Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Cavendish pianos from Yorkshire

Just heard a rather surprising, and very pleasing, news item on Radio 4. A new British brand of pianos, Cavendish Pianos, is being launched tomorrow! The whole concept is rather interesting. You can read about it here and here.

I thought this description of the design ideas behind the "Boudoir Performance" grand interesting.

Adam Cox was interviewed briefly on "In Tune" on Radio 3 this afternoon. He mentioned that the case of the Cavendish is made of wood panels and not mdf, and that this is important for the sound of the instrument. They may be available to dealers in the UK in 3 months or so.

This may appeal to the market of piano buyers who can't stand pianos that contain even the smallest Asian-manufactured part. I'm very interested to hear the tone on them!

This sounds like a neat idea, but I wonder if getting so many individual companies involved would create a "pass the buck" situation in the final product if something was wrong with the instrument that required warranty service?

This clip gives some idea of the tone.
New Piano

I think it's good that we are making pianos again in the UK, and we have the Broadwoods being produced in Kent, albeit with frames coming from somewhere else, can't remember where.

I wonder how long it will be before we have a British concert grand?

Indeed, it is heartening to see the start of a new company making British pianos. It is an audacious enterprise in a very competitive market, but if the instruments are built with the quality and integrity claimed by Cavendish pianos, they could find a profitable niche in the piano market.

In the past, many of the great British piano makers built concert grand pianos. I recall that Challen, Danneman, Welmar, Marshall and Rose and others built concert grands of distinction.

Congratulations to Cavendish on the recent launch of their pianos!

Robert.

Hi All

I just joined last night so this is my first post. I live in NE England and was looking to upgrade my KAWAI K3. I had planned to check out all the German uprights and find a piano for life. I havent been playing all that long but have made good progress and im totally hooked if not addicted to the intrument.

I went to Yorkshire pianos as i was intrigued by the Cavendish story. I was really impressed by the 124 upright. Played better than the Bechstein academy and Concert 8 they had there and the tone is full and warm. The action is superb. The walnut one they had was set up as a piano work out for a pianist and was almost impossible for me to play the action was so heavy but the finish on those machines is beautiful and unique. They had the Boudoir grand there and i had a play on it and even though i wasnt really in the market for a grand i was really blown away by it. I had a pianist friend with me >grade 8 and she was in love with it and i couldnt get her off it to try it myself.
Its lovely to play has rich clear and deep and powerful bass and a lovely action.

I measured up when i got home and decided on the grand. Its under 15k and i got back what i paid for my Kawai. The piano hasnt arrived yet but when it does i will record something if anyone is interested. Other than the one that had been set up deliberately heavy all the Cavendish's were easier to play and sounded better than the Sauters and Bechsteins they had in the showroom. Adam gave me a tour round the back where they make them and i learned how they individually set up the weighting of the action some other technical stuff which was fascinating.

The piano arrives the week before xmas and i just cant wait. If anyone lives in UK is thinking of a quality upright or smaller grand this takes some beating.
A few weeks previously i had tried the Boston range of small grands and the Cavendish is far superior in tone and action. I have previously had a go on a Kawai grand..the one which is around 15k... and a Petrof upright which again was inferior.
I went to the showroom with an open mind and not expecting to be impressed but i certainly was.

The upright in the black finish is 7k which is a total bargain. There is no comparison with the K3. The treble is warm and rich not harsh like a Yamaha or Kawai in that price range and the bass isnt mushy. I played the Schumann "foreign lands and peoples" and the descending bass melody bit sounded totally different from the K3. You could really here the melody !

If anyones interested i will post pics and a recording when it arrives.

Alexander,

Congratulations on your new piano.

Please post pictures and a recording, if you can manage it.

When this thread first appeared last Spring, I was impressed with Yorkshire's courage starting such a venture.

I was also impressed with the sound of the Boudoir Grand, from what I could tell from the videos. The bass did sound somewhat "doctored" to me - maybe with equalization, but it may have been the mics, mic placement, or the room. Another recording would be revealing.

Dear Alexander,
Welcome to the Piano World forum. You have obviously found the piano that you love.
I am following the Cavendish Piano enterprise with interest and they must be impressive upright pianos to surpass the C Bechstein Concert 8 and the Sauter verticals.
Congratulations on your new grand piano and may it give you years of happy music making.

Kind regards,

Robert.

Hi Alexander

Have you/are you going to post your story on the UK Forum topic?

http://www.piano-tuners.org/piano-forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9830

The piano is settling in nicely. It certainly is much nicer than an upright. I have been working much of the festive period but hope to have some time to make a recording of the piano soon.

Recent TV coverage of Cavendish Pianos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pebybHGxMh0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Here as promised is first recording of the piano. I have another few tunes on you tube but most were done on my old KAWAI.
There is another recording of the e minor prelude using a decent microphone. The jazzy endoing was unintentional due to my terrible sight reading. Iv only been playing a year so be gentle....
I plan to post the Eb nocturne soon. The piano was quite out of tune on the prelude so will post another when i have time.

http://youtu.be/cbR7vHczQnE and



http://youtu.be/j7BQbASi6Es