Need help planning room and deciding on Upright or Grand

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Nealo
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Need help planning room and deciding on Upright or Grand

Post by Nealo »

I'm re-decorating a room and can do/change almost anything it, which means I can change things to accommodate a paino.

My budget is around 5000-7000 (upright-grand)
I was looking initially at uprights
K300, B3 or U1/U3-Reconditioned(c1970) and finally the Feurich 122/125. Having watched videos only so far, I'm leaning to the Feurichs then K300 then Yamahas, in order of warmth of tone.
They are around the right price range and I could easily move a radiator and situate an upright on an inside wall away from sunlight.....See picture of topdown layout with upright.
Top down Upright
Top down Upright
So I've read all the advice, no radiators, sunlight, high or low humidity or fires.
Well being a normal room, the room I've got currently has 2 radiators and "we" plan to put a stove style gas fire in the fireplace.
The windows in the bay window do have wooden shutters so pretty much blackout sunlight.

So then I got thinking about a grand. The one in the second picture is, according to the free floorplanner website 161cm (5ft3). The wall it's shown on is the most sensible/safe option as there's no heat and it's away from the window. However there's a hope to have a tv above the fireplace.....so now seating is at an angle to the tv (complicated I know).
top down grand
top down grand
3d-grand-side
3d-grand-side
So the final option is putting the piano in the bay window and protecting it from the sunlight.. (last person on the sofa also doesn't get the best view of tv and the piano is closer to the stove.
top down grand bay
top down grand bay
watching tv with grand in window
watching tv with grand in window
I fully intend to
a) go and listen to some 5ft grands, and I'm also ok with getting an older, well reconditioned grand as I appreciate £7k doesn't usually buy a GL-10 or a GB1.
b) see if the "donk" of a small grand bass note, versus a U3 or Feurich 125 is something I notice
c) ask for a floor template for the GL-10 or GB-1, or an older Broadwood/Challen/Chappel, if they have one.

All thoughts, advice, abuse welcome as I'm driving myself mad with options but need to start telling joiners/fireplace-fitters/plumbers what I want where....

Thanks

Chris
chrisw
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Re: Need help planning room and deciding on Upright or Grand

Post by chrisw »

Your sitting room is just slightly bigger than our dining room, which also contains a large bay window and door in the same place as your own. I too have been considering exchanging my upright piano which currently resides in one alcove of the dining room next to the fireplace for a baby grand say up to 166cm in length. Our fireplace has never been used and the room is heated by a radiator on the long wall adjacent to the internal door (where your sofa is). I would position a baby grand in my room in the bay window as in your diagram. Our dining room faces east so the piano would need protecting against sunlight in the morning.

As far as the piano is concerned all your designs would work for me and I would be taking into account the position of the sofa relative to other furniture and perhaps the tv, depending how much the tv is used. More importantly I would also take into account the views of others who would be using the room.

I like your choices of potential pianos and I guess I would be choosing between Kawai (GL30, GX1) and Feurich 162. I would be looking for a mellow sound and doubt if Yamaha would deliver but I am prepared to be surprised.
Nealo
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Re: Need help planning room and deciding on Upright or Grand

Post by Nealo »

Thanks for the reply. We're having fitted bookshelves and cupboards in the alcoves, so that does square off the available space slightly. Also I'd not really want to "put baby in a corner"...to quote Dirty Dancing :-)

There is currently a radiator in our Bay, but as we're getting the stove, we're removing the bay window radiator (it was very small under the sill anyway so provided very minimal heating).

I think 160 is probably a long as I could fit in there (with room for the seat/tuning the action). I'd love to have the option of a Feurich 162, but that is over my price range unfortunately. The sound in the bass and warmth is just what I want, and I love their copper toned insides. I've watched a bunch of videos of Marcus on youtube talking about how "Tuner Friendly" they are inside too and little nice design features like long music desks and lights etc.

Currently it's a second sitting/living room that isn't used much. It has "the big pc" in there, but that can easily be moved, and I'm sure our kids will end up with TVs in their rooms...so I might be leaning towards officially calling it a music/reading room (that will of course mean we need to get butlers and chauffeurs too!) and it gives more options in terms of moving furniture around without having to keep the focal point above the fire visible.

The main decision now is which wall or bay, as that might mean moving the radiator on the wall opposite the bay.

The room currently has laminate floor in.
Would you recommend a rug underneath the piano?

You said your room is similar and you were thinking of upgrading.
Here's a link to the software, it's free and does nice renders of the rooms as well as let you shuffle things round.

https://floorplanner.com/projects/10206 ... AWZEWAm_rQ
Last edited by Nealo on 19 May 2021, 12:29, edited 1 time in total.
chrisw
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Re: Need help planning room and deciding on Upright or Grand

Post by chrisw »

Thank you for the link to the floor planner. I am likely to use it although have already checked that a 166cm grand does go into our bay window using a paper template made by tracing around the perimeter of a Kawai grand that I sometimes play in a nearby hall. We also have a laminate flooring in the dining room so I have stood my upright on unobtrusive rubber pads. A rug under a grand, but perhaps not under the legs, may be required.

I have been thinking about purchasing a grand all year but have been unable to go to any shops and now many are waiting to restock. For its size the GL10 is a wonderful piano and exceptional value in my opinion. I watch many of the vids made by Marcus Roberts but don't share his great enthusiasm for pre-world war 2 pianos.

Good luck with your redecoration and search for a new piano.
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