OK. As promised here are photos of my new piano...well it is actually now a few months old. It is a Shigeru Kawai SK6 (7 foot grand in polished ebony). I did about a year's worth of playing countless different grand pianos in several major cities, including in Europe. I'm not a superb player by any means, but I am very picky about everything, especially sound and build quality.

Other pianos I gave strong consideration to were a Mason and Hamlin BB and (way out of my price range) was a specific Steinway B. The smaller Steinways did not for the most part appeal to either my pocket book or my taste in sound, although that is what I had my initial sight set. I of course played many different brands (most all those mentioned frequently on this board--Estonia, Schimmel, Petrof, Yamaha, Baldwin,Boesendorfer, August Forster, Seiler, etc--save the Charles Walter). I recognize that sound is a very personal and subjective matter, so your own taste may well dictate a different choice from mine.

(As a side note, I got an official Steinway B floor template from the local Steinway dealer and was surprised to find that when I placed it on top of my Shigeru, the Steinway B while essentially the same length, was about 3 inches narrower along the length of the piano---I'm guessing this translates into a larger sound board area on the Shigeru for what that's worth. I do know that a couple of the Steinway Bs I played had a similarly excellent sound, but their much higher selling price threw me completely out of that game.)

One concern I had was the 7 foot size--both in terms of sight and sound in a smallish room. I have seen such concerns mentioned here by others and I would offer one suggestion that worked for me: I asked the dealer to in effect rent the piano to me for one week, with complete return privilages. If it hadn't worked out, I would have been out a few hundred dollars, but it gave me the confidence I needed to make the leap.

I came very close to buying an SK5 (6'6") about a year earlier, but hesitated because the bass response fell a bit short of what I was looking for. A year later, I came across this SK6 at the same store and fell in love with it. This particular Shigeru was built by Michio Kaizuka (each Shigeru has a signed card with the name of the master tech who built it, his photo and a brief story), who is one of about 20 Kawai master piano technicians. As I mentioned in my "Shigeru Master Piano Technicians" postings, Kawai sends at no added cost to the buyer one of their MPAs to do a final in-home adjustment and voicing of the piano. I consider this a sign of strong commitment by Kawai to this new line.

Sorry to be long winded, just thought I would capture some of my experiences.

Wow! What a beautiful piano in a gorgeous home! Your Shigeru Kawai looks perfect where it is! Congratulations again!

P.S. When's your piano party?

Nice house, nice piano. How much did it cost extra for the turned legs etc?
If you can make a recording of yuor piano, I'm sure many would like to hear it.

Calin

Hamiltonian,

You have a great looking piano and a beautiful home. Congratulations. What are the dimensions of the room the piano is in? Does the room have a high ceiling? Thanks for sharing the photos.

JP

Wow!

Congratulations! It's gorgeous (the piano and the room). What a great environment to play in. Thanks for the photos.

Boy, I have to agree on the "beautiful house" comments. Piano is very nice too. That is just a gorgeous setup.

JPM, my guess is the ceilings are quite high. The archways look to be 8 feet just by themselves. It's a good question though, I'd be interested in the room size and actual ceiling height.

My question is about the staircase. It's curved, I'm pretty sure, but it looks like it its a pretty small angle. Maybe its just an optical illusion due to the curve of the archway we see it through.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but JPM, you just brought your Beckstein over from Germany didn't you? Has it "adjusted itself" to the new surroundings well? I'll miss your pictures of your German river valley. "White" Castle's just aren't quite the same, are they?

Hamiltonian, do you happen to remember a little book (a kind of of physics/fairy tale/Little Prince hybrid written, I'd guess in the 1930's or 40's) with stories about how the world would appear if the values of the fundamental constants were changed? I ran across it years ago and there was one story I vaguely remember that had a very frazzled protagonist dodging one of the many manifestations of a baseball or an on-coming car or something that, because it was in the grip of an out-of-whack uncertainty principle, continually changed its position by 10 feet or so. He kept screaming "Change the Hamiltonian! Change the Hamiltonian!" ... Then he woke up.

Well, your name and your profile suggested you might know this book, and I'm trying to relocate it. If you're drawing a blank, don't worry about it, if might have just been a nightmare of my own.

Congratulations again on the piano and its world.

Bob

Wow.. Hamiltonian, beautiful piano, beautiful house.. enjoy!

May your Shigeru bring you many many hours of playing pleasure.

What smallish room? They look great -- the room and the piano!

(Calin, all Shigeru pianos come with those fancy legs and music rack, if I remember right.)

Beautiful,beautiful, beautiful.

Congratulations.

Same here ,except also "wunderbar".......

norbert

Ahhh, another new piano. Not much better things come in one's life (except babies? ) Wish I could dive in and try it, it looks so lucious!

Absolutely beauiful! Piano and your home.

Thanks very much for your kind comments.

Responding to a few of the questions:

Calin: As Axtremus mentioned the fancy legs are standard on the Shigeru. I might add that this feature appealed to a key decision maker on the deal (my wife) and provides a bit of uniqueness to the Shigeru.

JPM: The dimensions of my room are 20x15 feet with the arched hallway adding about another 5 feet onto the first dimension. The ceiling is 10 feet high.

For reference, here is what the rest of the room looks like:


RKVS1: I am not familiar with the book you mention--but it sounds fascinating. Have you read, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter? What a remarkable work, which links number theory (Godel) with art (Escher) and music (Bach)!

Regarding the staircase there might be a bit of an optical illusion, although you are probably right to say that it is a bit compact as circular staircases go:



All: Thanks again for your comments and still waiting to hear from other Shigeru owners!

OK, that's it....now I want a new piano AND to remodel my house!

You have a beautiful piano and home, and the location of your piano seems just right. I bet it's wonderful playing a nice piano in a nice setting. Congrats!

Greg

Beautiful house, beautiful piano! I love that staircase. Nice music desk on the piano too.

It's all nice.

Enjoy,
Derick

double post deleted

Hamiltonian...beautiful piano and gorgeous home!

Did your impression of the piano's sound change very much, comparing home to showroom? Just curious.

Congratulations!

Very nice!.

Have fun,
Steve

Excellent pictures, incredible piano (of course, you would expect to hear that from me!).

Enjoy!

Don Mannino
Kawai America

Gorgeous house and beautiful piano. Wishing you many years of happiness in an enchanting home.

Gosh I'm late to the party and can only echo CJQ's "WOW". I love that staircase and the tile, beautiful home. Glad you posted more house pictures. Oh yeah, the piano is pretty fantastic too

Cathy

RKVS1 and Hamiltonian-

The book you are thinking of is probably "Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland" by George Gamow. I think Gamow also wrote a sequel but I don't recall the title.

Randy

RKVS1 and Hamiltonian-

The book you are thinking of is probably "Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland" by George Gamow. I think Gamow also wrote a sequel but I don't recall the title.

Randy

So beautiful--the piano and the home!

Many happy years of music to you.

Wow, another very nice piano. Congratulations Hamiltonian!

Just Wow!

what else can you say. great piano, great room.

The Kawai name caught my eye. I'm about to make an offer for a K-25 upright. I'm really hoping my "baby" will grow up to look like your lovely "grand". Georgous house and piano! Best of luck!

Wow! Champagne wishes and caviar dreams. Enjoy your beautiful piano and your beautiful life.