Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum New Stephen Paulello SP300 piano with 102 keys in mid 2013.

I never understand why pointing to one particular pianist the piano he happened to use would gain in significance, at least musically speaking. These guys are great without any of them.
Oscar also was a Baldwin artist, remembering when he had the 9' concert delivered for his Vancouver concerts despite Boesendorfers available to him at same time.
Plus Oscar's life long idol Art Tatum never used any of them.
He blew the world away coming [originally..] from simple old uprights...

Norbert

PIANOLOVERUS,
I have a thread in the technical forum where I explain the state of affairs regarding my Fully Tempered Duplex Scale, (FTDS). Please read that and stay tuned for future announcements.

The FTDS does anticipate extending the treble compass and would make them more musical as well.

One advantage of the extended bass compass is how the extended bridge helps make the standard compass low notes sound better. The low A is made better that way.

My point was that there is more than one way to create piano music. It can be composed and placed in written form where people memorize it and repeat it over and over down through the ages. If this were the only way music was played then the observation that very little music has been published calling for these "extra" notes on the piano would be much more convincing.

To be sure, when Oscar Peterson was playing on a piano using a standard 88-note compass he still made great music. But, when he had them at his disposal he used them and clearly enjoyed the added musical potential at his disposal. He used no sheet music indicating the use of those extra notes -- he improvised -- so the fact that there is little published music available calling for these notes was irrelevant. He used them anyway.

(Someplace on YouTube there are a couple of videos of him discussing the use of the extra bass notes on an Imperial. I'm in an area where it is impossible to connect with YouTube so perhaps someone will be kind enough to locate them and post a link. Listening to Oscar Peterson discussing pianos and music is always time well spent.)

Personally, I've only been asked to design one scale that included these notes -- the Rubenstein 371 (the speaking length of that lowest string is slightly longer than an Imperial grand) -- and I certainly don't see pianos with extended keyboards, whether those extra notes are added to the top or the bottom, becoming mainstream but I'm glad there are at least a few pianos out there that do offer them. And a few more certainly won't hurt the industry; might even liven things up a bit.

ddf

But one could theoretically use that argument to opt for a piano with 150 notes as one can always complete an idea higher and higher. For me the question is mostly related to how musical the notes sound.

Yeah I get your point. But I'm just saying I think most people's ears (or at least mine) could probably appreciate an extra octave.

Ok, but only if we can have a spinet burning party first!

Well, if it's purely about the quality of sound, why don't you tell us how many keys you think your piano should have? Presumably you find at least a portion of the range on your piano to be unusable, since you have such strong opinions on the matter.

For me, it's a matter of how well built the piano is. If it's well built enough it will be able to support the extended range and be usable in a musical manner. I would hazard a guess that anyone who goes to the considerable trouble of designing and making an extended range piano, also knows something about how to get a reasonable tone out of the extra notes. If it wasn't usable, they wouldn't do it. I applaud people doing something different.

I think on almost all pianos I've played including my Mason BB around the top three notes are either unmusical to some degree or at a point where it's hard for me to imagine going beyond those notes and getting what I would call a musical sound. I don't see much point in having notes that sound very unmusical available. Of course, another person's idea of what's unmusical or unpleasant or not useful might e different from my own.

There have been threads about which classical pieces(perhaps not including the last 50 years)use the top three notes and only a handful for pieces get mentioned. And one poster in a recent thread said at least one reason the 85 note compass was eventually extended to 88 was purely for the aesthetic reason of avoiding two groups of black keys at the top.

If I was buying a rebuilt Steinway, if I could save 10K on a Steinway 85 note model(which in my experience is the cost differential between 88 and 85 note models) or buy a larger Steinway 85 for the same money as a smaller Steinway 88, the only thing that would prevent me from buying an 85 is the considerable(for me)psychological negative of owning a reduced compass piano. From a practical point of view I think those last few notes are rarely needed and composers seemed to have agreed.

I'm reviving an old thread, but there is some important news: Stephen Paulello debuted his new SP 300 concert grand on December 4, 2015 in France. There are two YouTube videos, both piano four hands performances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrVGV9DkSGc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIg0OB2V4cg

This piano represents the state of the art of piano building today. Construction particulars include 102 keys (F to F), the piano is straight strung, there is a single continuous bridge rather than bass and treble bridges, the plate is barless (no struts between the end struts), Paulello nickel plated wire with hybrid scaling, nickel plated soft iron wound bass strings, Paulello's patented bridge agraffes, ribless soundboard panel, and monobloc back beam construction. The piano is 9' 8" long (300 cm.).

I have listened to the two videos quite a bit, but I will hold my own comments until others chime in. Worth a listen, certainly.

Will Truitt

A piano that long and only one prop stick?

Regards,

Sounds like a toy piano? Have any better recordings?

I wonder if I'm alone in finding the videos, which I absolutely had to struggle to sit and listen through, and the piano disappointing?

My apologies if that disturbs anybody

Regards,
Andy

I, too, have heard much better-sounding pianos through the same add-on speaker system to my laptop from which I listen to all PW videos and recordings. The sound of this piano is quite disappointing for all the hype.

Regards,

As I recall, the Fazioli 308 has only one lid prop.

I agree with the others, it is definitely not a flattering video. Even the tuning sounds off. If this is state of the art, maybe the art needs to take a step or two backwards.

Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one not impressed. The modernist case is a non-starter (for me) as well. I look forward to a better recording.

Kurt

Hi everybody,

Here's the Stephen Paulello's new piano "SP opus 102" we're talking about:

https://www.facebook.com/patscan.triceavini/videos/10208035524556215/

https://www.facebook.com/patscan.triceavini/videos/10208039305330732/

It makes the beside Hamburg Steinway D look ugly

I find it very beautiful to look at. Would love to have the chance to try it.
If I had anything to do with the promotion of the piano, I would not want these amateur camcorder-grade videos (with even worse audio) getting out into the general public as the first impression of the instrument...

Thanks, Trandinhnamanh. Those are the first pictures I have seen of the plate and interior stringing. I think the slender profile of the piano is quite elegant.

The sound of the SP 300 may not yet be on its best footing, but here is a link to a video of Stephen's previous concert grand, the SP 287. This piano is balanced and cohesive. Although the recording is two teachers speaking in french as they demonstrate the construction of the piece on the piano, it does allow you to hear what the piano is capable of, and gives a better idea of the tone of a Paulello piano. Listen for its strengths as well as defecits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncICs3inJ3U

Will Truitt

Hmmm...no, it doesn't. The Paulello is a beautiful piano, though.

What's the price on that thing?

160.000€, and time to wait is 12 months