New* tone comparison between Yamaha U3, Kawai K500, Feurich 122, Ritmüller RS130 & Blüthner

[@stoicstudents]

Acoustic pianos absolutely are the best, they ALL give off their own distinct tune, you can easily hear the difference between each piano, they all have their own souls, i dearly yearn for the day i get my hands on an Acoustic

[@DanielLearnsPiano]

Unfortunately, the clipping audio makes it really hard to listen to the comparison.

[@burningdog2]

Agreed. I unfortunately left a dislike on what was otherwise a really informative video, for this reason.

[@michaelw6554]

Exactly, they all sounded harsh due to the mic-ing of the instruments.

[@geraldvaughan5103]

Thank you for your very informative demo. I have a Blüthner from 1934 and am in the process of regulating it. This demo was good for me as I can hear the same quality in the Blüthner you played. Now I'm satisfied that the mellow tone is correct for it. It's been fitted with brand new Abel hammers. Thank you again and I hope to hear more from you.

[@Contraster671]

This video is so, so helpful thank you

[@jismo7]

That's incredible, bearing in mind every 3dB increase is twice as loud. I have a Feurich 179 Dynamic II which is very loud. I think the Kawai sounds the best in your video.

[@hsn10]

Ritmüller is sweet. I am sold.

[@interrestrial9815]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@jack-hi3tb]

I have a Bluthner Grand piano the same length Only two years older. It has been redone and sounds fantastic.

[@christineharmony2375]

Thank you . Really useful .

[@AshtonnnM]

7:50 I disagree, I take it you've never heard of American piano companies Steinway & Sons or Mason and Hamlin? The American piano sound is more mellow than "big, loud, brash sounds." European pianos typically aren't "mellow" they are known for their "bell-like" tone, as they say. As per the article titled "Steinway: An American Story" on Steinway's own website, it states Henry E. Steinway "founded STEINWAY & SONS in New York City with the goal of building the best piano possible." This is in response to comment claiming it is a German brand (which for some reason YT isn't allowing me to respond to).

[@alejomontoya9794]

Steinway and sons is not an American brand, is german, look it up

[@AshtonnnM]

@@alejomontoya9794 As per the article titled "Steinway: An American Story" on Steinway's own website it states Henry E. Steinway "founded STEINWAY & SONS in New York City with the goal of building the best piano possible."

[@edwardhurst4069]

Fabulous comparison, thank you. Bluthner is my preference. 🙂🍃

[@benjaminsmith2287]

A 1980 Yamaha is world's apart from a current model. Yamaha made a lot of changes to their tone over the years where Kawai's tone has evolved but overall not as drastically as Yamaha. Would like to see the same thing done with a current Yamaha U. But, even for 1980s Yamaha, that's a bright one. On the db meter, they all seem to have a similar low end number.

[@jen43072]

I'd imagine a 1980 piano that had been played a lot has very compacted felts on the hammers and are overly bright even for Yamaha's typical tone. Would imagine a good voicing would smooth that out quite a bit.

[@benjaminsmith2287]

@@jen43072 Yamaha's "typical" tone has changed and especially on the medium to upper-level grands. The CX has some of the changes in tone from the CFX, just not as refined. The SX is a softer sounding piano than the CX and even CF series. So they're not the bright pianos of earlier eras and even some of them weren't bright. Of course, voicing can be altered but the base sound has changed. The U series has undergone a lot of changes too including to the plate, the pins, the strings, and the hammers that now include under felts. It still has a U sound but it's different now.

[@eliomax6658]

@@benjaminsmith2287 yamaha u3 year 1980 and yamaha u3 2020 sound very very different. In Italy I don't understand so much price difference between yamaha u3 and kawai k500: yamaha euro 12/13000, kawai 7/8000.

[@benjaminsmith2287]

@@eliomax6658 Right. Yamahas are very different sounding pianos through the generations. Kawai and Yamaha should be closer priced. Kawai is sometimes a bargain compared to Yamaha.

[@chriswalden6519]

I totally agree, I'm a piano tuner and had an 80's U1 when I was doing my grades, I tuned a brand new U1 the other week and it was terrible in comparison, such a shame as the 70/80's models are amazing instruments.

[@МихаилКапитонов-е8з]

Красивая игра. Вы пианист?

[@jerrydavis1475]

Among those uprights I like the Feurich 122

[@MrSouzy]

For me the Bluethner sounded fantastic. Didn't like the yamaha at all. We have an old Seiler at present but I have promised myself a newer piano when I hit my personal playing goals. Of course it should not be a downgrade in terms of sound quality and playability. I was thinking about a bluethner upright. Have you ever had one of those in your shop?

[@disienna]

Wish the sound was clipping….

[@cadriver2570]

Yeah, it's a fantastic concept.. Set the levels lower guys!

[@PanFriedWeegee]

i just want an acoustic piano lowkey

[@Sloimer]

Wow - is that U3 really that much louder than the others?

[@sighwilly9473]

I have a Yamaha U-3 upright grand in black.. what I dont like is the bass notes are way too muddy. If more than 2 notes are played... it has a very distorted muddy sound. My Yamaha U-3 has a much warmer sound, & clearer from what the U-3 or any piano's played had. Only muddy if played in a chord in the bass. And all the demo's are always Classical pieces. I play jazz, pop, rock, country, gospel, alternate... very little classical.

[@absolutetuber]

Do you regret getting the U3? We have whittled down our choices to the U3 or the K500. We like them both. Granted we aren’t professionals but my wife is incredibly proficient (she has a degree in music education and teaches piano) and I’m more of a late-intermediate, early advanced player. Either way, we will be able to get either one for around 12k and it’s probably going to be the last piano we buy.

[@michaelbrown192]

Why don't you buy a microphone? Every tone is clipping.

[@patrickho9007]

very biased

[@cabotcat1]

None sounded great to me

[@AshtonnnM]

Probably because everything is distorted, the microphone(s) was too close or they should've turned their gain knob down on their recording interface.