Let's talk objectively what a good piano is

Many residents of Aegean region often ask question: what kind of violin is considered good? If you ask this question to 100 people, then there will be more than 100 answers. The worst thing is that most of these answers are myths, and they are just a bunch of incomprehensible fantasies. There are very few practical and constructive proposals. So for a long time, buyers who pick and choose pianos just go into jaws of tiger and let piano dealers slaughter them. After all, only choice is famous one. Use "fame" to decide everything, not "court" to decide everything.

More and more objective and scientific experiments and tests tell us that as long as old piano and new piano are well made and adjusted, it is impossible to judge which is better in terms of sound, that is, however, so-called famous violin is equal a good violin is just a myth. Of course, I'm not going to negate historical and artistic value of many fine old pianos, which are indeed irreplaceable treasures of human civilization. However, not every old piano and not every master has this status.

I think you can try to challenge this exercise and use a very simple way to suggest a personal method. Again, this is an exchange of personal experience, everyone has more or less individual knowledge, preferences and know-how, I am not going to challenge your values, nor am I going to challenge established rules of market. All I want to do is share my "criteria" for choosing a piano.

What conditions must a violin have in order for me to like it?

1. Be careful

2. Layers should be saturated

3. The layout should be grand

The first point is easy to understand: a quick reaction can quickly react to player's thoughts, but at same time it also means that it is more difficult to control and requires more skill.

The second point is that there should be enough saturated gradients, that is, when I give bow different strength and speed, piano can sensitively give me feedback at different levels of performance. Some violins are fast enough, but not varied enough, seem boring and uninteresting. At this level, more deeply, piano can respond adequately to different ranges and different forces.

The third point is hardest to understand, it's more of a metaphysical feeling. The treble needs to work, mids need to be full and bass needs to be deep, overall sound needs to be wide, tight and loose. The meaning of last two sentences is that it is easy to produce sound, and sound produced is of extremely high density. Some piano sounds are too rough and some are too dark. Only those who can show biggest sound pattern can help you in music.

Some people might ask, what about tone? It took me a long time to think before I figured out how to understand and fromreply to this question. Timbre is a characteristic of sound, isn't it?

First, timbre is overarching expression of aforementioned performance. When you pay more attention to a certain "timbre", it means that you are more attracted to sound of that particular combination, and sound you choose is suitable for a particular situation, rather than equipment that allows you to maximize range.

Secondly, timbre is sometimes heavily distorted, which is a bias. Like first point, this might just be sound you're looking forward to. Everyone who plays audio knows how good 3/5a speakers are. Audio savvy people know that good sound is result of bandwidth preference and distortion. The trumpet is end and piano is beginning, how can there be such a narrow preference?

Also, most conditions can be judged by appearance of piano: observe subtle changes in curvature and shape to judge direction of piano's characteristics. Therefore, for me personally, visual "interest" of piano is very important. Of course, this requires more understanding of structure and history of piano, so I will skip it here. It should be emphasized that visual interest - materials, construction methods, paints - is also absolutely important. There are some very famous Italian artisans with extremely fine craftsmanship, impeccable materials and lacquer work. Unfortunately, if these instruments are not modified, sound will be poor and weak, with first-class vision and low tone. Unless you find someone who will change it. The problem is that there are so many violins in world, why buy a violin that is so expensive that you have to be responsible for your own profit and loss if you change it?

Materials, models, craftsmanship, repairs, adjustments and maintenance are needed to fulfill these conditions, and conditions of performers themselves are key to most effective results. These three points are easy to say, but they all require experience and gaming skills to judge. As you learn, you use your own judgment to find a good violin. If you are too lazy to spend time learning, use the violin salesman's judgment to buy a violin.

If you think a famous piano is a good piano, then this article is a waste of time. However, if you want to find your own good piano, you must learn to judge objectively.

This is a bad piano, how can it be called a famous piano?