Piano Name: Kawai Website: Kawai Model: 506N Made in: Indonesia Parent Company: Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Company Location: Japan Height: 44.5″ History: The Kawai company was formed in 1927 by a group consisting of Koichi Kawai and 7 of his colleagues. By 1955 Shigeru Kawai led the company into modern manufacturing and by… Read More
Other Images & Videos Piano Name: Essex Website: Essex Model: EUP-108C Made in: China Parent Company: Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. Company Location: USA Height: 42″ History: Introduced in 2001, Essex is the name of Steinway’s cost effective piano line. Steinway designed, built by Pearl River in China to Steinway’s specifications. Dimensions: 42.5″x58″x21.5″ or 108cm x… Read More
Knabe WV43 Upright Piano Piano Name: Knabe Website: Knabe Model: WV-43 Made in: Indonesia Parent Company: Samick Music Corp. Company Location: Korea Height: 42″ History: William Knabe established his company in Baltimore, USA in the year 1839 and remained in the family until 1906. As a well established name, the Knabe company became part of… 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
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
He would then quote what has become my favourite piano moving line, “Remember, fingers grow back, pianos do not”. Slightly horrified at the thought of having my fingers pinched… Read More
Today we have the privilege of speaking with David Stanwood, a piano technician who also happens to be a published author specializing in piano touch metrology. (Metrology being the science of measurement)… Read More
You wouldn’t think it, but pianos can be in shape or out of shape. Pianos can go out of shape mechanically in the way that they play but can also get out of shape in the strings which determines intonation or pitch.… Read More