Piano Video Lesson: Steinway & Yamaha Alternatives

Hi, I'm Robert Estrin, you're watching LivingPianos.com. Today such an interesting show, Steinway and Yamaha alternatives.

You know, I've often said that everybody knows three piano companies, Steinway, Yamaha, and the piano you grew up with. And this is largely true.

And the average person on the street probably just knows Steinway and Yamaha and that's about it. But you know what, there are hundreds of piano companies in this world and today I'm going to give you lots of alternatives and at the end I'm going to give you the most logical alternative to Steinway and Yamaha. But let's start with some of the world's great pianos. Aside from Steinway that everybody knows, you may be aware of Busendorfer. Busendorfer, the Austrian company going back to 1828, is really known for their nine and a half foot imperial concert grand that has 97 keys going so low and they are such gorgeous instruments, the crafting is unbelievable. But did you know that Busendorfer actually has kept elements in their pianos going back to the 1800s before pianos had a continuous rim. So you'll see a seam in the rim of the piano. Not only that, but they utilize spruce in many parts of the piano including the rim which gives a very lively sound so it's a very different quality, a bell -like tone that you may prefer to Steinway or you may prefer Steinway but it's definitely a different piano, beautifully crafted, worthy of your attention.

What other world -class pianos are there other than Steinway? Well, what about Faccioli? Faccioli is a relative newcomer, started in Italy in 1981. They are beautifully crafted pianos and interestingly many competition winners are choosing Faccioli when they have the choice among all the world's great pianos including Steinway. They have by the way a piano that's over 10 feet long which is really something else.

What other great piano companies? Well, in Germany there are quite a number of companies and the cream of the crop, Bechstein, Blutner and Zauter are all absolutely magnificent pianos made in very limited numbers as they have since the 1800s. Another really great piano company in Germany is Steingruber and Schone.

Not only do they handcraft just a low hundreds number of pianos each year, custom built for people with different options. For example, they have different pedals you can get. One of them is a sordino pedal. Now, sordino means mute and what this pedal does is what was available on forte pianos, Mozart era pianos which used to operate with a lever to impart felt between the hammers and the strings for a more muted sound. Well, you can get a sordino pedal and you can engage it to the extent you like to alter the tone of the piano. His manager's thing. They also have something to give you a different touch, something they call a Mozart rail because once again the period pianos back in the 1700s had a shallower depth to the keys. So with this Mozart rail you can get the feeling of those forte pianos right on your modern piano. So it has a lot of different possibilities of tone and touch.

They also offer smaller keyboards for people with smaller hands. Isn't that a nice feature? I wish more companies had that.

Finally, another feature they have, they offer carbon fiber sound boards. You know what makes a piano go out of tune to a great extent are the changes in weather and the wood contracting and expanding. The carbon fiber you can expect to have much greater tuning stability not to mention the fact that there is consistency in the sound boards because no two trees are alike.

There are also some great piano companies that are Asian owned and they do make pianos both in Asia, in China and Indonesia but they also still operate the original factories in Germany. So you have to watch which models that you're looking at but their top tier pianos Grotian, Schimmel and Seiler.

They still make great pianos in Germany even though those same companies offer lower priced pianos made in Asia.

And finally let's not leave out Petroff from the Czech Republic making some of the finest pianos they have ever made and still owned the original Petro family.

So now let's flip it and go alternatives to Yamaha. Now there are actually hundreds of Asian piano companies mostly in China that you've never heard of because they aren't in the export market. The domestic Chinese market is so huge that they have so many companies there it's not to be believed. But two standouts that make world class pianos are Hailun and Pearl River. Pearl River has a distinction of being the largest piano manufacturer in the world building over a hundred thousand pianos a year which is mind boggling to think about that.

And two Korean companies with factories both in Korea and Indonesia are Sammic and Young Chang. Actually Young Chang has a factory in China and Sammic has factories in Indonesia. So those are the really well known Asian companies but they're also companies that you don't realize are Asian companies because they have the old familiar American or German names on the front and yet they're actually pianos that are built mostly in China or Indonesia. Baldwin comes to mind, Coler & Campbell, Steinberg. These are all names that look great in the front of your piano but they're actually Asian production pianos. So those are all possible alternatives to Yamaha. There's so many instruments but what are the real obvious, most obvious alternatives to Steinway and Yamaha? Well for Yamaha it's a no brainer. The other Japanese behemoth, one of the largest piano companies in the world is Kawai. Kawai model for model has almost everything Yamaha has from digital pianos to hybrid pianos to uprights, grands of all different sizes and price points as does Yamaha. And so if you're shopping for a Yamaha, you owe it to yourself to try Kawai's, you might prefer them or you might prefer Yamaha. It's really personal taste. Some people feel that Kawai has a little bit warmer sound than Yamaha. Yamaha of course can be voiced more mellow because voicing has a lot to do with whether a piano is bright or warm but there definitely is a different sound signature to Kawai and just as everybody is a favorite color, you might prefer Kawai, you might prefer Yamaha. They're both really well crafted pianos and they have all the same category of products. So it's a great company to check out along with some of the others I mentioned earlier.

And finally, what alternative to Steinway? I mentioned a whole plethora of great hand built pianos but you notice none of them were American companies and there is only one other American company in that top tier still building pianos going back to the 1800s and that is of course Mason and Hamlin. What makes Mason and Hamlin so great? Well, their pianos are beautifully hand crafted outside of Boston where they've been made for over a hundred years and they have many, many innovations. First of all, they are built to last. The pianos are actually have thicker inner and outer rims which support the sound board so Mason and Hamlin's even from a long time ago can still have excellent structure. Did you know that a Mason and Hamlin seven foot piano weighs more than a nine foot concert grand Steinway? So some people refer to them as overbuilt but Mason and Hamlin feels that they're just building them right.

They have another technology as if that inner and outer rim which are so massive aren't enough to support the sound board to give excellent crown which is necessary for good tone and projection. They have what's called the tension resonator system. It's the only piano in the world that has this. It's actually a metal bracing. It has a disc. This is under the piano. You don't see it but if you climb under you'll see it. A metal disc with metal rods emanating out from it to the rim of the piano supporting it further as if that massive rim isn't enough. That's why these pianos hold up for generations so well and they're even innovating in their actions. They have an association with a company that is owned by them and that is Wessel Nickel and Gross and these actions are state -of -the -art using composite materials which are much more lighter and less dense than wood plus more consistent. They use carbon fiber for the hammer shanks and other composite materials and these actions you've got to try them because it's a different feel that is very responsive and there's an evenness that really is impossible to achieve with wood because no two trees are alike. This is some reasons to consider Mason and Hamlin. They have a very robust tone, very fat, warm, round, rich tone and if you're interested in a Steinway check out some Mason and Hamlin's because it's another great American piano. So that kind of gives you an overview. There are many, many hand -built pianos that are available in the world today mostly from Germany and other places in Europe as well as of course the great other American piano company Mason and Hamlin and if you're shopping for a Yamaha there are so many Asian production pianos, some of them with American names or German names on them and many of them available in stores all over the place but of course Kawhi is the natural corollary to Yamaha serving the same market, having the same product categories and making great pianos as they have for over a hundred years.

So if any of you have any other suggestions of piano brands leave them in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and YouTube and thanks again for joining me. I'm Robert Estrin.

Find the original source of this video at this link: https://livingpianos.com/steinway-yamaha-alternatives/

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