Acoustic Pianos

This is an amazing piano, made by one of the most respected and trustworthy piano manufacturers in the world. The process that it takes for one to be made is a legend in and of itself. The same family has made these pianos in Austria for about 180 years. Each piano takes about five years to make and is meticulously crafted. It was a rare pleasure for me to be able to play this piano, as a host whose house I spent a weekend in had one. Before touching it, I saw that the bottom end of the keyboard extended to F, which was cool, as I was used to the normal ending point of C. The first thing I noticed after I started playing it was the immaculate feel of the keyboard, the comfort and response. It felt as though there wasn't anything getting in the way of me playing the piano and the sound emerging from it. Speaking of the sound, it was interesting in that it felt absolutely enormous yet wasn't so overpowering as to greatly disturb the other houseguests. One of the great things about this piano is the smoothness and sweetness that it contains; each note played, regardless of how loud or soft, high or low, comes out smoothly and accessibly. The dynamics can go from pianissimo to fortissimo easily, and without a drastic change in tonal quality. Single-note runs, heavily accented chords, everything sounds great on this piano. That makes this piano ideal for classical pianists primarily, as a jazz pianist would probably need something with a bit more of an edge and a harder timbre. This piano is insanely expensive, so I'd have to say that this is probably a lifetime investment for most players. However, there are many pianists worldwide who would agree that it would definitely be worth it.

In what musical style and context (training, recording, live, etc.)do you currently use this piano?

- I think its sound mostly suits recording pop, middle-of-the-road music and so on. As for live, I'd say it should suit as the hammer mechanism takes heavy playing very well. By the way, even with a high velocity the sound keeps the same timbre, without distorting. I'd say it's pretty versatile as far as contexts go.

Does its finishing seem well-made? Does it look sturdy? How do you judge its touching? And its pedals?

- Young Chang is a Japanes manufacturer. While it's made in a factory, it still remains well manufactured and rather well premade. It's really, really strudy. Heavy as it is, they clearly didn't refrain on the wood armature, cast iron sound board, strudy mechanism - all at a very good level. Velocity and sensibility are very precise, each key pressed is palpable. Three pedals features, the left one gets all the hammers closer by half their original distance from the strings, some people opt for changing sounds (which it does as the sounds have less transients), but I'd also say it allows to play faster for masterclasses.
The middle pedal is for braking... lol, no actually it allows to add a felt band in between the hammers and strings, which completely erases the transients and chokes most of the timbre. It works really well as a muffler.
"Set it carefully, or it chokes fast... too fast."
The right pedal releases the strings, allowing them to ring entirely. I found the sustain pedal to be surprisingly precise. Once again, you'll have to set the brackets properly and let no slack in between them. "The less slack there is, the most precise the pedal will be" (Master Yoda, be gone!) lol.

What about the sound on the entire range? And sustain?

- Regarding Sustain ? it all depends on several parameters. How heavy you hit the key, how the strings are (with more or less oxydation), for the rest I find them rather pleasant to play. Nothing too much or not enough. A nice compromise.

What are the pros and cons of this product?

- Everything: its versatile sound, beautiful appearance, comfortable feeling, and more than all, it's very sturdy. What I like less (but certainly lacks importance) is the square -way too squary- shape. Looks like it takes too much place in a room such as a bedroom or WC - lol! But it doesn't even nearly influence the sound - just a problem of Japanese designers who wouldn't bother with design.

Overall?

- To describe its sounds with words, I'd say it's in between the lightness and softness of a Petrof or Gaveau and the slamming sound of a Samik. It's in between!!! a sort of compromise! I'd personally say it's neither a first price piano for a beginner, nor a high-end Masterclass at 10000 bucks.

I'd rate it over a mid-end piano. I haven't tested that, but recording with it in the studio should be effortless for a rather satisfying result.

Here it is !

My Kawai KG3E was made in 1990. I traded in my Kawai KG1E for this piano along with a cash differential to move from a 5' 4" instrument to a 6' 1" instrument. First, I live in a large city and visited many new and used piano dealers in the area and spoke with a number of technicians to get recommended brand feedback. Kawai and Yamaha were the most frequent brands recommended for reliability and build quality.

As I understand it, my KG3E piano had been well cared for (kept in a climate controlled environment, used in a home, kept clean with the top down when not used and lightly used ).

My piano is a 6 foot model. The bass response in our home is full and warm. The piano tone overall has been voiced warm as well. The sound has been and remains consistent across the keyboard. The piano holds tune amazingly well. The action touch is moderate, perhaps somewhere between a Steinway and current Yamaha and Kawai models. Finally the piano has a good dynamic range.

The technicians I spoke with shared that the late model KG Kawais are "work horses" with found in many clubs, churches and commercial venues throughout Dallas. The general opinion was that they are extremely stable and reliable instruments to buy. What I was told is that pianos really wear out from heavy use and the climate conditions they were stored in, not from age.

Personally I recommend the older KG line of pianos as they are excellent values, I've had very good luck with them, and the technical community in my area thinks highly of them. I get the feeling that the new piano dealers really wish these pianos would simply go away. Perhaps these stable used instruments are competing too much with newly made pianos?