A strange question, you will tell me ! Everybody will know that it’s about a musical instrument, but in actual fact how many of you have already asked themselves what is inside this fantastic musical box ?
A piano consists of three sections:
the mechanism:
5,000 to 8,000 components in wood, felt or alloy which interact imperceptibly with each other.
It is thanks to this complex and ingenious invention that the piano is an instrument which allows works to be played extremely quickly, whilst having a very broad range of shades of sound between the pianissimo and the fortissimo. About fifteen adjustments per note (some accurate to a tenth of a millimetre) makes this wizardry possible.
the keyboard:
A block of wood is cut into 88 sections, each ballasted with lead and designed like a little seesaw which is called a key.
The pianist only sees one third of the latter, the invisible two thirds activate the mechanism, instantly allowing the hammer to strike the strings and produce a sound.
the harmonic structure:
A cast iron frame allows the very high pressure (15 to 30 tonnes) exerted by about 220 strings to be contained.
A sound board made of spruce, with a thickness of a few millimetres, amplifies the sound; a bridge made of beech is glued to it, allowing the vibration of the strings to be transmitted to the board.
About 220 micro threaded steel tuning pins, on which the strings are wound, are fixed firmly into multiple superimposed layers of beech called the base. This creates two contradictions: to prevent the pin from unwinding under the tension of the string whilst allowing the it to be turned in order to tune the instrument.
And all this functions without the slightest assistance from electronics, omnipresent these days.
Indeed, the piano is an instrument from another age; for about a century its design and manufacture have hardly evolved. It must be remembered that the piano comes from an era when life moved much less quickly than today, from a time when people took their time.
Like an apprenticeship, which calls for work and discipline, your piano needs to be looked after and care taken of it as you would for a human being. It is unfortunately not everlasting and not a simple piece of furniture
Different qualities:
Of course there are pianos of different quality. I am not going to review them all here but all the same I am going to give you some names. I am not claiming to grade them and some people will tell me that they do not really agree with me. I accept this comment as essentially it is about a personal appreciation dictated by my taste and also and above all by my experience with clients.
This list is not exhaustive and only applies to pianos purchased new.
To start with the unclassifiable, the inaccessible, in other words the Rolls Royce. It is not given to everybody to place their hands on the steering wheel of such a car, and it is the same with the keyboard of these pianos:
Now let us talk about the makes of piano which are a little more standard but which nevertheless I classify as top of the range. Even though the investment is substantial, it will never be regretted, all the more so as there is a very interesting second hand market for these makes:
Even when your budget is more limited, you can afford a decent piano which is good value for money:
Finally, for the bottom of the range and not to offend anyone, I will not mention any make in this category, but just warn you to avoid names which sound German in name only as often their manufacture is Chinese.
So far as second hand pianos are concerned, everything is very complicated in this sphere. It would really take far too long…
- In 1865, the Pleyel factory, a French manufacturer, is located at Saint Denis in a suburb of Paris.
- In 1971, the factory finally closes its doors. The manufacturer Schimmel based in Braunschweig in Germany, being well aware of Pleyel’s prestigious fame, obtained the right to affix the Pleyel label on their pianos up to 1995.
- Then it was the turn of the Rameau factory, located since 1971 in the Gard at Alès, to have the right to use the Pleyel mark on their products between 1995 and 2007.
- Following the final closure of the Rameau production in 2007, a new Pleyel factory sees the light of day in the same district Saint Denis. Production was directed towards de luxe grand pianos with their design created by contemporary artists.
- In 2012, this manufacture finally ceased and the Pleyel brand is no longer used by anyone.
Nowadays French pianos are no longer manufactured.
