Commentary on Yamaha's C6 Grand
by Ed Ting
Updated 6/24/00


The Yamaha C6


I've lived with this piano for nearly a year now, and can offer some additional
comments.  Hopefully this will be of some use to some of you out there.  

Overall, I am very pleased.  It took about a month for me to get used to the size
of the instrument; it's subjectively almost twice as large as the G2R it replaced.
Also, I bought a Poeschel Artist's Bench (about $400) beforehand, and never even
bothered to open the carton for the cheap (Made in China) bench that came with the
piano.  Those of you who are serious about your piano playing, take my advice and
get one of these benches!  

Also, I bought a Dampp-Chaser system ($350), which regulates the humidity 
through a network of heater rods and a small water reservoir.  Through the winter
months, the system used almost 1/2 gallon of water a week, which gives an indication
of just how dry it gets around here.  

The Dampp-Chaser dramatically reduced the amount of drift in the tune of the piano.
I'd estimate the amount of drift at 1/3 to 1/2 of the drift in the non-equipped G2R.
Despite the weather changes, and the fact that the piano is new and is prone to string
settling and stretching, it remained playable and listenable.  I should have done this
to the G2R a long time ago; it would have saved me much heartache.  

It is sometimes amazing to experience how well this system works.  Once, after a one
week business trip, I returned to find the temperatures fifty degrees higher than when
I had left.  The piano was a mess.  The tone sounded as if the piano was underwater.  
I called my technician and told him the piano needed a tuning -- the sooner the better!
However, the earliest he could come over was in about a week.  This sounded like an 
eternity at first.  But as the week wore on, the Dammp-Chaser brought the piano back
into tune.  It actually sounded quite good by the end of the week, and I wound up
cancelling the appointment altogether.
 
Also, those of you who think you can get away with just the dehumidifier rods, think
again.  Here in damp New England, the dehumidifier ran a grand total of nine weeks
through the first year.  The rest of the year, the humidifier was running.  Don't skimp;
you need the whole system.

Finally, I bought a string cover (about $60) to keep my cat's paws away from
the strings when they jump inside the piano (this "cat problem" is kind of a
touchy issue around here.)

I was shocked at how big this piano was when they first muscled it into the house.
It took three burly guys over an hour to ease the instrument into position.  My 
tech told me not to worry, in about a month it'll look the same as the other one
did.  He was right.  So now I'm spoiled.  A 7' grand is now "normal looking" to 
me, and during my subsequent trips to piano stores with friends, I am always 
struck by how small the pianos there look.  Ain't life awful?

The action of the piano is just wonderful.  In a typically Japanese fashion, the
QC on the action parts is astonishing -- it's as if someone cut the keyboard with
a laser beam out of a solid chunk of wood and Ivorite.  Any non-Japanese keyboard
(even the much-vaunted Renner units) look a little "sloppy" to me now.  I think 
(and have thought for some time now) that the actions on Yamaha and Kawai
pianos are the great unsung heros of the piano industry.

As what of the tone?  Ah...well...the tone.  The sound of the Yamaha might best
be described as easy to like, but somewhat harder to love.  Like all other Asian 
pianos, this one is bright sounding, with a short decay time, especially in the 
treble.  Some think these Japanese pianos sound like laser beams out of a
science fiction movie.  I've already had it voiced down once, and will probably 
do so again in the near future.  Right now it's mellower, but there is a trace of 
brightness starting two octaves above middle C.  Also, there are some "metallic"
sounding bass notes, which my tech says is not a problem to fix.  Also, like most
Yamahas, this is a loud piano.  It has no problem achieving room-shaking bass. 

Some like the tone of these Japanese pianos, some don't.  Having "grown up" 
with this kind of sound, I've always liked it.  For classical music, which 
often sounds best with lush, sweet tones containing lots of complex overtones,
it sometimes falls a little short.  I find myself pedaling more on a Japanese
piano, in an effort to sustain the tone, which sometimes decays just a little
too quickly for my tastes.  I am reminded of videos I've seen of Horowitz playing
his Steinway, and not using any pedal at all for long stretches of time.  Try 
that on a Yamaha!

While some feel these instruments may fall a little short in tone quality,
they are at least consistent, which is more than I can say about some other
makes.  When I walk up to a "strange" Yamaha piano (in a bar, hotel lobby, etc.)
I know exactly how the instrument is going to sound, and how it will play, before
I even touch it.  There's a kind of friendly reassurance with a Yamaha or a 
Kawai that I don't think you get with any other brand of piano.

There are, however, classical pianists out there who like the Yamaha a lot
and don't view them as a compromise at all.  Richter liked them, as does
Andre Watts, Frederic Chiu, and others.  The Yamahas may sound a little
"thin" to the seated listener, but to the pianist, the short decay times
actually help you to hear what's happening a little better than on the
more complex-sounding units like the Steinway.  

Conversely, I once played on a Steinway B in front of some friends.  It
was a bit of a struggle for me; it seemed as though I couldn't hear anything
through the thick cloud of sounds coming at me from the soundboard, and I
got a little confused.  However, the people in the room said it sounded just
fine.  This difference in sound perception between the pianist and the seated
listener may help explain why some prefer one type of piano to others.

Thus, it may be possible to place pianists into two diverse camps:

1) A "geeky" or "engineering" camp, comprised of pianists who value con-
sistency, tight QC, and the ability to hear what's going on, even in complex
passagework.  They are perhaps willing to sacrifice something in the tone
department to obtain these qualities.  These people tend to be "into" piano
technology and can often quote you specs, current prices, model numbers,
etc.  Mostly they favor Yamahas, but they may like Kawais, Bechsteins, 
Bosendorfers, or Schimmels as well.  I guess I am one of these.

2) A "sound sensualist" camp.  These pianists place a higher emphasis
on absolute sound quality.  They tend not to care how or why a piano
works, only that it expresses their innermost thoughts and feelings
in the most direct way possible.  They are not particularly into piano
technology.  In extreme cases, they do not even know what kind of piano 
they own.  Sound sensualists are really into Steinways.  They may also 
like Baldwins or Mason & Hamlins (and their derivatives.) 

The renovations in these "C" series grands are said to overcome some of the
deficiencies of the previous "G" grands.  I'd say they've done a good job.  This
C6 sounds much, much better than the G2R did.  There are times, playing the
piano late at night (my favorite time) when I lose all sense of the fact that I am
playing an instrument.  I have a similar sense of losing myself when looking 
through one of my astronomical telescopes at an especially beautiful object.  
For those all-too-rare moments, all the stresses and pressures of the world melt
away, and there is only myself, and music enveloping me.

...and I guess that's the highest compliment I can give any piano.

Happy music-making to you all,

-Ed Ting


E-mail me about pianos or telescopes
Back to Scope Reviews Home Page