Background
The world’s best-selling piano of all time, to date, is the U1 – Yamaha’s juggernaut from the 1970’s and 1980’s – which is still produced today, but in limited numbers. If you are not familiar with it, the U1 is basically the Toyota Corolla of the piano business, selling millions of units, with a reputation for good resale and excellent mechanical reliability. It just happened to be 48″ tall. Yamaha manufactured many models which were smaller, and many which were bigger; as did Kawai. Most European pianos are smaller than 48″, and most American pianos are even smaller than that. However, if you ask your typical piano teacher what the ‘minimum’ size of an upright piano for professional use is, invariably you will hear “48 inches”.
Examples, Exceptions
Firstly, a 48″ piano is generally a fine sounding instrument, and there is certainly nothing wrong with shopping for a piano with this height in mind. However, there are far more exceptions to this rule of ’48 or taller’ than not. Some of the world’s most exclusive and expensive instruments are under this height, and more importantly, a piano’s scale design has a vastly larger influence over its tone quality than its overall soundboard size (the only part of a piano universally linked to its height).
Example 1: Kawai K3 vs. Yamaha U1 vs. Perzina Tradition/W. Hoffmann 122
These three pianos are all considered 48″ models. However, there are several design differences which result in huge differences in overal tone production, and specifically bass response. For one, the Yamaha U1 has a #1 Bass string length which is nearly 3″ shorter than that of the Kawai model. Why? The angle that the bass strings stretch across the Kawai is far more acute than the Yamaha, which is closer to vertical, allowing for a longer string within the same overall piano frame. When you compare the Perzina, its bass string length dwarfs both the Yamaha and the Kawai. With a floating soundboard design (meaning the bottom seam of the soundboard isn’t bolted down or attached to the frame), the bridge can be placed much closer to the edge, giving the string even more space to be stretched. So even though all of these pianos are ’48 inches’, there is nearly a 5″ difference in string length between the shortest to the longest.
Example 2: Fredrich Grotrian
This piano has many nicknames, and for good reason. What you see is a 43″ (yes, 43″) unassuming upright piano; what you hear is an orchestral explosion of sound. Only a few companies in the world can produce pianos to the type of tolerances and precision that Grotrian can (Hamburg Steinway, Fazioli, Mason & Hamlin would also be on this list), and that is exactly what gives this piano its advantage. It’s not just a long string which can disguise a great piano in a smaller case – it’s a perfect soundboard design. Because the piano is able to maximize the energy, and translate it into a huge dynamic range and ultra-long sustain, this piano defies its dimensions and outplays most 48″ pianos handily. One of our customers actually came up with this comparison: a 1960’s American muscle car may in fact have a larger, gas-guzzling, 8 cylinder engine, but a perfectly engineered, turbo-charged engine of half its size can easily out-run it. To him, only looking at 48″ uprights was like only shopping for V8 engines – it turned out to be an unreliable predictor of performance.
Our Take
There are dozens of factors which contribute to a piano’s tonal performance: soundboard quality, hammer quality, string length, scale design, soundboard area, environment, humidity levels…the list goes on. While the size of a piano is undoubtedly a factor, it is just that: a factor, but not the factor. By limiting your search to only 48 or higher, you will likely miss out on many instruments which out-perform their larger brethren.