A piano in your home makes a quiet statement, but a grand piano is considered the ultimate in elegance. When given a choice between a grand piano and a vertical a musician will most likely select the grand piano. Why, you could ask may be the grand piano so much more desirable than the usual vertical piano. Herein we’ll cover some frequently asked questions that may help you decide on the proper piano for the purposes.
First all pianos are not created equal. A top quality vertical piano is better than a cheaply built grand piano. Grand pianos range in price from $4,995 upward to over $170,000. Why is the higher priced pianos better? Quality of materials, aging of woods and quality of craftsmanship to craft them. The additional time the manufacturer takes to create a piano and the better felt, leather and woods used will translate to a piano that is capable of projecting sound efficiently and also better tone.
A piano’s action (the mechanism that propels the hammers once the keys are struck) is quite intricate. The action has 1000s of parts, which are adjusted and created to very fine tolerances. One key that’s a slight variance in its action may cause that key to do differently, affecting the proficiency of ones touch and musical dynamics. Better felts will not wear as quickly as those in cheaply made felt/leather. Further, better quality woods utilized in the action will contract and expand causing alignment problems and again affecting one’s dynamic control.
Keys utilized in a piano must certanly be manufactured from quality wood, such as for instance spruce, basswood AND utilize key buttons, which helps give the key stability and prevents excessive wear.
Tuning stability is essential to the general tone of the piano. The pin block, the multi-laminate plank of wood where in actuality the tuning pins reside should be made out of premium woods so torque on the pins is sufficient to withstand the over 20 tons or string tension. Some pin blocks use a few, very thin laminates that are not going to hold as well as one that’s multiple laminates. Hard rock maple is probably the most accepted pin block by major manufacturers as you that may, over the long run maintain tight pins, helping to keep good tuning stability.
The soundboard may be the diagraph that, once the strings are stretched over the bridges oppose the strings tension, thereby amplifying the strings vibrations. jazz piano Top quality bridges and soundboards certainly are a must to again produce quality tone. Soundboards may be either laminated or solid. A Sitka spruce is regarded as being the very best wood for soundboards in pianos, guitars, violins and other acoustic instruments.
A solid soundboard is better than a laminated. Soundboard are manufactured with edge-glued planks of spruce wood to make a large diaphragm, and then cut to suit the piano’s perimeter. The solid soundboard is more flexible than that of a laminated board, (kind of such as for instance a sandwich of three pieces of spruce or other wood). The tone of a laminated board tends to really have a brittle sound whereas the solid board features a more responsive tone that is a great deal more pleasing.
A classic wives tale about cracked soundboards is merely that….a wives tale. A soundboard that’s a break, first in virtually all cases may be repaired, IF the tone is even affected by the crack. I’ve tuned numerous pianos giving no indication of a problem. Now, if the ribs, (on the backside of the soundboard which helps maintain the crown or just like a drum head) have separated from the soundboard, there might be a buzz, or weak tone. But again that is easily repaired. We repair soundboards/rib frequently. So, if a piano you are considering features a “bad soundboard” or perhaps a “cracked soundboard” let a qualified piano tuner-technician examine the piano for you. Chances are the piano is merely fine.
Another note about soundboards….a grand piano that is say 60-90 years old might have a soundboard that’s lost its crown. If the piano is just a quality piano, like a Steinway & Sons, Baldwin, Mason & Hamlin, Bosendorfer or other quality piano, it’s worth replacing the soundboard and restringing once the piano is being restored. A Steinway piano today that is rebuilt with a fresh soundboard may bring from $22,000-90,000 depending on the size of the piano.
So what type of piano should you get; a console, studio, spinet or grand piano? This will depend how it will soon be used. Will the piano be played in the home, at college, a church? Each application will place varying demands on the instrument. A piano that is made cheaply will not last nearly so long in a college because it will in a home. The size of the grand piano needs to be considered. The longer the piano, the more volume and better tone quality it will produce. A piano that is too small for a church will soon be beat to death in an attempt to bring out more volume for choral works, or when using a band. So along the piano, which provides larger soundboard area and longer strings will soon be best in those instances the place where a smaller one will soon be just fine for home or studio use.