W. Hoffmann T122 Upright Piano

Product Overview

It’s important to get one thing clear about the W. Hoffmann T122, and that’s that it’s the official gateway into a piano entirely made by Europe’s top piano maker – C. Bechstein Europe. Especially in today’s day and age, it’s nice to know exactly where your instrument and the materials which make it up came from, and who put the instrument together.

The Traditional Hoffmann Series – to which the T122 belongs – is the second ‘tier’ of the 3 Hoffmann lines. The Tradition Series is very similar in quality to the Professional Series Hoffmanns, however, the two lines feature very different sounds and tonal philosophies. The Tradition Series Hoffmanns are known for their warmer tone and rounder attack. The T122 has beautiful tonal clarity through the whole range of the instrument, which is accentuated by its remarkably responsive and lively soundboard.

The W. Hoffmann T122 features some extremely advanced features, even for a fully European hand-crafted instrument, which include: duplex scaling, full range agraffes, Solid White Spruce soundboards as well as C. Bechstein double felted hammers.

The T122 is 122cm tall (or 48”) and is possibly the best value European upright piano on the market today. State-of-the-art design blended with classic European piano craftsmanship, and the legendary and highly coveted C. Bechstein seal.

If you’re looking at premium Japanese uprights or entry-level German/European pianos, then you simply need to put the W. Hoffmann T122 on your shipping list!

Action

The action which the W. Hoffmann T122 upright receives a Bechstein-made and designed action which they label their ‘Silver Action’. This is the same action that is used in the rest of the W. Hoffmann pianos as well as in the German-made Bechstein Academy instruments.

Bechstein also makes a ‘Gold Action’ which is reserved for their Concert level instruments, as well as a ‘Bronze Action’ which is manufactured by Hailun for their Zimmermann pianos.

For those familiar with Renner Actions, the Bechstein Silver Action is similar in feel, although does have the sense of a deeper key bed (though less deep than Japanese pianos), and seems to be designed and regulated to provide better control in lower dynamic ranges. This is likely also enhanced by the extended key-stick lengths. The repetition speed of this action is fantastic.

The T122’s action gets regulated extensively – to the same tolerances as the Professional W. Hoffmanns and to similar tolerances as the Bechstein Academy line. The touch on the piano is beautifully balanced ‘out-of-the-box’ and is distinctly European in feel.

Tone

The W. Hoffmann T122 has a wonderfully pure and warm sound, with many colours and shades for the musician to draw on. There is a fantastic sense of depth to t122’s tone, which is by the way extremely European in nature – hence the ‘Tradition’ label.

The piano is equipped with full range agraffes, which although an expensive manufacturing process in an upright piano, drastically improve the pianos tonal clarity.

The T122 upright has probably the most lively and resonant soundboard in an upright under 20k, which may single-handedly make this the best value upright piano under 20k.

The captivating warm, clear and classically European tone of the W. Hoffmann T122 upright piano inspires anyone who sits down at it and is made to serve as a life-long vehicle for musical expression.

C. Bechstein Europe uses only German bass strings of 99% copper purity in the W. Hoffmann t122 as well as full range agraffes, which although aren’t inexpensive to achieve, drastically improve the piano’s tonal clarity.

Hammers

There are only three piano manufacturers remaining today, who continue to make their own piano hammers: Kawai, Yamaha, and C. Bechstein.

Bechstein designs and manufactures every hammer found in their W. Hoffmann and Bechstein branded pianos in Europe with the finest quality felts and woods available to maintain complete control over the quality of these integral components.

It’s also interesting to note that Bechstein has a specific sized/scaled hammer set for each individual model they make (not just for the different lines) to get as much tonal efficiency out of each instrument.

All Bechstein hammers are made in Germany.

The W. Hoffmann T122 receives mahogany-core, double-felted hammers (English felt) which are carefully selected and hand-voiced by the voicing experts at C. Bechstein Europe.

Soundboard

The soundboard in the W. Hoffmann T122 is made of extremely high quality, white spruce grown in the Alps, and provides the instrument with a beautiful sense of tonal clarity, richness, and colour, and retains. The soundboards are carefully cured by the wood specialists at C. Bechstein Europe for optimal tonal production.

There is a substantial and noticeable increase in soundboard quality between the W. Hoffmann Vision and Traditional series, and the quality of soundboard in the Tradition Series Hoffmann’s is equal to that in the Professional Series.

Rim/Cabinet

One of the various things which the Concert Class, C. Bechstein pianos are famous for, is how involved in the tonal production their cases and rims have always been. It, therefore, shouldn’t come as a total surprise that the W. Hoffmann T122’s case is made of massive spruce and a back frame made of medium-density pine wood.

Being a fully European piano, the W. Hoffmann T122’s cabinetry is also distinctly European. W. Hoffmann cabinets are finished to a noticeably higher standard than is usually seen in their instrument class, and feature among other things: straight/clean lines on the fallboard, a half-opening top lid as well a European-style double caster wheels.