Petrof Quality
Laurie Prior
I have come accross 2 Petrof pianos to tune and when tuned, to play them a bit
which allowed me to assess them as a pianist after doing so as a technician.
The grand seemed very nice, with a rich full bass and some satisfying depth to
the rest of it. Perhaps a little hard in the top, and the touch weight was a
bit too heavy for me. Professional pianists would probably have no problem
with that. My finger muscles though coping with high speed passages, are not
trained enough to cope the way a good pro manages, so I get tired and my
accuracy and co-ordination gives up quite quickly.
I think these pianos are quite good on quality. Wasn't there some tie-up with
Bosendorfer with the Weinbach company?
The uprights I have tried, have all impressed me more than most of the South
Korean ones of the same price. Of Polish cheaper end of the market, I have
only come accross two out of about 50 that were very satisfying to play and
listen to. But my only experience of Czech stuff has been with the Weinbach
and they appeared good value for money.
Mind you, value for money is not always the best route to long term
satisfaction, but that's another story. In blind tests done in France where
37 cheaper range uprights were judged impartially by musicians and technicians,
for Frame, Soundboard, Keyboard, Action, Hammers, Regulation, Finish, Tone and
Touch, the Petrof K115 upright managed 11th place scoring 44 out of 75 The
Weinbach Romantique, was 24th and scored 39 out of 75 Top of the list came
Yamaha LU210C with 60 points, and bottom was Holstein USSR 21 points!! The
Petrofs' lowest points were for the Action and it scored well on tone and
touch. The Weinbachs' worst aspect was also the Action, but the touch and tone
faired little better scoring only 8 and 9 points compared to the Petrofs 12 and
13 respectively.
Hope that gives you some assistance in making a choice to lash out the
spondoolies!!
Good Hunting
--
Laurie Prior
Skip Augustine
>In blind tests done in France where
>37 cheaper range uprights were judged impartially by musicians and technicians,
>for Frame, Soundboard, Keyboard, Action, Hammers, Regulation, Finish, Tone and
>Touch, the Petrof K115 upright managed 11th place scoring 44 out of 75 The
>Weinbach Romantique, was 24th and scored 39 out of 75 Top of the list came
>Yamaha LU210C with 60 points, and bottom was Holstein USSR 21 points!! The
>Petrofs' lowest points were for the Action and it scored well on tone and
>touch. The Weinbachs' worst aspect was also the Action, but the touch and tone
>faired little better scoring only 8 and 9 points compared to the Petrofs 12 and
>13 respectively.
Are you aware of any similar tests done on grands?
Tnx,
Skip Augustine
___________________________________________
Augustine Engineering
Integrated Circuit and Board-Level Electronics Design
sk...@augeng.com
(619)753-8781 (Voice)
(619)753-7019 (Fax)
___________________________________________
Laurie Prior
sk...@augeng.com "Skip Augustine" writes:
> In article <811976...@pamprior.demon.co.uk> Laurie Prior
> <Lau...@pamprior.demon.co.uk> writes:
>
> >In blind tests done in France where
> >37 cheaper range uprights were judged impartially by musicians and technicians,> >for Frame, Soundboard, Keyboard, Action, Hammers, Regulation, Finish, Tone and > >Touch, the Petrof K115 upright managed 11th place scoring 44 out of 75 The
> >Weinbach Romantique, was 24th and scored 39 out of 75 Top of the list came
> >Yamaha LU210C with 60 points, and bottom was Holstein USSR 21 points!! The
> >Petrofs' lowest points were for the Action and it scored well on tone and
> >touch. The Weinbachs' worst aspect was also the Action, but the touch and
> tone
> >faired little better scoring only 8 and 9 points compared to the Petrofs 12
> and
> >13 respectively.
>
> Are you aware of any similar tests done on grands?
>
Sorry no, I simply came by this list supplied to me by a dealer, who I think
found it at an exhibition! To my knowledge the only grand tests done blind,
were when a panel of top musicians were asked to identify and judge several
grand pianos hidden behind an accoustically transparent curtain. Many of them
were embarrassed having been unable to identify the Steinway, the Bosendorfer,
the Bluthner the Yamaha and the Bechstein or whatever else was thrown at them.
Slightly unfair, I know, but I expect the very aware ears amongst them must
have been able to tell the bottomless pit of sound emanating from the
Steinway.
I think the Bosendorfer has a lovely plum-ey sound, and the Bluthner sounds
sort of softly polite, but great it some contexts. Bechstein has a sort of
woodey quality etc, but all this is no help to you. With expensive high class
grands, I expect it's almost a case of the higher the price the better the
piano (within reason) Sadly there is some high priced junk around, and some
low price accidentally wonderful stuff, and you need to be lucky or hyper
painstaking. Good Luck - Let anyone e-mail me if you want a
technician/pianists view, I'll always give help gladly. Cheers
--
Laurie Prior
Mark Charette
: the rest of it. Perhaps a little hard in the top, and the touch weight was a
: with that. My finger muscles though coping with high speed passages, are not
: trained enough to cope the way a good pro manages, so I get tired and my
: accuracy and co-ordination gives up quite quickly.
There have been Petrofs where the rail has needed moving quite a bit to get the
action right. My dealer had his tech work for about 15-20 hours on mine to get
it where I liked it.
RE: Weinbach/Petrof differences - They're basically the difference between
a Chevy & GMC truck - they're both built on the same line with the same
internals. Tuning/action adjustment/case differences are basically the
only differentials between them at any time.
--
Mark Charette char...@mika.com
MIKA Systems, Inc
17197 N. Laurel Park Dr Suite 115
Livonia, MI 48152
MidiSX
>A few technicians also told me that Petro piano in general needs more
>regulation work in the first few years of ownership. By the way, if
>the buyer intends to upgrade in a few years, he/she should aware that
>it is more difficult to sell a Petrof than say a Yamaha or Kawai. Since
>most of non-pianists people probably never heard of Petrof.
I've recently bought a Weinbach. I've had my piano tech adjust the action
so that it isn't so "stiff". I'm on my third adjustment and seem to be
converging on getting the sound I feel in love with - with the feel I
prefer.
By the way, as long as I upgrade at the same dealer, I'll get 100% of my
purchase price put towards my next one upon trade.
dave nacy
mid...@aol.com
-Chen,J.L.
Mark Charette <char...@ultoe.det.dec.com> wrote:
>Laurie Prior (Lau...@pamprior.demon.co.uk) wrote:
>: the rest of it. Perhaps a little hard in the top, and the touch weight was a
>: bit too heavy for me. Professional pianists would probably have no problem
>: with that. My finger muscles though coping with high speed passages, are not
>: trained enough to cope the way a good pro manages, so I get tired and my
>: accuracy and co-ordination gives up quite quickly.
>
>There have been Petrofs where the rail has needed moving quite a bit to get the
>action right. My dealer had his tech work for about 15-20 hours on mine to get
>it where I liked it.
15-20 hours is a lot of work! And I hope you don't have to pay for it.
From the few Petrof grands I played, I have the same impression that
its action is usually very heavy and mushy. The tone of the piano is
usually good but not very even. I believe a well prepared Petrof grand
can be very beautiful, but the buyer should be aware that this usually
is not the case if you just buy one from the inventory of the dealership.
Larry Fine's great book (The Piano Book) also confirms my experience.
A few technicians also told me that Petro piano in general needs more
regulation work in the first few years of ownership. By the way, if
the buyer intends to upgrade in a few years, he/she should aware that
it is more difficult to sell a Petrof than say a Yamaha or Kawai. Since
most of non-pianists people probably never heard of Petrof.
BTW, I am not saying Petrof is a bad piano. Actually I think it is very
nice and I prefer a well regulated Petrof to a Yamaha. I just
try to point out that it is cheap for some reasons.
Julian
-Chen,J.L.
>By the way, as long as I upgrade at the same dealer, I'll get 100% of my
>purchase price put towards my next one upon trade.
Unfortunately, this may not be as much useful as you thought when you
are ready to upgrade. Believe me since I just upgrade to a grand recently.
My experience told me that as soon as the dealer knows you have a trade-
in (they know automatically if your trade-in was bought from them), the
price goes up (or the price does not come down as much as it suppose
to be).
You will be also limited to that particular dealer to choice your
next piano, not a very good idea. The full upgrade allowance is a
gimmicks in piano business. Any people do their research and shop
around will do much better than accepting the fictional full trade-
in allowance.
BTW, I found out the idea of "buying a new upright then upgrading to
a new grand within a few years" in general is a very expensive
process. Since you lose so much when you try to sell your only-
few-year-old-as-new piano.
Julian
Public workstation #2
>
> The full upgrade allowance is a gimmicks in piano business.
I agree! Well, at least if you are not careful the
"money back" thing can go awry.
Mark Charette
: In article <448srd$v...@pms507.pms.ford.com>,
: Mark Charette <char...@ultoe.det.dec.com> wrote:
<snip>
: 15-20 hours is a lot of work! And I hope you don't have to pay for it.
Nope. My Petrof dealer here does that as part of the normal work on
Petrofs (and Mason&Hamlin when they were available, Grotrians, Fursters,
and a few other brands he carries).
: From the few Petrof grands I played, I have the same impression that
: its action is usually very heavy and mushy. The tone of the piano is
: usually good but not very even. I believe a well prepared Petrof grand
: can be very beautiful, but the buyer should be aware that this usually
: is not the case if you just buy one from the inventory of the dealership.
: Larry Fine's great book (The Piano Book) also confirms my experience.
One of the reasons I bought from this particular dealer was the fact that
they spent the time on each piano. The pianos at every other dealer I went
to (bar one in Ann Arbor) were badly prepared, and I went to each dealer
in my metro area city (Detroit) that had a Yellow Pages advertisement.
Craig Walters
To extend your post, did this play-off result in any ranking of the sound
quality of the pianos by the expert musically aware sets of ears? That
is, did the group say which pianos gave the most musically pleasing
sounds?
Thanks,
craig