A grand piano that measures about 5’8″ or 1m 70cm in length is considered the most popular household grand size. It is small enough to comfortably fit into any environment and yet large enough to deliver substantial depth of tone. If you’re considering either a baby grand or a medium sized grand, it would be… Read More
What is a console piano? Typically it’s a piano shorter than 45″ in height (115cm). Historically, there have been pianos made that are even shorter (36″ tall) called spinets but in modern manufacturing, none of these are being made today. Console pianos have distinct advantages of fitting comfortably into any environment. They are unobtrusive and… Read More
Young Chang Y114 Upright Piano Piano Name: Young Chang Website: Young Chang Model: Y114 Made in: China Parent Company: Young Chang Music Company Location: Korea Height: 45″ History: Established by three brothers in 1956, this was the first musical instrument company in South Korea. By mid 1980’s, Young Chang had established itself as a global… Read More
Weber W114 Upright Piano Piano Name: Weber Website: Weber Model: W114 Made in: China Parent Company: Young Chang Music Company Location: Korea Height: 45″ History: Established in 1852 by Albert Weber in New York. The company became part of Young Chang in 1986 and in 2006 was purchased by Hyundai Development Company. American designer Del… Read More
Piano Name: Pearl River Website: Pearl River Model: UP115 Made in: China Parent Company: Guangzhou Pearl River Piano Group Ltd. Company Location: China Height: 45″ History: Established in 1954, Guangzhou, China, Pearl River is the largest piano builder in the world surpassing 100,000 pianos annually. They have over 1.3 million square feet of manufacturing space… Read More
A Voice from the Past
“Step right up… See the amazing piano that plays by itself!” I can just hear the man at a trade show in the 1920’s. “Just push the pedals and this paper roll will play songs like Swanee and The Entertainer and Bicycle Built for Two.”
This invention in the late 1800’s was quite remarkable. It functions similarly to a harmonica in reverse. Rather than blowing through holes in a harmonica, the player piano sucks air through a perforated tracker bar. The paper roll has a punch-out hole position for every note on the piano. Through the use of bellows and gears, the paper roll would mechanically slide over the tracker bar and when a hole would appear in the paper, air would get sent through a tube and pneumatically play the corresponding note.… Read More
What is it that is so different? That’s a bit of a loaded question because piano composition is the attention to a 1000 details… Read More
Meet Mr. Charles Walter, CEO of the company which bears his name. I had the privilege of speaking with him… Read More
Have you ever heard someone describe an object as being “jet black”? Jet is derived from the French word “jaiet”, a process that… Read More
When I was young I was slightly misguided in thinking that every piano brand had a signature sound. While there is truth in that statement, pianos can sound vastly different from model to model… Read More
