CURRENTS
Choosing to buy a Yamaha Grand
- Disassembling the Piano
- Approaching the piano
- Choosing to buy a 7'6" Yamaha Conservatory Grand
- How I and my piano have bonded
- About performing...written years ago
I bought my new piano from Classic Pianos
in Portland, Oregon. I'll be playing a concert there on the 21st of June, 2008. My new piano is a 7'6" Conservatory Concert Grand, refitted with Renner Blue Hammers, and is a 1984 Yamaha, adjusted to my specifications. Notice my chair, cut to spec, 14" off the floor. Click each thumbnail for a large photo in a new tab or window.
Not a Steinway, you may whisper. Sorry, folks, Steinway has been a lot sloppy lately, but I'll say no more about their fine company and their wonderful instruments. Let's not forget that Gould himself chose a Yamaha over all other models and makes of pianos to 'replace' his irreplaceable CD318. And the great pianist Chick Corea plays a Yamaha, as does the piano genius Alan Broadbent
I played it all day today and there is nothing I can say right now. It is my love, my lost love. It is come home to me. It is mine forever. I have never loved a piano. This one I fell in love with almost the minute I played it. It took about four minutes, actually. I notice that already my playing is changing. My lines are cleaner and speedier. I raised the chair one inch. I want that machine-gun like clarity that can only come when the dampers seat immediately and the hammers and action are even and regulated. Even now, without a tuning or a touch-up, having just been moved 150 miles, it sounds so wonderful, and feels like that too.
May 22, 2008: The Chair has a piano in front of it.
In early May of 2008 I sold the Knabe (below)
Above, the 7-foot Knabe, my "old" piano, is now Robbie Cribbs' new piano. It appears here in his own recording studio. I sold the Knabe to a man who fully deserves it, will use it for good purposes, and is a wonderful spiritual light. Robbie Cribbs did the videos of my 60th birthday party. He lives on Whidbey Island in the Great Northwest, and has a recording studio. My piano will be played by many (hopefully) fine pianists, and also by his son Liam. He's devoted a few full pages to my piano, and I am honored.
Below, Classic Pianos is where I bought my new piano.
As Gould remarked to his technician, "Verne, I have never played a piano with such even touch and clarity of line." He was speaking of a Yamaha Grand. He played so fast that, at times, no piano could keep up with him. Only his Steinway CD318 and the Yamaha (almost the exact same model as mine, Renner hammers and all) that he bought later in life, came close.
I strongly suggest that anyone on the West Coast, seeking a masterful instrument, visit Classic Pianos in Portland, Oregon. They carry Baldwins and Steinways, Yamahas and Walthers. Great pianos and great technicians. A mind-boggling experience for me, in that they made it easy and fun. Still "recovering" from hypothyroidism, I wasn't up to too much energy expenditure, but Rick and Lisa and Peggie made it fun. And Esther helped by playing for me while I listened. A great crew. It used to be called Moe's Pianos. To those of us who know and dig Moe, it still is.
I have found my CD318.