I love sitting at my Steinway piano - no knobs, no buttons, no latency - and no music unless I make it...

[57Gregy]

My roommate's Baldwin Acrosonic sits unplayed forever because there's usually someone watching TV in there.

I've told this story before, so turn down the volume if you've heard it.
I used to work for a blind and drape company that serviced apartment complexes all over the D/FW Metroplex. One of my stops had a baby grand in their lobby, and I started making a point of arriving there at lunch time when I knew the staff was gone so I could bang away on it.
The manager caught me once and asked me about my playing, how long, if I had lessons, etc. and if the piano was any good.
I told him it was fine except for being a little out-of-tune.
A couple weeks later I went by there and there was a man tuning it.
It sounded much better after that.
 

[Amberwolf]

5 hours ago, craigb said:

Except a real piano. 😜

Are you sure?  Maybe that's not like one either. 

[Starship Krupa]

6 hours ago, craigb said:

Oh, and I would check schools and churches to get rid of that baby grand! 😉

I have asked around plenty, including a couple of nightclubs. Despite the Great Bay Area Exodus of Creative People, I still have a small network of musicians and tossed it out there. It would probably cost over a couple of hundy to move it. The harp and pinblock are in such good condition, I know the poor thing has decades of useful playing life in it.

The issue is that digital pianos have gotten so good and so inexpensive. A piano teacher can bring a piano into a student's home that has great action and that never goes out of tune. They can also turn the volume down so as not to annoy the other occupants of the house.

I feel like I'm trying to give away a slide rule. Or heck, even a pocket calculator. You might be required to use a dedicated calculator when taking an examination, but other than that, why would anyone own one?

[Sal Sorice]

5 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

I have asked around plenty, including a couple of nightclubs. Despite the Great Bay Area Exodus of Creative People, I still have a small network of musicians and tossed it out there. It would probably cost over a couple of hundy to move it. The harp and pinblock are in such good condition, I know the poor thing has decades of useful playing life in it.

The issue is that digital pianos have gotten so good and so inexpensive. A piano teacher can bring a piano into a student's home that has great action and that never goes out of tune. They can also turn the volume down so as not to annoy the other occupants of the house.

I feel like I'm trying to give away a slide rule. Or heck, even a pocket calculator. You might be required to use a dedicated calculator when taking an examination, but other than that, why would anyone own one?

Hope you find a good home for it! I've not played any high-end digital pianos - have an Arturia Keylab 88 mkII whose action is OK - but it pales in comparison to my Steinway Model B. I know I'm biased, but it is one of the best sounding pianos I've ever heard :^)

If anyone is a northern NJ resident (I'm in Summit, NJ) and you want to come try it out PM me!

 

[Starship Krupa]

2 hours ago, Sal Sorice said:

Hope you find a good home for it! I've not played any high-end digital pianos - have an Arturia Keylab 88 mkII whose action is OK - but it pales in comparison to my Steinway Model B.

My Whitney pales in comparison to your Steinway B. Most of the pianos that have ever existed pale in comparison to your Steinway B.

Edited Thursday at 03:07 PM by Starship Krupa

[bitflipper]

6 hours ago, Sal Sorice said:

... it pales in comparison to my Steinway Model B. 

 

To be fair, almost everything does. 

My first experience playing a Steinway was when I was hired to do background "music" at a high-end wedding in a private club.

During that period of my musical life I'd been taking a bunch of those kinds of gigs because it was ridiculously easy money that required no moving of gear, no setup, just walk in, diddle about for a couple hours and walk out. But I didn't really like them. Nobody listened, and the only comments I got were to "turn it down". It's a frickin' acoustic piano. No volume control, except to play very lightly. 

The quality of those pianos was atrocious and they were usually out of tune. At one hoity-toity "athletic" club the piano sounded especially bad. I peeked under the lid and discovered the insides had been stuffed with flattened cardboard boxes!

So when I sat down at that Steinway and began to play, I was floored by how responsive it was. Whereas many pianos when played very softly produced no sound at all, the Steinway delivered a beautiful soft tone. But bang on it aggressively and it roared to life. I didn't know any acoustic instrument could have such a broad dynamic range.

[Sal Sorice]

2 hours ago, bitflipper said:

To be fair, almost everything does. 

My first experience playing a Steinway was when I was hired to do background "music" at a high-end wedding in a private club.

During that period of my musical life I'd been taking a bunch of those kinds of gigs because it was ridiculously easy money that required no moving of gear, no setup, just walk in, diddle about for a couple hours and walk out. But I didn't really like them. Nobody listened, and the only comments I got were to "turn it down". It's a frickin' acoustic piano. No volume control, except to play very lightly. 

The quality of those pianos was atrocious and they were usually out of tune. At one hoity-toity "athletic" club the piano sounded especially bad. I peeked under the lid and discovered the insides had been stuffed with flattened cardboard boxes!

So when I sat down at that Steinway and began to play, I was floored by how responsive it was. Whereas many pianos when played very softly produced no sound at all, the Steinway delivered a beautiful soft tone. But bang on it aggressively and it roared to life. I didn't know any acoustic instrument could have such a broad dynamic range.

Agree 100%. I think the Steinway B is their best. The D has more bottom end but you'd need to be in a huge concert hall to notice. The B has the perfect blend of nuance, power and subtlety. I love my piano...

But I love my wife more (don't want to get in trouble... :^) 

[Amberwolf]

18 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

 

I feel like I'm trying to give away a slide rule. Or heck, even a pocket calculator. You might be required to use a dedicated calculator when taking an examination, but other than that, why would anyone own one?

At one time I had a TI SR-something desktop programmable calculator, given to me, and to the right person would be very valuable, but I could not even give it away; sadly it went to the dump with a bunch of other stuff I could not keep some years back.

I do still have a couple slide rules though.    (they're in the "media collection" along with stuff like a piece of core memory...)

https://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/tisr-60.html

 

[aleo]

I enjoyed reading about everyone’s experiences with acoustic pianos.  We have and continue to play our Steinway upright that is now about 54 years old.  The original felt hammers and dampers are in very good condition, everything works, it still holds its tune, and I had to replace one string when it broke about forty years ago.

I am not a good pianist and have never worked as a professional musician, but I love the sound of the instrument.  Back in the seventies I had the opportunity to play a Steinway Concert D grand piano.  The piano tuner at a local college music department was a friend of mine and after he had finished tuning the instrument for a recital to be held later that evening, he noticed me standing off to the side on the stage and said, “Why don’t you sit down and give it a whirl?”  So I did.  I didn’t have my sheet music with me so for about 20 minutes I played whatever I could remember—a little Debussy, some Rachmaninoff, a short piece by Scriabin, and a little jazz.  It was incredible—not my playing--the sound of the Concert D.  It was made for this stuff--think of the opening bars of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto.

When you play a grand piano, the fundamentals of the lower keys are much more prominent (owing to the longer strings used for these notes), and you feel these low frequencies through your fingers and arms, even through your feet as they rest on the floor.  My impression was, WOW, this is a REAL piano, everything else I’ve played sounds like a toy.

For those who like pianos but haven’t had a chance to play a concert grand, I hope you get the opportunity soon; it’s an extraordinary experience.

[henkejs]

Years ago in college a friend and I did an independent study project building a harpsichord from a kit. The initial work was done in a grimy basement room in my dorm. The final adjustments took place in the big room behind the auditorium that held the two Concert D Steinways.  When no one else was around, I played them. Even with my limited keyboard skills, it was an unforgettable experience. To this day, the most disappointing thing about the many digital instruments I've tried is not the sound, but the feel of the keyboard action.

[Sal Sorice]

I bought my Steinway B from the Dealer that was in charge of all the Steinways at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (mine came from the Victoria Theater). My teacher was well acquainted with the Manager, and I got to know him as well.

I love the action of a true grand, and love to practice early (about 4:30 - 5am) - but needed to find a way to give my wife a chance to sleep! Since so many of my teacher's students had bought from the Steinway store I bought from, and they were one of the top performing Steinway stores, the Manager had enough sway and connections to get me an action (that was in perfect condition) from a 1928 Steinway that was brought to the Astoria, Queens NY factory for refurbishing - before the action was trashed.

Steinway, per policy, would always cut up / destroy removed actions - seems they would sometimes "disappear" and end up in third-party refurbed Steinways.

Used my background in woodworking to build a case to house the action and installed felt on the inside of the cover. The hammers produced a gentle "thump" when I play my "practice" Steinway - it is actually pretty quiet, soothing to play, and has the true feel of grand. Hearing just the rhythm of what I'm playing is also pretty cool.

Plus, my wife is able to sleep past 5am!

 

[Notes_Norton]

I am old enough to remember when every nightclub that hired a band had an upright piano on stage.

I am old enough to remember it had cigarette burns on it, and it was hopelessly out of tune.

I was not the piano player, but it frustrated our pianist so badly, he bought a Wurlitzer electric, because it was the only portable piano available at the time. 

 

[paulo]

On 11/16/2024 at 3:07 PM, pwallie said:

my sister in law learned to "play" a violin, no headphones anywhere 😬

I can't think of a worse instrument in terms of the difference in the sound it makes between someone who can play it and someone who can't.

[pwallie]

6 minutes ago, paulo said:

I can't think of a worse instrument in terms of the difference in the sound it makes between someone who can play it and someone who can't.

trumpet comes close haha

[paulo]

2 minutes ago, pwallie said:

trumpet comes close haha

I dunno..... an unaccompanied good trumpet player is still pretty annoying.

[Sal Sorice]

3 hours ago, paulo said:

I dunno..... an unaccompanied good trumpet player is still pretty annoying.

I'm surprised my parents survived me trying to learn the trumpet at age 12. Ooof.

[Amberwolf]

Years ago, after ToysRUs at Metrocenter shutdown, and had been the last business in that center, a guy learning tuba used to park there and practice; I'd see (and hear/feel) him as I rode thru there to work every day in the morning; sometimes he'd also be there in the evening.    He did this for years until Conns moved in there, and later a few more businesses, but I haven't seen him since then.   I don't know enough about tuba to tell if he improved in that time or not.