Piano Joy: I have two space-eating hobbies - piano and weaving. I have two uprights and a digital piano in the house, plus two floor looms, two table looms and two spinning wheels - plus lots and lots of yarn and weaving accessories. I have an old upright (it's going to a new home soon...) and a floor loom and table loom stored in my garage. Now I am patiently waiting for my kids to grow up and move out..... I think I should have taken up violin or flute and stayed with knitting.

and here I though that when I got my grand.........

Well, I really only have 3 acoustic pianos in my house. I moved the 100 year old Schiller upright (saloon piano ) out to my garage, which I have recently enclosed.

When I decided I wanted a grand piano, I really didn't have room in my house without rearranging everything in the house. So, I decided to enclose my attached car-port/garage (20X20X10). The enclosure turned out great and it is now my primary music room. The Yamaha C7 fits very nicely in the music room and the Baldwin 243 upright is over in the corner of the music room.

Thing is, I like playing all three of my pianos! But, if I had to choose between the three, you all know what my choice would be!

As far as having a piano party the "Rickster's residence", who knows... stranger things have happened!

Rick

This Kawai has the wood action, right?

I have too many pianos already, let alone four! although, it is great fun anyway. Have fun,Rick!

Yes, Tom, as best I could tell, the Kawai is a late 1960's model (1968, 1969) and would certainly have the all wood action. The serial number is 314358. Someone with a Pierce Piano Atlas might pin-point the age more accurately.

The paino seems to have been well taken care of, in spite of its age. I've come to the conclusion that high quality pianos usually last a long time with regular maintenance; though my experience with pianos is limited.

And though I'm not rich or well off financially, I consider myself very fortunate to have the pianos I have... and to have the Piano World friends that I have!

Rick

Oh you don't even wanna go near violin prices.

that' a given.



yes. +1

Forgive this stupid question but if you have the space and money for multiple pianos, why would you not get the single biggest, best piano that space and money would allow you to buy?

I keep pondering this question, but except for a 2nd piano that's a digital (for transporting to gigs, for silent playing with headphones, etc.), I can't come up with any answers, though I'm sure you've got them. What can y'all tell me?

But then if you have (space for) multiple pianos, then you can have a variety of styles, brands and sound character, rather than one big piano with one character. It is all in the matter of variety and interest, so it seems to me.

Like then Rickster can't have a nice large grand, two contrasting studio uprights and an old saloon sound piano. And variety adds a definite amount of spice!

jivemutha -

What Rotom said. Different periods and brands of piano have different looks and sounds, which can suit different styles of music or décor.

Another reason, as I discovered, has to do with player pianos.

The player piano most people are familiar with is the 88-note, non-expression player. But if you get hard-core about player pianos, there were three competing pneumatic expression player systems - Duo-Art, Welte-Mignon, and Ampico. Each had a different mechanism and different encoding on the piano rolls.

Seriously obsessed collectors of old piano rolls might have four antique player pianos just to cover these competing formats. With the expression systems, they were often in grands!

And then there are modern player systems that take CDs, MIDI, etc. They don't easily coexist with the old pneumatic systems ... so, guess what? Another piano!

A valid question (and not stupid at all).

I can’t say that I have a good answer, other than to reiterate what Rotom and Colin Dunn as said.

My wife tells me I’m like our little 5 year old grandson, Grant. He has always loved to play with a toy in each hand… two at a time, and sometimes three.

Without divulging what I paid for my pianos, (all of which are older models and didn’t break the bank) I would say that I have made very good investments for what they are and I could afford them; and I could probably easily get my money back out of them and then some. All of them are in better shape now than when I got them.

My Yamaha C7 (7’6”) is all the piano I will ever need; I absolutely love it. The two uprights are nice pianos too, and don’t take up too much space. Each piano has its own unique look, tone signature and key touch.

At this particular time in my life, acoustic pianos have become an interest, a hobby, a pastime and a major stress reliever. The purpose of my thread was to share my joy with others here and not to stir up controversy. We can only play one piano at a time. But having more than one is a lot of fun too!

If it is any consolation to you, I also have two pick-up trucks, an El Camino (half car and half truck) and two farm tractors, two lawn mowers and 4 goats.

Rick

I finally got around to making a video of my new-to-me Kawai K48A upright piano. The video turned out to be a little grainy (after converting from MOV to AVI then to WMV) ) and my playing is terrible, but what’s new about that…

Also, the piano sounded a little brighter in the video than it does in real life… kind of embarrassing since I talk about how mellow the piano sounds in the video.

Anyway, I thought you all might enjoy watching it…

My latest piano adventure (1969 model Kawai K48A upright)

Rick

Rick, at first glance at this title thread, I thought to myself " OH MY GOSH, he's bought ANOTHER one SO SOON!'

ha! I know it'll be at least a few months still.......

You know, Piano Joy, I thought about that too, after I posted the video…

Maybe I should have started a new thread; or maybe folks are sick and tired of me, my pianos and my pseudo piano playing!

Rick

Nope.

Oops, didn't mean to imply that at all! I am living vicariously through your PAS,
please...carry on!

Wow, Rick. Congrats on the Kawai! I am also a member of the 3 piano club. Your right about playing different pianos for different music.

BTW, I am jealous of your El Camino!!

Congratulations....it's quite a beauty.

Rick,
Now that you have all those pianos could you give us your feelings about the differences between them, like action, tone, volume, "sweetness". Are there differences in how you feel when you play them?

Aprreciate any thoughts you might have.

Well, there are differences between my three acoustic pianos (and my digital piano ).

The cream of the crop is the Yamaha C7. The tone is bold and rich, and powerful, and yes, a tad bright, but bright where it counts. The action is superb, not too heavy or too light, but lighter than my last grand, which had a medium heavy action. The C7 wins, hands down, as being the best out of the bunch.

The Baldwin 243 is really sweet. The tone is like that typical Baldwin upright tone… I suppose that many pianos of the same make and model do share some similarities, as well as some differences. It is actually pretty loud and could stand some hammer voicing, but as I get older, I like loud! It is definitely fun to play and I can get rough with it when I’m getting down with some oldies rock-n-roll! Yet, it can take it. It holds it tuning well too, especially the way I pound on it.

The newest edition to my family, the Kawai, has a nice tone as well, and retains some if that traditional “Kawai” tone. I suppose it is difficult to alter a piano’s DNA too much (what’s the old saying, “the acorn doesn’t fall too far from the tree”). The bass of the Kawai is better than the Baldwin 243, and better than any upright I’ve owned (except for a 100 year old Conover upright I owned). I’m trying to decide if the hammers on the Kawai have been replaced, or just reshaped and voiced. Either way, it was taken good care of and serviced by a pro. The touch of the Kawai is on the lighter side, but not too light. The video didn’t do the Kawai justice, nor did my poor playing.

In regards to my playing, I figure it’s bound to improve due to the fact that I have more than one piano, and they all demand my attention at some point throughout the week!

If you all think I’m sick or silly or a combination of the two, just keep in mind that I suffer from PAS (piano acquisition syndrome)

Rick

OK, you've motivated me to do the same.
I'm now keeping an eye on the classifieds to see if any great deals come up on an older upright.
It would be good to practice my tuning on.