Thought I would depart from the usual posts and just ask the general piano world family: what is the best piano you have ever played?

Mine: a Concert & Artist (specially-prepped Steinways for the concert circuit) Steinway B.

Second favorite: a Bechstein 6-7 foot (can't remember the exact size) grand.

Bösendorfer Imperial. It wasn't brand new. It was in a little one-man piano shop in Berlin.

S&S D C&A. Just a stunning piano.

VERY close second: My B.

I've got both a Bechstein and a Steingraeber dealer in my area as well, so someday I'll drop in and try some of those, but these two are at the top of my list for now.

I have a local dealer who has a very nice Shigeru SK-7. The action is light and fast, the sound is exquisite and it makes me a better player. I can be more expressive on that piano than most others. I played a very nice S&S B a few years back at a local Steinway event, but I didn't get to play it long enough to come to any conclusions. There were some nice instruments, but I've put a lot of time in on the SK-7 and it's never disappointed me. It's just a lovely, lovely instrument.

Nicest piano I've played: a Very, very nice Mason and Hamlin, probably an 8-9 feet grand with beautiful bass and an almost perfect action. I would've preffered the action a bit lighter, but that thing made clair de lune sound absolutely beautiful. Oh man.

A Bechstein EN concert grand made in 1974. A bass section to die for, and a killer smooth action with lightning speed.

S&SD Hamburg- not mine, one in the C&A dept at Steinway Hall. I was advised it was a very special piano and it wasnt their only Hamburg D.

Grotrian 277 Concert Royale at the factory.
Steinway D under the dome at Steinway Hall.
Fazioli F278 in NC

oh, and a number of others ...

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I guess the ONE best is not something I care to answer. Each of those had different characteristics I enjoyed.

Two fantastic Steinway D's- one NY and one Hamburg. Just unbelievably gorgeous in their own ways.

First: Bösendorfer 280

Second: Bösendorfer CS 200

schwammerl.

Shigeru Kawai concert grand played by Earl Wild. A few D's at Steinway Hall. Boesendorfer Imperial at Boesendorfer New York.

DP

I played a few real stunners:

-NY Steinway D at Bates Hall, University of Texas (in 1999-01) - great tech work, great piano
-Hamburg Steinway B at Colgate University (in the early 90's) - despite lousy tech work the piano was really interesting
-C. Bechstein 7'7" at the NYC store on piano row (last year) - would considering mortgaging everything for this one
-Schimmel 256 at the Schimmel factory showroom (2 years ago) - after getting to play all their Konzert grand sizes in a row, this one really "spoke" to me.

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The Steinway D I played in graduate school.

I encountered an excellent Steinway A last spring. I played several times and almost bought it...but could not reach a deal with the dealer.

Then I met my C7, this particular C7 spoke to me from the very beginning...

A 1940s Grotrian Steinweg monster, rescued from a Russian conservatoir, restored and currently in southern Germany (I get the key when on holiday!)

Equal,

for UNBELIEVABLE sound, 1896 Ibach concert grand.

Writing this, I'm reminded how unhappy I am with the Clavinova I have here at Uni... :-(

A new Seiler 208. It was like falling in love.

The S&S-D at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. Second to that is the Hamburg S&S-D at the Ovation Center in Madison, WI.

It was a toss up between a Steingraeber D-232 and my Feurich F227. My Feurich won. I promise i'm not being biased,but i set how to get the best sounding piano with the best touch i could find and then i found it. This is only my opinion! This being said i have heard that the Steingraeber E272 is Fabulous,however i've never had a chance to see or play one.


Terry C.

Mine are EXACTLY the same. This particular concert-prepped B was the most exquisite instrument. I had no idea a piano COULD be like that. The action was so silky - it was almost like it knew what I was going to play next and did it for me.

And the others are all Bechstein 210s or something like that. Love Bechies.

Some favorites... Grotrian-Steinweg 9', don't know model, C. Bechstein 7'7", Ibach 7' and 8', I think F3 and F4, Mason and Hamlin BB, Schimmel 213 and my Schimmel 174. Several others along the way have been impressive, but these stand out as, like someone said, I would mortgage everything for.

Several that come to mind include a very nice new semi concert grand C Bechstein; every note sang out of it. I played a NY Steinway D at Buffalo State during a student recital that was wonderful and a new 7 foot Grotrian last year blew me away with it's warm, singing tone.

The best was a new Hamburg D. The second best is my Dakota Jackson Steinway A (Hamburg piano with NY Steinway action and hammers)

Hi Pianomadam,

Great topic. Without a doubt, I'd have to say Steinway. I don't know the model but it was at a concert I did here in Carlsbad, CA. Someone told me it was worth $100,000. It felt like it.

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Play New Age Piano
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Steinway D - at the South African Broadcasting Corporation television studios....magnificent instrument.

They unfortunately dropped it during transit and destroyed the superstructure!

I have played many hundreds of pianos in my life but couldn't say there was truly one that was "the best"

Lets not forget as people we are in different mood swings at different times, so things are never all even at all times.

In the final analysis any top 9' concert is a hard one to beat.

Most memorable in my life, in no particular order:

Steingraeber 9'concert at Bayreuth factory
9' Hamburg Steinway at Rhur Festival, Germany
9' Baldwin and 9' Schimmel at Namm show
9'Sauter and 9'Grotrians at factory
9' Fazioli at local dealer,
9' Mason Hamlin at dealer friend in Calgary

Missed any?

Yeah, my 49" upright Sauter at home!

Norbert

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vertical: Baldwin Hamilton (several - mainly from the 1950s) for overall tone. A taller piano (over 142cm) might have better bass tone, for example a 57" upright I got rid of a few months ago cause I wore it completely out, and replaced with a Hamilton. Even in its worn out state, that old upright's bass blew away every single new upright I have ever played, including the Steingraeber 138! I hope my next upright (besides the 2 Baldwin Hamiltons I have now) blows away my old 57" upright I used to have in an even more dramatic way. (and if I get a grand it would need to completely blow THAT upright away - be as much better than that upright as that upright is better than the worst individual spinet that was ever built. The one below may be a possible worthy candidate, except it's $650,000 more than I can afford.)
Hamiltons (especially a few from the 1950s that I play on a regular basis) are the pianos by which I judge the tone of ALL other uprights under approximately 130cm or so.

Grand: Rubenstein R-371. 'nuff said. This grand is THE STANDARD[/b] for me by which I judge ALL other "grand" pianos (i.e. ones that have the strings parallel to the floor when the piano is set up to be played). If the piano in question doesn't AT LEAST match the R-371 tonally, especially in the bass, it's not worthy of being called a grand piano, IMO.

I've also played so many great pianos that I could not possibly list here. So here are two of my choices:

As a young man I played a fully rebuilt rosewood 7 ft. Knabe. It gave me goosebumps.

In new pianos, I haven't found as perfectly balanced a scale as that in a Bosendorfer 225.

My thoughts,

>>>>In the final analysis any top 9' concert is a hard one to beat.<<<<<

Norbert, I knew if I waited long enough we would agree on something.