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PianoFifty

Thank you - mystery solved!

See http://www.lira-piano.ru/eng/

PianoFifty

On a recent holiday visit to Cuba I came across a very nice piano situated in a backstreet art gallery in Havana old Town. It appeared to be an approximate copy of a Steinway D and, given the limited opportunity I had to play it, sounded like a very fine piano indeed (and was, surprise surprise, in ...

PianoFifty

Hi! You've had some good advice here. I used to suffer terribly from nerves when doing my graded exams, then in later life I got pursuaded to join a band as keyboard player and went through hell initially - knees trembling, cold sweats. It did take me a long time to gradually overcome the fear of pl...

PianoFifty

Check out his other listing on ebay - its just as batty:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Biggles-Smoot-Sed ... dZViewItem

Anyone any ideas what that piano actually is?

PianoFifty

Well, all I can say is the casework looks nice. But, as they say, "the smelliest dogs have the shiniest coats".......

But then I see 'Boston, Lincolnshire', and that explains everything. He's probably got webbed feet.

Oh dear, am I banned now?

PianoFifty

Thank you for all your suggestiuons! I baulk at the idea of drilling holes in my piano (and my aim isn't what it used to be.....), so that's a non-starter. Nor does the propect of shelling out £200 on a cover fill me with joy, as its only for a coupole of weeks. The family stayed with me last weeken...

PianoFifty

My piano (Yamaha GC1) did not come with a fall lock. I will be doing a house swap in a couple of months time, with a family that has two young boys (8 & 11), both of whom have no musical ability but enjoy bashing the bejeezus out of my shiny pride and joy. I want to safely put the grand 'out of ...

PianoFifty

I use 2 MXL990 condenser mics + Tascam US-122 interface inputting to Cubasis on a Toshiba laptop. Setup works well, and the mics + interface + xlr leads cost around 220 quid.

PianoFifty

At 520lbs this must be a small grand. Sofa castor cups WON'T do the job (they will most likely be too small and break).

I use some offcuts of 15mm softwood. Works fine. I have 'hardwood' floors, and without support the piano castors would dent them for sure.

PianoFifty

I guess when you talk about high end pianos, they are supposed to be transparent in tone - its the music that matters, and the piano is just the vehicle for the sound. I agree that the S6 doesn't have a distinctive sound, but it lets the player communicate the music in a way that less well made pian...

PianoFifty

Spot on about Chappells piano hall - I love that place, and sometimes go there in my lunch hour to drool. I've played that S6 too - the thing I loved about it was the responsiveness of touch. I have a GC1 at home and there is no comparison. Far, far, better value than a Steinway B (and judging from ...

PianoFifty

Len, I have a GC1 which I bought new in 2005. I got it for under £7k from Chappells because its a funny colour (that plasticky satin american walnut) and was a cancelled special order they wanted to get rid of. Initially I was a bit disappointed with it when I got it into my home environme...

PianoFifty

"T R H Elizabeth and princess Margaret Rose of York"

aka The Queen and Princess Margaret (from the well-known family of ivory ticklers) - probably won't add much to the value, though....

PianoFifty

I had a similar dilemma (upright v grand) trying to choose between a U3 and a low-end Yamaha grand. I played both types for ages and decided that although the bass notes were undoubtedly deeper and clearer on the U3, at the end of the day it still sounded, to my ears, like an upright. My grand ( a 5...

PianoFifty

How sad to see the pictures of this episode. I had a job reconciling the amount paid with the alleged value, given the advice that was given on here recently about the perils of buying pianos at auctions - seems they somehow got a real bargain....? But it would have been for a good cause (music club...

PianoFifty

I have to say I was very impressed with the sound of the Yamaha S6 when I heard the French pianist Cyprien Katsaris playing one in Lille a couple of months ago. It had a big sound, although the venue was admittedly quite small, with a nice bright treble and a decent bass. I haven't actually played o...

PianoFifty

Wow, what a cracker - straight out of Barbara Cartland's boudoir, methinks!

Innards look in good nick, though.

Its given me an idea for my Yammie, funnily enough (now, where did I put those old Wndsor & Newton oil paints.....?)

PianoFifty

I paid a visit to 'Steinway Hall' yesterday for my annual pilgrimage to pay homage to my aspirations (what is it they say - "don't touch what you can't afford"?!). Courtesy of the friendly and helpful showroom staff, I spent a good 20 minutes or so at the controls of a spanking new B. But ...

PianoFifty

You have my heartfelt sympathy! Years ago, in the 70's, I lived next door to a man who complained about the noise when I boiled my kettle - I had a Fender Rhodes 73 electric piano, which I played through headphones via an amplifier. No extraneous noise whatsoever, but he complained about the vibrati...

PianoFifty

John Broadwood have a website where you can check the age of your piano:

http://www.uk-piano.org/broadwood/serial_numbers.html

No idea of the value - it will depend on condition - but I have a 1915 Broadwood upright in pretty good shape, and reckon its probably worth around £500.

PianoFifty

Not sure how relevant this is to the forum, but have any of you seen the piano performance video clips on Youtube (www.youtube.com)? I was browsing through the site to see what all the fuss was about - it was sold to Google for $1.6bn last week - and came acroos these videos of Vlado Perlemuter play...

PianoFifty

Seems like the buyer got Ł64 for it, which must be viewed as a 'result', I think! And its made of wood too, which must be a bonus.....

PianoFifty

Wouldn't like to live next door to this guy!!

I admire his enterprise, and it would be nice to see some more of this kind of thing. He hasn't fully got this piece under control, though, and there are some timing problems near the beginning.

Interesting piece.

PianoFifty

Not a studio as such, but I have a set-up to record my (admittedly bad!) piano playing, that works quite well, and is portable. Assuming its a piano that you wish to record, you will need a couple of decent microphones, a computer pre-amp/interface of some kind, a computer and some software. I have ...

PianoFifty

I have a Broadwood model 2B upright, which someone is interested in buying from me. Piano is overstrung, underdampered, Serial Number 117966, which dates the piano to 1914 (price new was 52gns!). Schwander action, seven octaves. Metal action standards, tape check action. There are no obvious mechani...

PianoFifty

Interesting to hear confirmation about the MK store - I heard a rumour a few months ago that both MK and Bond Street would be closing soon. I gather the lease is due to expire on Bond Street and they have lined up another premises in Wardour St (I think). Heard this back in June from someone that wo...

PianoFifty

This ad is just amazing.....

http://www.rolluppianoman.com/

can't wait for the grand version - maybe they'll do a two-fer-one!

PianoFifty

I gather, from the few references to it on the web, that this instrument enjoyed a reputation in the 70's and 80's for assisting in providing the backing to certain types of movie of an unsavoury nature. I don't think an authentic piano sound is quite its 'forte', if you'll pardon the pun, and I for...

PianoFifty

Shame, really, 'cos I was looking forward to finding out more about this project - I was thinking along these lines for the (so far unsold) Steinbechendorfer, ie rip the guts out of it and replace them with Mickey & the Microchips! But I have some sympathy for the idea - might give a new lease o...

PianoFifty

.... and I'm bored, and fed up with my piano so I'm offering it for sale: Grand piano for sale. Make is Steinbechendorfer, a subsidiary of Bryant & May - more than a match for a C3 or RX3, with a striking appearance and sound. This fine instrument was used by the well-known comedy musical duo Ev...

PianoFifty

I agree with the previous post - save yourself 300 quid and go for the YDP113. It has everything you need. I remember from your original thread that your budget was initially much lower than 700 pounds. And at around the 450 pound mark it will give you far more pleasure than the equivalent amount sp...

PianoFifty

I am looking for a digital piano, not upright i.e. she can put on her lap Any reason for this? It would restrict her freedom to play, I would have thought, and narrow the choice down quite a bit. Harmony Central has a database of just about every electronic keyboard made, and user reviews, which yo...

PianoFifty

I have heard that keyboards can lose their tune after about 7 years I haven't heard of that one before - its true to say that some older electronic keyboards had dire pitch-shift problems, but just about anything made in the last 20 years should be rock solid in terms of pitch stability, due to the...

PianoFifty

You probably need to look at something with: 1. a full 88 note keyboard 2. full size 'box' section keys (like a piano) 3. weighted simulated hammer piano action 4. built in speakers The Yamaha YDP113 fits the bill and retails for about 470 pounds. This is the latest in a long line of similar Yamaha ...

PianoFifty

Probably because there wouldn't be the demand to justify the tooling etc that would have to go into recreating such an instrument + the fact that there are plenty still available on the second-hand market. Many modern electronic keyboards can replicate the sound of the Rhodes, so why would you want ...

PianoFifty

I'm not going anywhere near the North/South divide debate - the lady in the showroom was German (I think). Does that count as being a Southerner? (unless she was from Hamburg, of course, which is further North than Bolton!). And I paid £2.20 for a pint of Stella in Wetherspoons the other d...

PianoFifty

Anyone know of a safe way to take the shine off the keys on a new piano? I have a new Yamaha GC1, which I find a tad slippy (though it seems to depend a bit on temperature and humidity).

PianoFifty

Visiting Central London yesterday (I was checking out the London Open House day, and had called in at the Wigmore Hall, which was open for visits backstage etc) I wandered over to the Steinway showroom in Marylebone Lane. Not having been there before, and not being sure it was open, it was with some...

PianoFifty

Audiograbber is good too (and free now!)- just use 'Line in Sampling' to create a .wav file and burn straight to CD. But a lot depends on your hardware set up (microphones and pre-amps). I have a Tascam US-122 Audio/MIDI interface + a couple of MXL condenser mics, which all sound pretty good. Rememb...

PianoFifty

Have just bought a Yamaha GC1 which arrived today (2 hours ago!) :D . I tried virtually all of the Yamaha range, but reckoned the GC1 gave best value and suited my budget (6-8k) - if I had had an extra 3 or 4k I would have liked the C3 (the best-selling grand in the world, apparently). The bass on t...

PianoFifty

This is an interesting thread for me. I did Grade 8 many years ago and had reasonable sight-reading skills (well, good enough to pass :wink: ). Up until then I only played from sight, and couldn't memorise very much. Then I lapsed my musical studies for many years, until someone asked if I would be ...

PianoFifty

I watched the Live8 too and noticed Elton pummelling the Yammie (was it a CF111S???) - not a Steinway in sight! But is it my cynical mind or was there a definite problem with 'finger sync' - ie were they actually playing??? I'm sure the vocals were live, but I have severe doubts about ANY of the acc...

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Search found 42 matches

Re: Russian Steinway Copy

Russian Steinway Copy

Re: HELP! - piano nerves - Does anyone else suffer?

Re: What a complete and utter twallock

Re: What a complete and utter twallock

Re: Keeping the lid shut.....

Keeping the lid shut.....

Youtube - have you seen it?

Broadwood Upright - Value?

Chappells

Put a PianoMan in Your Pocket!

Its Friday afternoon....

Re: DP (not upright) new or used for wife

Re: how old is too old?

Slippery keys

Well done Steinway!

Piano to CD

Buying a Grand

Sight reading