Today we’re going to compare uprights to baby grands and determine which are better. This is a very popular question. People may think they don’t have enough room for a baby grand piano and that a large upright will suffice or possibly sound better than a baby grand. This is because large uprights can have longer string length than smaller baby grands as well as larger soundboards. There is a lot to think about with this question.

Fundamental Differences between Baby Grands and Uprights:

I will tell you right out of the gate that I have a bias. I believe baby grands and grand pianos are fundamentally better instruments than upright pianos. There are a number of reasons why I believe they are superior instruments. First let’s consider why you might want to consider getting an upright piano.

There are 2 Good Reasons to Get an upright:

One reason to get an upright is if you have limited space. The other reason to consider getting an upright piano is if you have a limited budget. However, placement of a baby grand can sometimes be far simpler than placing an upright. Consider that an upright piano takes up 5-feet wall space which you may not have available. Whereas a baby grand piano looks good from any angle which offers more versatility in placement. As far as budget is concerned, you’re going to have to invest more to get a high quality baby grand compared to an upright. So this could be a final determination for you.

Reasons Why a Baby Grand Offers Higher Performance:

If you’ve talked to me about pianos in person or on the phone, you know I always stress the importance of considering the long term implications when purchasing a piano. Unlike buying a car, a refrigerator, almost anything else you buy, the piano you purchase you will probably keep the rest of your life if you buy the right one since they last a very long time.

Since the back of an upright piano is unfinished, they are almost always placed against a wall. Since the sound comes out the back of upright pianos, the sound goes into the wall. Whereas a baby grand or grand piano’s sound is projected into the room. So, there is a sonic benefit to the design of baby grands.

All Students Eventually Outgrow Even the Finest Upright Pianos

Something that baby grands and grand pianos offer is a superior action. In vertical piano actions on upright pianos, the hammers travel sideways. So, there is a limitation to the speed of repetition compared to a grand piano action which has the benefit of gravity since the hammers travel up and down. Even a mediocre baby grand piano can offer much more rapid repetition than a fine upright piano. Uprights will not repeat with a tremendous amount of energy because gravity is not working for it the way it does on grand pianos.

There is More to Piano Actions than Just Speed:

Another area in which grand piano actions are superior to upright actions is in key length. Grand pianos generally have longer keys than upright pianos – not the part you see, but behind the fallboard. Larger grand pianos have even longer keys than baby grands! This is important since pushing shorter keys on upright pianos is like being close to the center on a seesaw. It’s difficult because you are in a weak point of leverage the closer you get to the fallboard. It’s difficult to push black keys and between black keys on upright pianos relative to the ends of the keys. Grand pianos have a more consistent feel because the leverage is more even from the front to the back of the keys.

Pedals On Grand Pianos:

Only the sustain pedal has the same function on upright pianos as on grand pianos. The other two pedals on almost all uprights do not do what they are supposed to do. If you ever push the left pedal, you notice that the entire action shifts to the side slightly on grand pianos. Whereas normally hammers strike three strings through most of the piano, when you depress the una corda pedal, the hammers only strike two of the strings dead on when this pedal is engaged. This gives a change of tonal color. On upright pianos, the soft pedal does not change the tone. Instead, it alters the touch by making the hammers advance closer to the strings making it more difficult to play loud. One of the most extraordinary aspects of expressiveness on the piano is the use of the soft pedal. This is something that is important to experience. The middle pedal (sostenuto) which is rarely utilized in piano music usually doesn’t function properly on upright pianos. Usually they are practice pedals which make the sound soft by engaging felt between the hammers and the strings.

Well Worth the Investment:

So, if you have the space and the budget, you will be rewarded with superior action, projection of sound, full pedal functionality, as well as a more elegant piece of furniture if you get a baby grand or grand piano. Plus, piano students who practice on baby grands or grand pianos progress more quickly than those who have uprights at home since lessons, recitals and competitions are most often played on grand pianos and being used to these instruments gives students a competitive advantage.

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today I’m going to tell you the story of how we had 27 pianos in an 1100-square-foot house. It’s actually the story of how I got into selling pianos. It all begins with how I started teaching piano.

I started teaching piano when I was still in high school.

I assisted my father, Morton Estrin, with his teaching, as my sister did before me. It was my part-time job throughout my conservatory years. Teaching has always been a mainstay. People would call me for lessons, and the first question I would always ask was, Do you have a piano? If they didn’t, I would tell them, honestly, you’re better off with a piano and no lessons than lessons and no piano. So I was turning away students right and left, and I couldn’t really afford to do that. We were kind of struggling financially. I was driving my Pinto all over the county and beyond! This was in southern Indiana since I graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington.

Eventually, I bought a big old upright and moved it myself.

I ended up moving hundreds of those big, tall uprights. Thank goodness I lifted correctly and fortunately, never hurt my back. So the next time somebody called for lessons, I asked if they had a piano, and they said no. I said that I had one they could try out. And sure enough, they bought the piano! I got another student, and everything was good. So I was bold and bought two more. But my piano technician came in and told me that the bass bridges on both pianos were cracked. I always checked out the pianos. I would look at the hammers and the soundboards, but I never thought of taking out the kickboard. Sure enough, the bass bridges were cracked on both pianos! My technician said he didn’t do that kind of work, but he recommended another tuner. So I called them up, and they came over. I didn’t really have the money to fix it. So I asked if there was any way he could do the work, and then when I sold the pianos, I could pay him and split the profit. And he was nice enough to agree to that. So we did that. Sure enough, both pianos sold, and they both made a profit. So I realized that this was something we could scale (pun intended!).

Before we knew it, we had five pianos, then seven pianos, and we topped out at 27 pianos!

We had a walk-out basement. I also had my recording studio down there. I’ve always been into music technology. We had a lot of the pianos upstairs because, among those pianos, six of them were grand pianos! We had two young children at the time. Eventually, we topped out at 27 pianos in an 1100-square-foot house! That’s right. This is real. It’s not just clickbait. We actually did that. Since that time, we’ve always had pianos in our home. And we still do right here in the Waterloo Arts District. This beautiful historical building was originally built in the 1860s, if you can believe it. We have two showrooms down here, and we live on the two levels above. Down in the basement, we have our ping-pong table. We play almost every night! The other half of our pianos are up the street at Treelawn Music Hall, where they have a phenomenal jazz program in a small venue and a large music hall where they have a 9-foot concert grand Steinway we sold them. We have our pianos there in what used to be a bowling alley. So we literally live with these pianos, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now my teaching is all online, and it’s a joy. Teaching and pianos, along with performing and recording technology, have been the mainstays since my high school days. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

It’s true that an older U1 might not have the same sound and quality as a newer one. It depends upon how much it’s been played, how much wear, the degree of restoration, and many other factors. But since there are so many of them out there, you could probably go to a number of piano stores and find used U1s. Technicians know how to work on them. They are dependable pianos. It’s easy to go with a good Yamaha if you’re looking for a mid-range upright that’s going to do the job for you without breaking the bank.

I’m a real lover of Baldwin pianos.

I grew up with Baldwin pianos. My father, Morton Estrin, was a Baldwin artist. We had Baldwin Grands in our home. In fact, my sister has my father’s seven foot Baldwin, which we restored for her. And I have his Steinway here, which is a whole other story we’re going to get to next. Baldwin, particularly the Artist Series Baldwins, represent tremendous value. Baldwin suffered a bankruptcy in the early 2000s. There was some quality decline towards the end. Worse than that, now there are Chinese pianos bearing the Baldwin name. It has cheapened the brand. Because of that, you can get a piano that’s on a top-tier level for closer to a mid-range price. Once again, it’s all about the condition and which particular years the pianos were manufactured. There are some deals on Artist Series Baldwins that are worth your attention.

Steinway pianos can be a tremendous investment if they’re rebuilt well.

There are a lot of people who just do what I call cosmetic rebuilds because there are so many people looking for Steinways. The smallest baby grand Steinway costs over $80,000 new! So obviously to get a used one in good condition for less than that can be a tremendous investment. So that’s a great used piano to look for. They are very popular. There are a lot of good used Steinways out there. But there also are a lot of questionable used Steinways out there. Once again, if you have questions, you can always hire a piano technician to check the piano for you.

I mentioned Baldwin and Steinway, I must also mention Mason and Hamlin.

Mason & Hamlin still build pianos outside of Boston. You can sometimes find deals on older Mason and Hamlin pianos. Again, some years were better than others, and condition is of paramount importance. But Mason & Hamlins are built so tough that they tend to last longer than a lot of other pianos. They have the tension resonator bracing underneath which supports the soundboard and the rim of the piano. So a lot of older Mason and Hamlins still have a lot of potential, as long as the worn parts are replaced.

One of the great uprights of all time were Baldwin Hamiltons.

The Baldwin Hamilton used to be the most popular upright in America. In fact, that was a piano I grew up with! My father bought my sister and me a Baldwin Hamilton as our practice piano. They were workhorse pianos. They were in schools and churches and homes. You can still find some of them out there. The furniture style isn’t quite as modern as pianos today. Often, they are in oak or other lighter woods. They are kind of industrial, but they were great practice pianos. If you find one that isn’t worn out, and if the furniture doesn’t bother you, it could be a tremendous piano to get.

Those are five pianos that are worth looking for on the used market.

I mentioned those five pianos, but honestly, any American made piano that’s not worn out, that has been well cared for, could be worth your while. Whether it’s a Knabe, a Chickering or a host of other brands, the methodology of many of these pianos is very similar to what Steinway and Mason & Hamlin make today. But because some of these brands are lesser known, you can get them for so much less money. If they’re not in bad shape, they could be worth putting some money into to get them on a high level. They can last a very long time.

What about other Asian pianos?

Asian pianos tend to not age as gracefully. More than that, let’s say you want to rebuild the action on a low end Chinese piano, for example. Well, maybe that piano only costs $10,000 new. Are you going to spend $5,000 to rebuild the action? It’s kind of questionable. However, sometimes you can find Asian pianos, whether they’re made in Indonesia, Korea, China, or even a Japanese piano that sat in somebody’s home as a furniture piece, rarely played, and everything’s in good shape. It probably needs tuning, regulation, lubrication, and a host of refinements. But maybe it’ll cost you less than $1,000 to do the work on it. If the piano has never been played, you can have a perfectly good instrument for a fraction of what it costs new. So you can’t leave out Asian pianos completely, as long as they don’t need much work. They can be worthwhile for you for the right price!