Piano Manufacturers and Brands: A discussion!

Allen Levine My favorite Steinway I have played was a B. 

Allen Levine The B was the second result of a massive redesign of Steinway grands by Theodore Steinway and his congenial partner. In 1885 the former 208cm was given an extra 3cm and a completely new scaling design that essentially still is in production today, except for the missing 3 keys that were introduced in 1892.

The first in line of this complete model overhaul was the D in 1884 that had no real predecessor, since both the style/model III and the Centennial concert grands were based on a different design concept.

The Bs from 1885 on followed the scaling design concept of the first 'real' Ds.

Karen Sam Steingraeber makes interesting pianos. Which model is your favorite?

Maria F  No particular model. Even the uprights are beautiful.

Karen Sam They have over 100 wood choices. 

https://www.steingraeber.de/en/instrumente/custom-pianos/

Have you listened to Guillaume Coppola's album Satie Amoureux? It was recorded on a Steingraeber. 

Maria F 😳 Wonder how much difference it makes to the sound.

Karen Sam I don't think it makes a difference. Seiler makes a slate piano, which I imagine sounds different. Bösendorfer, Steinway, Fazioli, and Schimmel also have "precious woods."

Maria F No. Thanks for the info.

Maria F Then I’d be most happy with the least expensive wood.

Karen I think the default is polished black. They offer polished, satin, and oiled finishes. 

I have a polished black and rosewood Seiler 132 with Super Magnetic Repetition. Steingraeber uprights have something similar to SMR.

Maria F How much faster is the repetition? 

Karen I did a side-by-side comparison with a Bösendorfer 225, a Yamaha YUS5, and a Steinway D and there was not a significant difference in speed. The Yamaha was slowest, followed by the Steinway. I can play Erlkönig at full speed, which I think is 14 notes per second.

Vanessa Ellermann S7 is my favorite Yamaha model. I played a YUS5 without the silent system once.

Vanessa Ellermann Vanessa, which headphones are you using?

Vanessa Ellermann The YUS5 is a quite a beautiful upright! I had one for three years until recently. I didn't have the silent system though but I know they are quite popular.

Dustin Anderson Vanessa Ellermann

I own a Yamaha DYUS5, which is the Disklavier version of the Yamaha YUS5 acoustic piano. It will record and play back acoustically. You can also play commercial recordings. 

My joke is that the piano plays better than I do.

I think this piano sounds great because it has German Röslau strings and Wurzen felts.

I wish more people would record for the Disklavier.

I have the silent feature but much prefer playing out loud. I tried four different VSTs along with the RME Babyface Pro FS headphone amp and the Sennheiser 660 S headphones. 
 

Larry K It is indeed a beautiful upright piano that really plays well and has an impressive sound. I absolutely loved it while I had it. The actual sostenuto pedal was an added bonus (I don't often use but I have never see a proper one on an upright).

The disklavier sounds fascinating from a technology point of view - I have read about it but I have yet to see it in action in person.

Dustin Anderson Thanks Dustin. It’s basically a modern player piano. Frederic Chiu, who teaches piano at CMU, is a big supporter of the technology.

My piano does not have the sostenuto pedal. Instead, the middle pedal engages a stop bar which keeps the hammers from hitting the strings so that it plays silently.
 

It triggers digital samples through the headphone jack. There is also a connection box on the back with a USB to host which you can connect to a computer run a VST.

Still, I love acoustic playing the most.

 Seiler offers many wood/finish/material options, including slate veneer (shown on the 116 Modern model).

https://www.seiler-pianos.de/seiler-pianos