🎹Upright Pianos: Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Upright Pianos (2020)🎹

Size: 1:57
Innovation: 2:40
Basics: 3:25
Pricing: 5:11
Factory vs Handmade: 11:33
USA vs Euro vs Asian: 15:14
How to Choose: 22:16
Differences: 33:10

#Upright #2020 #Piano

Hello again, and welcome to another piano video at the Merriam Pianos YouTube channel. Today we’ll be covering everything you need to know about upright pianos if you’re in the market to purchase one, whether for yourself, your kids or an institution.

If this is the first time to the Merriam Pianos channel, please subscribe, we’d really appreciate the support!

Why Purchase an Upright Piano?
Reason #1: Size of the Piano

More and more people are living in smaller situations, such as stacked housing with lots of stairwells, which makes owning a grand piano a logistic impossibility. An upright piano however doesn’t pose this same problem due to its smaller footprint.

Reason #2: Piano Innovation

It’s fair to argue that there’s been more innovation among upright pianos as opposed to grand pianos over the past several years, especially with the latest upright/digital hybrid and silent models that have proven extremely popular.

Upright Piano Basics:

Upright pianos come in a variety of different heights. The smallest is typically 42” in height, and the largest 54”, with models available at all heights in between. The most common sizes you’ll encounter are 44”, 46”, 48” and 52”. The height is measured from the floor to the very top of the piano, but height can sometimes be misleading as things such as string length and scale design vary even among equally sized pianos.

Upright Piano Pricing:

Starting at the bottom, you can find numerous older upright pianos available for free in many towns across Canada and the United States. You get what your pay for, so generally speaking, the pianos you’ll see available for free won’t have very much musical potential, and you’d likely be better off with even a mid-range digital piano.

From there, you’ll find used Korean, Japanese and Indonesian made uprights from $1,000-$4,000. New upright pianos start around $4,000 USD, typically manufactured in Indonesia and China. The next jump goes up to about $10,000 USD for taller (48” and up) Japanese made uprights.

Once the $10,000 threshold is crossed, you’ll start seeing European/Chinese hybrids, and even full on European made uprights. Once you pass the $20,000 price point, you’re into the premium upright market that stretches all the way to $60,000 or so, with hand-made uprights from Germany and the United States.

Factory vs Handmade:

Uprights and grands all ultimately fall into two categories; factory made and handmade. This can be confusing since there’s obviously a lot of overlap, a better way to categorize pianos is limited production vs mass production, along with manufacturing time.

Mass production pianos are built with a total manufacturing time of a few dozen hours and pumped out in large numbers, whereas limited production pianos can take hundred’s of hours to manufacture and refine. Limited production pianos tend to have a more complex design and better materials as well.

Choosing an Upright Piano:

The first decision you’ll have to make is whether to go with a traditional upright acoustic, or an acoustic/digital hybrid, which allows for play with headphones, along with all of the other benefits of a digital piano, in an otherwise fully acoustic piano. Hybrid functionality typically adds $5,000 or so to the price point.

The next questions come down to playing style and tonal preference, but one thing many focus on is bass clarity. Getting a great bass tone is difficult with an upright piano, so make sure you pay close attention to the bass register when you’re doing your shopping and try to find a piano with good bass clarity.

You’ll also want to test the action but playing the piano at a low dynamic range, and high dynamic range as this is what separates a mediocre action from a good one, as most uprights tend to feel fine at a mid level volume.

Lastly, you’ll want to focus on the clarity of the tone in the upper end range of the instrument. Check for evenness of the harmonics and overall consistency of tone.

Keep watching to see exactly why one upright piano might cost $8,000, and another equally sized one might cost $40,000.

We hope this video helps, thanks for watching!

Connect with Merriam Music:

[michelprimeau]

The grand piano projects better for an audience, that's for sure but I feel Upright piano gives you the best sound experience for the pianist. Back against the wall with the sound coming right to your face. That's a plus for the upright.

[kenb]

One important consideration when purchasing a piano and considering size is the size of the ROOM that the piano will be in. I own a Schimmel upright 47". I was considering a taller piano, but luckily someone with knowledge convinced me to go smaller because he knew the size of the room it was going to be in. Something too large can overwhelm a medium to smaller room and can actually feel oppressive.

[RobbLawton]

An excellent summary, that still only goes partially into the complexity of these instruments. I work in the piano industry myself and am often amazed at how little is understood about these amazing instruments by customers and pianists alike. This was an excellent summary. Thank you.

[izzy]

Years ago I bought a one owner used Mason & Hamlin upright which I love. I have it in my apt in NYC and it has travelled with me quite a bit the past decade. It rarely needs tuning or adjustment. It doesn’t lose tune. It replaced an ancient Grand that had been doped before my purchase and couldn’t keep a tune more than a few months. . I have been playing hours daily since the lockdown here in March and my Mason Hamlin needs a bit of work after 40 years in my possession. I think just new pads. It still has the original everything. It’s a beautiful piano and is pitch perfect. It sparkles in the treble - sounds great playing Debussy and 18th c pieces. I’ve been working on Rameau, Handel, Bach and Clementi. Op 36 which is a staple at Juilliard for entry students sounds lovely and resonant on the M&H. I think playing one composer so much over an extended period has caused my current small problem. Will get a tech in when our building allows non owners into our building. In the meantime I’ve been playing around with a Yamaha keyboard which has a fun sustain for pieces written for a harpsichord. The new Hamlin 50’ retails for $35, 000. They are made in the Boston area and Steinway still makes pianos in Queens, NYC and Hamburg. I’ve never loved the ASIAN pianos cause there is too much extra noise in the strings more than the surrounding strings. Steinway, which is now Chinese owned, has made some errors using inferior components but every piano is unique. I would find a really good used piano with great sound and have a technician spend some time with you to understand what will really be needed. Best to wait some time after a move before having work because you may just need to pay again after a few months. If you like the way it sounds don’t have anyone out. You will just cause future problems and expense. Get the best piano your budget allows.

[bagelam]

This is one of the most helpful videos about anything I've ever watched. I learned so much! Succinct, objective with just the right amount subjective opinion to make a more informed decision. Great job!

Also, "a wonderfully made piece of furniture that is also a piano" is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Not sure if there was some shade meant to be thrown there, haha.

[Elwing]

This has got to be the most valuable YouTube video I possibly ever watched! Thank you so much!

[patrickjones]

I still have a 38 inch janssen spinet from 1952. And you know, people like to rag on spinets but it sounds quite nice, they used some nice quality materials, despite the natural shortcomings of a spinet.

[aliar]

Hi, Stu. Thank you for this very informative and comprehensive guide for upright pianos. It made we want to spend hours and hours in a store playing and trying all sorts of uprights with the guides you gave in my mind. 🙏👍

[HS-wpvb]

Wow, I never heard such an eloquent debunking of American upright pianos as this one! "If you are looking for a wonderfully made piece of furniture that is also a piano, that [i.e. an American upright] is an excellent solution." Surely someone in New York at the Stainway sales department was spilling his coffe mug over the desk.

[beethovensg]

Pin block construction is a great barometer to judge instrument quality. Keystick wood density contributes to the aspect of touch more than you might tend to believe, in my opinion. Also. Look carefully at string coil positions. It tells a lot about craftsmanship integrity.

[shawardara]

Excellent video. Such a natural presentation from a thoughtful musician. Much appreciated.

[andrewhendrick]

When You Have Insomnia, You’re Never Really Asleep...And You’re Never Really Awake

[moonspaceblue]

I am amazed by how knowledgeable you are and the eloquence that you're getting your knowledge across. Big thumbs up 👍

[royalflour]

I feel like I came on zero and now I'm an expert, after 43 minutes!
🎉👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[marialerner]

The best piano video I have ever watched!!! thank you so much. It helped me to decide which upright piano to buy.

[phildogg]

Great explanation. You nailed it! My wife is taking lessons, so we are in the market for a good pre-owned instrument. Thanks for the expertise.

[felipebrussel]

This has been a fantastic video to watch...I have been trying to decide whether I am making an error by buying a 125-126cm instead of a 132cm...so your video gave me peace of mind... then the next one whether factory or hand made..
Really Stu, thanks so much for this video.... I am testing a w. Hoffman T128 .

[petejackson]

School was in session with this video, very informative. Great job Stu!

[alansoiefer]

Superb tutorial on upright pianos! Learned a great deal.

[reagle_]

Great video...the information you provide is mind blowing....I know a lot more now that before. Thanks