianos. The qualities of Bluthner Pianos soon won them recognition among the great names of the piano trade and among the Royal Courts of numerous countries - Queen Victoria, the Russian Tsar and many others owned Bluthner Pianos!

Julius Bluthner worked hard at creating a network of international contacts to ensure he could establish a truly global demand for his pianos. Here in the UK, Whelpdale, Maxwell & Codd was founded in 1876 - purely to import Bluthner Pianos.
After surviving the First World War, and then the Great Depression, the business suffered a severe blow when, during the Second World War, their factory was bombed in an air raid in 1943. The difficult, East German politics of the time meant recovery was very slow. However, production of Bluthner Pianos began once more in 1948.

The firm was nationalised in the 1970s but in 1990, the business was given back to the Bluthner family.

People still talk about the ‘Bluthner’ tone! The beauty of a good piano is found in its tone - Somehow, the Bluthner pianos, more often than not, seemed to get it right! Solidly built to last, many Bluthner pianos, 100 years old or more, are still being used and often still sounding as clear and pure as ever. People love them!

For a while Bluthners used their own Patent Action - vastly different from what has become the standard ‘roller’ action. These patent actions used a slightly shallower touch, but when working properly are, even now, a delight to play! 

Another notable innovation was the ‘Aliquot’ system: a 4th string was given to the upper two thirds of the treble strings. This 4th string was not struck by the hammer but was left to pick up the vibrations of the notes ‘sympathetically’ - the result was a very subtle extra layer of harmonic overtones. Quality has a voice of its own! In a Bluthner Piano, this voice is always in good form!


©   

   

Thursday 26 December 2013

Grotrian Pianos - A short History

Grotrian Pianos deserver their place among the very best piano makers in the world. Since 1866, with a simple 'love of music' as their guiding principle, the family-owned Grotrian piano company has navigated the stormy seas of history and, with a dogged commitment to sheer craftsmanship, they have faced and overcome the challenges of industrial and economic change.

Fredrich Grotrian was born in Braunschweig in 1803 and in 1830 left Germany to establish a music business in Moscow. Maintaining close relationships with many pianists, he sought to understand what pianists look for in a piano. This knowledge was invaluable when he came to be building his own pianos. On his return to Germany1858, Fredrich became partner of a piano factory.  

In 1866, Wilhelm Grotrian became the sole proprietor of the factory and was able to develop his pianos with no outside or conflicting interests. In 1895, his sons Willi and Kurt became partners. To impart his straightforward purpose in making pianos, Wilhem said to his sons, "Lads, build good pianos and the rest will take care of itself." 

Willi and Kurt were sent on an international journey to gain experience in piano building, learning as they went what it meant to 'build good pianos!' They combined the best of their newly acquired knowledge with the craftsmanship inherent in Germany and soon established a golden reputation for quality and tone. 

The Grotrian piano factory was completely destroyed in the Second World War, but thanks to the perseverance and courage of Helmut and Erwin Grotrian, the sons of Kurt Grotrian, production was restored very soon after the war.

In 1974, a new factory was built iin 'Grotrian Street' in Braunschweig.


Directory of Piano Makers

©

Sunday 22 December 2013

Looking for A Suitable Piano?

If a student shows promise at playing the piano, ensuring this emerging talent has room to grow and that the motivation to progress is properly encouraged, discussions about suitable pianos are very much part of the zone. A starter piano is just that: it will get a young player started. A keen and talented student who has to work with a 'starter piano' will constantly be fighting frustration and discouragement as they try play 'with feeling' a piano that has as much delicacy as a bulldozer!

Piano Exams mark the student's progress through to competent musicianship. The higher grades, obviously demand greater ability than the lower grades but there is a corresponding suitability gap between a piano that is just good enough for the elementary grades and one that is built to handle for the more advanced grades.

The world of pianos is thick with variations on a theme of good and bad: good tone, bad action; good action, bad tone; light touch; heavy touch; responsive; unresponsive; bright tone; mellow tone; brand new; worn out; playable; unplayable! The list is endless. No sane person would ever try to document every aspect of every piano ever made. However, in a subtle and informal way, the pianos we encounter help us to make judgements and form preferences that reflect our tastes and style of playing.

There is no list of pianos that could be the definitive guide to suitable pianos. Guidelines and statistics are all a list can offer. Due to the nature of pianos no two of them are alike. Even statistical facts are no proof or guarantee of satisfaction or suitability. Any tuner will have met with many good people who's piano purchases have gone wrong... 'but we were told it was in good working order!'

Choosing a suitable piano will always come down to the best value-for-money piano on offer. Get as much advice as you can find. Talk to your tuner. Pin-point as clearly as you can what you are looking for in a piano, e.g. tone, responsiveness of action, casework etc. Happy hunting!

The Piano World

©
Pianology