I have never broken a string (or anything else) on a piano/grand for my entire life. But my son did break a string on one of my pianos when he was 2 years old. Not because he banged the key, rather that it would break anytime anyway. But I know I do not play hard and never bang the keys. Still, I have never felt a problem with playing any grand while some have been pretty heavy. Cannot produce the sound of Horowitz though .

How do you add weights? I've never heard of that. Is that a common practice? My Yamaha C2 grand has fairly stiff keys and I don't think my fingers could handle it if there were weights. And I would worry about the tendonitis in my wrists. But I am curious. If, as you say, it helped you to build finger strength, then it sounds like a good thing. I hope more people weigh in (pun intended) on this subject.

I too have never broken a string on a piano. I can't even imagine the force it would take to do that. And I wonder what happens when a string breaks. If your piano lid is open like mine is all the time, does the string shoot out the top?

Normal downweight is about 50 grams, measured on keytip with pushed sustain pedal. Difference between downweight and upweight should be as small as possible, about 20 grams.

If someone puts additional weights in the keys, regardless on which side, on can reduce or enlarge the downweight. Unfortunately, the more weight, the less responsive will be the key. That means, the key cannot move that fast anymore. That results in a tenacious key feeling.

If I would be used to play on such a heavy action, I would surely also have no worries with a heavy downweight on other pianos. But I would have trouble to play pianissimo. If I am used to push down 60 gram, that is another thing as beeing used to push down 50 gram!

I don't think it is a good idea to play all the time on heavier actions. It will ruin the soft touch, and a soft touch is much more difficult to reach than hard playing, just my opinion.

good one, i didntb relealze you actually "measured" the weights. regarless of thye weight i added. I was comparsion the "actuall touch" of mine vs 250000$ full size grand when I was able to access the Town halls Grand. You are right about the touch of PP or ppp. Thats the whole point--"control of your touch". But again, if you know how ultrlize your free "gravity playing". You actatually can sense the keys at slow playing.

Over doing the weights is BAD. I only add enoght weights that is just a friction heavier than the yamaha full size grand.

What is the difference between Steinway Hamburg and Steinway New York? I know that here in the states Steinway Hamburg are sought after and sell very quickly. How about overseas does the Steinway New York model sell quicker than the Hamburg?

I actually prefer Yamahas to Steinways. Im at a university that has many pianos, so I play on many types frequently. There are 2 Yamaha grands that are the most beautiful I have ever played. The steinway grand is nice, but I don't feel the same sense of perfect control over the dynamics when I play it. There are also 2 upright Yamaha's that are okay. One of them has the nicest touch I have seen. I played on a steinway grand at a recital once, but I felt that the dynamic range between the bass and treble was out of synch. The base notes were much, much louder than the high ones when applying the same amount of force.

For playing Chopin in a living room, Kawai is the best by far. They have a clear deep bass and a smooth, slightly silvery sound in the treble. Also, the dynamic minimum is the lowest possible (ppppp).

The dynamic maximum is ff, fff's sound harsh and dissident. (But in a living room, f is all that is needed)

The thing I like most about Kawais, besides their dynamic range, is their delicacy of touch. This lightness enables the pianist to create gently intertwining overtones and harmonies, without ever being aware that these sounds are from a mechanical device, you only hear the music. Chopin would love its nuances.





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Pete

Well, Steinway probably makes the very best concert grands in the world. From what I've heard though the reality is that when it comes to smaller instruments they really aren't that much better. So yea, in the realm of the mighty 9 foot concert grands steinway is king, but there are a great many other piano manufacturers who make fine instruments as well. My own Seiler is a spectacular piano, and I'd take it over my dad's 9 foot Steinway D any day (well, most days). At the university's faculty of music here that I attend they have a great many Yamahas and I like them as well. They have a Yamaha concert grand that is great to play on. They also have some Kawai grands that are good too. Today I played on two different Yamaha grands and they sounded nothing alike, though I'm not sure if they were the exact same model, and the one did seem like it was a fair bit older than the other.

So yea, I think there's probably not going to be much argument over Steinway having the best concert grands, but not every piano with Steinway on it is necassarily better. Bottom line is you should find an intrument that suits your tastes. You may find you don't like Steinways. I like their sound (the concert grands I mean), but the light action doesn't suit me very well. You also of course have to look at what your budget is too, but remember that pianos are far more likely to appreciate than they are to depreciate if you take care of them, so they are a worthwhile investment (in more ways than one).

I broke 2 in 2.5 weeks on my 6 years old yamaha haha

I've played on several Steinways - and they vary greatly!

The one I like best is a 1920's model, concert grand, which has been maintained by an EXCELLENT piano technician. It's very responsive and voiced beautifully. (Luckily it's also the one I still get to play the most - would you believe it's in a high school auditorium!)

In college I played on a newer 7' and really disliked it - very stiff action.

The others I've played all fell somewhere inbetween - though most were on the higher end of the scale.

steinways aren't all that they're cracked up to be, probably because I am such an amateaur pianist, I LOVE my BOHEMIA to death!!! beautiful

on www.1001pianos.com most of our piano music available for download is made with Steinway and Boesendorfer pianos ...

I believe that New York Steinway pianos are excellent, although they require much dealer preparation to bring out their full potential. The German Steinway's are considered to be even better by most. Steinway's are ranked as high performance instruments by Larry Fine in The Piano Book Supplement 2008. I once owned a Model M (5'7") and was quite happy with it, but later traded it in for a Baldwin Model L Artist Grand (6'3"), with which I'm even more happy. I do not believe that the Japanese mass-produced so called "precision" grands are in the same class as Steinway, which is more hand crafted, particularly the larger NY B and D models. Yamaha C Series and the Kawai RX Series are ranked as quality consumer grade instruments by Larry Fine.

I've tried out Yamaha C Series grands at dealer showrooms and have been largely unimpressed. I do like the very even action along with the material they use for their key coverings. But... I dislike the woody bass, the overly bright tenor, and the brittle treble. It sounds like playing three pianos instead of one where the scale is well blended. The Kawai RX grands tend to have a firm action, and I'm OK with that as it affords firm control, but others dislike it. As for the sound, to my ears, and this is subjective, it is just plain vanilla, nothing special. It seems to lack a really distinctive, characteristic sound of its own. The Shigeru Kawai grands are hand crafted and are reputedly in a class above the RX Series, but I've not come across one to try, so have no personal experience with it.

I tend to disagree to an extent with the above post. In Chopin, Liszt, even some later stuff like Rachmaninoff, the tone should be rich or bright but never harsh. However... Some music is meant to be scary, and I think a harsh tone is absolutely necessary (in some Prokofiev, some Ravel, Schoenberg... heck, Corigliano even marked some things in his Etude-Fantasy as "harsh" or "brittle")

As for the "perfect" piano... The closest I've ever found was a Fazioli I played at a competition once. It did whatever I told it to do. Yamahas are generally easy to play in my opinion, but they sound like crap. Steinways are beautiful, but from my experience it's a crap-shoot whether or not it will be nice to play... some are incredible, some are crappy. They're just inconsistent I guess.

I played a Boesendorfer at a competition I was at last year... I really liked it. Everyone said that the action was supposed to be heavy or whatever, but really it seemed quite easy to play for me.

AH when I said "the post above mine" I was refering to the last post on page 1... I didn't see there was more than one page