Life is Grand, Part 2
Link to Part 1:
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/23978.html It didn’t take long to find a few local U3 candidates on Craig’s list. The next week, I went to see one of them, it was 32 years old, but in good condition. The owner had the piano voiced so that it had a warmer tone than the new U3’s I had seen, I liked that, but somehow the sound just wasn’t satisfying. I couldn’t get the lovely sound of a Grand piano out of my head. There had to be better uprights out there. The Kawai dealer had not yet been visited so I soon made the trek to Littleton, CO to visit Baker Pianos and see their uprights. They had both Kawai and Hailun uprights. The Kawai was very nice but I soon found myself drifting over to the Grands. The store owner, Bob Baker, demo’d Hailun, Young Chang, Kawai RX series of different sizes and, finally, the Shigerus. As you might guess, the Shigerus were obviously superior and, in fact, were the best that these middle aged ears had yet heard. The desire for one of these jewels swelled within me.
I told Bob of my dilemma, that my heart and ears wanted a grand but it had to go in my office and I could only accommodate an upright. “Are you sure about thatâ€, he asked? “Have you actually taken some measurements to see if a small grand would fitâ€. Well, no, I hadn’t actually measured. I tried to visualize the room and suddenly realized that a small grand would likely fit. Why didn’t I think of this before? Well, the reason is that a friend of mine warned me about putting “too much†piano in that room, that it would overpower the room. Because of this a grand piano had not been considered for the office. So what about the problem of overpowering the room? I decided right then that the room could be treated with acoustic panels to tame the grand; what ever it took, it would be done.
On my way home I stopped at Onofrio Piano Company in Denver to see what they carried. All they seemed to have was inexpensive Chinese pianos. None of which excited me in the least. I told the salesperson, Nancy, as much and she invited me to follow her. We went up a set of stairs and through a door that looked like the entry into the restroom, but inside was a piano lovers playground. A restored Steinway, Mason and Hamlin A, numerous Bosendorfers and to my surprise, Estonias. I had read much about them here on the PW forum and was eager to try one. The L168 was the main focus because of the concern about fitting it into my office. This piano is very nice; it has a full rich sound, though brighter than the Shigeru Kawais. The bass is decent for a piano of this size but not exceptional. The feel is good.
I was getting excited about the idea that we might be able to own a grand piano. I also tried the M&H model A, too bright, and for giggles tried a few Bosendorfers, including a concert grand. I spent very little time on this one because it would distort reality. It was a dreamy experience.
Nancy made the visit here extremely enjoyable with her enthusiasm and vigor. She is also very skilled on the piano.
My mood was grand after leaving Onofrio’s and Nancy had sent me off with a piano template to see how a Grand piano would fit in the office.
When my wife returned home from work that evening the piano template was laid out on the floor of the office. Her first response to this scheme of mine, before I could say anything was simply this… “I think it works better along the other wall.â€
I must tell you that my wife has never been a hard sell. We usually share interest in most things and enjoy the same hobbies; but my spirits soared at her response.
We played around with the template and realized that the room would accommodate even a 7’ piano, but we both agreed that 7’ would be too much for this small room, likely overpowering it even with acoustic treatment. We would focus on models in the 6’-6’4 range.
Now it was time to involve my wonderful spouse in the hunt.
I discovered that the Baker Pianos had another location in Boulder, CO only 3 blocks from my wife’s office. We agreed to meet there as soon as she got off work the next day. I left work before our scheduled meeting at Baker’s and revisited Natural Piano Center, the first dealer visited when looking for a Yamaha digital. The different Yamaha Grands were tried but they no longer appealed to me. I found them brighter than before and lacking in warmth that I now found desirable. My sense of what sounds right had changed drastically during this piano search. Before leaving I tried the Petrof III again, the piano that I so disliked the first time here. It was instant infatuation with the Petrof. The sound was warm and full, the bass decent for a piano of this size, the touch was superb. I tried playing a piece of music that I had been struggling with on the digital and it just seemed flow out of my fingers with ease. The salesman, Tom, was a skilled pianist and he played the Petrof for me. The sound was luscious and sent waves of pleasure through my body.
Much time was spent with this piano and a single shortcoming was discovered. While in general the sound of this piano was lovely, it seemed to lack authority. When you played a chord with power, it failed to provide the kind of powerful attack you would expect. Tom thought that the piano could be voiced/regulated to improve this. The sound and feel were so good that I was willing to live with this shortcoming even if it couldn’t be changed much. Also, I suspected that once in our home the sound would be more powerful than it appeared to be in this large showroom.
At this point it became obvious that I was going to be late for my appointment with my wife at Baker Pianos, I called her to tell her so, I also told her that I was in love.
At Baker Pianos in Boulder they had Chinese pianos and the RX series Kawais, no Shigerus. About the only piano in there that appealed to us at all was the RX 3 but frankly it just didn’t excite us. While it sounded nice, something was missing. Since their inventory consisted primarily of smaller pianos, it's obvious that is what sells the most here and the salesman focused on demoing those. At this point I don’t think that we made it clear to him where we wanted to go with this search and it was obvious that my wife was getting a little impatient. Finally she told him with a smile “If we’re going to get a grand piano, we’re going to get a
GRAND piano!â€
Damn, I love this woman….
Link to Part 3-
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/23993.html
