Gromit's music centre...

[The Black Adder]

Love the piano, Richard.. What make is it? Some pics would be cool!

[RochaCullen]

Love the club chair. I've been wanting one of those for years!

[Gromit]

Love the piano, Richard.. What make is it? Some pics would be cool!

Joe - it's a Reid Sohn RS126. Up until recently we had a 1985 Yamaha U3 which whilst a great piano, I never really gelled with it. Undeniably well built, but I've never been 100% convinced by the Yamaha sound - that goes for the uprights and grands. I wasn't really prepared to go to the faff of getting it re-voiced so our dealer swapped the U3 for a brand new RS.

The RS is based on a German Seiler strung back/frame and has a German action and hammers but is assembled in the Far East (S Korea or Indonesia - they have 2 factories). A bit of a 'Skoda' in many ways - folk have been poo-poo'ing them for a while but have been shocked at how good they are once tried. Up until very recently they were just a fairly average/mediocre Far Eastern piano but since the Seiler/RS tie-in (RS also have a large share in Bechstein now) they have gone through the roof in terms of quality.

I absolutely love it - although it's a slightly smaller frame (126cm vs 131cm for the U3) it has a much bigger, warmer (ie German!) sound than the Yamaha. It's beautifully made too - as it happens the Royal Academy of Music have just bought a large number of Reid Sohns for the college so word is certainly getting round.

Couple of piccies...

[Marco]

Fookin' nora, that is unbelievably gorgeous!

Who needs a hi-fi when you've got the real thing, eh dude?

Marco.

[Gromit]

Fookin' nora, that is unbelievably gorgeous!

Who needs a hi-fi when you've got the real thing, eh dude?

Marco.

'tis indeed a definite pride & joy in this house.

I'm not the world's greatest pianist (far from it!) but there's a lot of truth in what you say about having the 'real thing' at home. No matter what the system, it's never going to fully re-create the sort of dynamic energy, the sheer presence of a live acoustic piano. Even though this is only a large upright (still almost one of the largest you can buy new these days) its sound is fabulous - so full of resonance and complicated harmonic structure. Playing a piano - especially on stuff like Rachmaninov Preludes for example - is a truly physical experience. The main reason why we're having the music room built, it'll mean I can play late into the evening without disturbing the children. Also will mean I can teach later too - the piano mostly gets used for accompanying my Clarinet pupils at the moment.

Just wish I could play it better though; I started aged 9 which is really too late to be honest.

[Sovereign]

If you work for the Royal Academy you must know a friend of mine, Ade Steel? He tunes all their Pianos.

[Gromit]

If you work for the Royal Academy you must know a friend of mine, Ade Steel? He tunes all their Pianos.

I don't work for them James, although I did have lessons as a young'un at the Junior Academy before doing my first performance diploma. I'm presently in the throes of going onto the board of examiners for Trinity College of Music.

I'll ask around at work as there's bound to be one or two who know Ade Steel.

[The Black Adder]

Thanks for the pictures, Richard. That is one lovely Joanna!

Yeah, been thinking of getting the wife a new piano. We have a Piano workshop near us who have some fantastic stuff.

It's a beauty... a real beauty!

[Gromit]

Yeah, been thinking of getting the wife a new piano. We have a Piano workshop near us who have some fantastic stuff.

Every home should have one.

[Gromit]

Latest addition, for the sake of completeness...although it is obviously incomplete at the moment: