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I play on a Baldwin 7 foot at my home in St. Louis, and a Schimmel 6 foot at my home in Los Angeles!
The Baldwin has a pretty rich sound, the Schimmel is definitely brighter!! But both feel great, particularly the weight of the Schimmel's keys!
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Dominic Cheli We have a 1965 6'3" Baldwin L, a 2004 Schultze-Pollmann 126 Professional upright with Renner action (while they were still made in Italy from the ground up - still have the technicians final inspection book), and a Yamaha CSP 150 (For quiet practice and digital fun with studio kids).
When choosing the Baldwin Grand in 2015, I had the opportunity to get a pristine SF-10, but I was worried it would drown out my house and make my neighbors hate me. HOWEVER, hindsight, while the L is righteous and I love it, it does not have Renner Action like the 7 foot. My upright does, and other than the slower repeat, the upright's touch definitely rivals the Baldwin. Jason, as you know my other half is a professional pianist, pushed me to the 7 ft, but honestly, the cost difference and my concerns about the size/volume concerned me, regrettably, but not too much!!
Tone? I have the best of all worlds. I have the American big bass sound on the Baldwin with the light bright treble in the upper register. But the European tone of my SP is amazing and I love it. It is the piano that carried me through undergrad. I was tempted to sell it, but the name is not well-known unless you are really into pianos. When I bought it, back in Virginia, I had come down to a Petrof and the SP. I chose the SP because the tone and the hand inlaid art case. It is simply stunning!! In fact one of my professors from university has a similar year and styling that he got second hand for his daughter a few years ago, and paid about what I paid for it new. So they do hold value - if you know about them. For now, I hold on to it, because I have the room. But one day, I may sell it. The Clavinova was a Pandemic purchase... to appease my now moved out adult son, so that our late night practice didn't bother him. I have to admit, the binaural sound through headphones is AMAZING!
What gets the most play time? The Baldwin, hands down. I am blessed to have three. It is also nice to show my students' parents the variety of pianos, talk about the pros and cons. Most are steering away from cheap digital pianos, going for better ones or at least decent acoustic uprights.
Jason says the Baldwin rivals most any Steinway he has played, the only notable piano that stands out ahead of it is the Baldwin SD that he plays at a Monastery when he visits his family in North Dakota...
I do get to play on a Schimmel and a B at my teacher's loft. He just acquired a B and it is very stiff right now (newly rebuilt) but it should break in nicely. The tone is INCREDIBLE - of course. But I do love the feel of his Schimmel. OF course, my second choice in buying in 2015 was a nice sohimmel, but it was in the 5-6 ft range, and I wanted at least 6 feet.I am very blessed! Especially coming from a Kimball Spinet when I first learned in the 70s and 80s back in Buffalo, NY that I bought with my first communion money! :-)
Thank you for reading!
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Denise What a lovely studio. I dream achieved something relate of that richness of instruments. My best regards.
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Denise I very much like the older Baldwin Grands. My friend has a model R (I think) he recently restrung it and it sound amazing.
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- pianist, musical director, vocal coach...
Hello Dominic!
I play an upright Baldwin at home in mexico city... couldnt afford a 6 nor a 7 foot... but the upright is good for prácticing I guess...
- pianist, musical director, vocal coach...
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I have a 2003 steinway B and a Yamaha p80 digital piano. I absolutely love the sound of the steinway but my family loves the digital piano much more when it is plugged into the headphones.
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I'm a multikeyboardist/multi-instrumentalist, and I play on electronic keys mostly. My piano-style keyboard is a Korg Krome EX 88. It has piano-style keys, weighted action that feels very good, and the sampled pianos in its tonebank are remarkable. I usually practice my piano technique and repertoire on the EX Grand setting. But it can really be interesting to dial up some of the older instrument tones to play period pieces.
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(Thurmond's Mom here) We were able to purchase a year 2000 Petrof Model IV (5'8") for Thurmond in January. It was a big step up from the Casio keyboard he learned on for his first 2 years of piano lessons. It has a beautiful warm sound and is definitely an instrument he can grow with as he advances in his playing.
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I have a 7’ 5” Kawai I’ve been playing on for the past 24 years. Heavy action, but a good sound. I had the action redone about 10 years ago with new hammers, and it’s lighter than it was, but still on the heavy side. I have noticed I can more easily play fast tempos on some other pianos.
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I play on my 5 foot 6 inch Estonia. The sound is incredible! I absolutely love the sound. It makes my practice and performance a memorable experience!
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Darrell I’ve never met an Estonia piano I didn’t like.
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Darrell I have an Estonia as well. I love it. I just had it regulated and voiced after 10 years and WOW I fell in love with it all over again.
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Steve Coffey So exciting to hear that! The Estonia soundboards have such deep, rich tones and sustain. I hear sweet layers of sound unlike many other pianos I've tried.
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I play a 2020 Kawai GL 50. I think it's 6foot 2 inches. It is a bit large for my space, but it does play well. My technician has gotten the action pretty good and I only struggle with humidity levels in Colorado. It's generally dry here but my house gets a bit humid sometimes. Kawai has a good sound, but I've always dreamed of having a Steinway or even a small Bosendorfer. In time, maybe I will. I've heard good things about Schimmel as well. I've noticed Dominic's piano and it looks and sounds wonderful.
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I play a 1917 Steinway B, full restored in 2000 using all Steinway parts. The bass is sonorous and the treble is sweet, but the action is lacking. I can play fast passages more easily on my Steingraeber upright. It is time for another rebuild and this time I will get the modern WNG action for my B. The Steingraeber is amazing for an upright, and entirely satisfactory
as a practice piano in my second home. These are hard to find in the US.
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Jenny Harrison Ahh, at last, a pianist who knows and loves Steingraeber! I love my A-172 grand which I discovered in Montreal, and fits snugly in our dining room/living room. Yes, music is more important than food (the table got shoved over), and for sure, more important than a luxury car. Steingraeber in Germany invited me to their Wagner festival where Martha Argerich and friends were to perform. Unfortunately that was in 2020 and we had to cancel.
The Steingraeber’s been fitted with the adsilent silent system so I have the advantages of a digital piano as well (the cats appreciate this).
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Jenny Harrison you should be able to correct your action problems with a really good regulation. I would try that first before rebuilding. Touch weight ratio (down weight vs. up weight) and key dip adjustments can make a piano easier to control. Older Steinways that have been rebuilt seem to be all over the map in these areas, probably because parts and hammers today are different from the originals. Hammers especially were lighter then. But a skillful rebalancing can fix it. I learned these things from doing a lot of reading and spending a lot of time on the PTG newsgroup.
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I own an Essenfelder of the year 1959. I buy him in 2020. I didn't have the money to make a complete change of the mechanics, but is much better than play with a P-95 of Yamaha who stay with me for nearly 10 years. I hope I can buy a brand new grand piano someday. For now, I need to do the best I can do with the one I have.
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Just got a brand new Schimmel W114 upright today. Honestly I fell in love with the keys/actions of Schimmel pianos many years ago, as well as the wonderful sound. Perfect lightweight keys. The upper specter’s truly something special, almost like that of a grand isn’t it? Quit an upgraded from the 100 year old upright I used to play.
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I play a wonderful 7 foot Seiler at home.
live her so much!
Kim in Taos NM -
I wish I had a real piano... I have a Roland FP-10, the mechanics is very good for beginners like me. Works better with some good VST and a good In-ear monitor or headphone to perceive a better dinamic in playing and better acoustic simulation.
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Cláudio Rodrigues my journey back to play started with a digital. Nothing wrong with Roland!
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I play a lovingly restored c.1885 7.5ft Bechstein. Not as powerful as a Steinway, but played softly...incomparable. The only downside is that like most of the Bechsteins, it has no sostenuto pedal. Debussy sounds great on it, but it's beyond my technique to get the clarity that middle pedal allows.
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Brian Buchbinder Debussy's piano didn't have a sostenuto pedal either.
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Yamaha U 1,
