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Hey piano nerds, Yamaha is trying to sound like Steinway now

Flint

Flint

Prodigal Son
Superstar
https://www.yamaha.com/US/namm/2017...acebook&utm_medium=onlineads&utm_campaign=CSM

At least that's what I took from reading the marketing language and watching the videos.

My mom has two full grand pianos on which she teaches her students, a Steinway and a Yamaha. They are both amazing pianos, but the Yamaha is a tad more "brittle" and "sharp" than the Steinway, especially in the upper registers. She has them both regularly maintained, even having the actions rebuilt when advised.

All of the descriptions of how the new Yamaha SX series sounds makes me think of the differences between my mom's Steinway and her Yamaha.

Just thought you'd enjoy this.
 
Yeah, I mentioned a bit ago, that my teacher (who was a piano dealer for quite a while, including both these brands) said that in general Yamahas are getting less bright, Steinways more so. Tastes change, I guess...
 
Ok but I should read the article before commenting further (was doing something else)... reading now.
 
First comment - ok this is about the SX series, I haven't heard any of those. They're high-end, my store doesn't have them on the floor. I did try some CX pianos there, liked them a lot.
 
So, where is your comment about Steinways coming from here? Of course, Yamaha would never say the word "Steinway" on their website. ;)
 
PaulyT said:
So, where is your comment about Steinways coming from here? Of course, Yamaha would never say the word "Steinway" on their website. ;)
Click to expand...

As I mentioned in my post, my reaction to how they described the change in sound with the SX Series was what would be needed for my mom's Yamaha to sound more like my mom's Steinway.
 
Since we are talking pianos and you guys obviously know something about them, can either of you recommend a good affordable keyboard my daughter can use to practice as she learns to play piano? She is more worried about learning to play piano properly than with lots of bells and whistles, if that helps.
 
My mom has all her starting students who don't want to invest in a proper acoustic piano get one of the Yamaha digital pianos with proper weighted keys. You can get one for as little as $450, but you need a stand and the speakers are not great. Don't spend more than $1,200 for one with the stand, pedals, and bench. Yamaha is extremely effective for the money and they are consistently good performers.
 
Flint said:
My mom has all her starting students who don't want to invest in a proper acoustic piano get one of the Yamaha digital pianos with proper weighted keys. You can get one for as little as $450, but you need a stand and the speakers are not great. Don't spend more than $1,200 for one with the stand, pedals, and bench. Yamaha is extremely effective for the money and they are consistently good performers.
Click to expand...

Ouch. That is way more than I can spend right now.
 
I'll add a couple of other brands. My mother is generally fond of Kawai pianos (she has one of their top line Shigeru grands at home and we have one of their hybrid electronics at church), and they seem to have a good sound and be well made. My wife has a Kurzweil electronic piano at home... even though she normally uses headphones (my Sennheiser HD580s pretty much live on that thing now), the built in speaker sounds nice too.

You may wish to check with a local music store, they can point you to something economical, maybe even a used model (they tend to have some around).
 
What you are paying for is Weighted Keys. That is important for piano students. You might be able to find one used on Craigslist or other local stores, but don't mail order a used one as these tend to be heavy and can break more easily than a cheap keyboard.

My mom tells her students to not bother if they cannot get realistic weighted keys because that is crucial for practicing proper piano technique.
 
There are tons of great digital piano brands out there, but a few are very consistent and safe recommendations with limited offering to avoid confusion for novice buyers, like Yamaha, Casio and Roland.
 
I'll second that. If you want to learn piano, you need a full 88-key instrument with weighted keys and at least some piano-like touch sensitivity; and should have the una corda and damper pedals, if not the sostenuto as well.
 
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