Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum MY NEW PIANO or KEYBOARD! - Share Your Story! The K132 Schimmel

Lucubrate ! Behave !

By the way how is your Steingraeber doing ? 😉

It’s Wonderful - Thanks for asking!

I really enjoy It - Has such a Pretty Sound

Best Wishes to You, Your Family & the K132 in 2021!


~Lucubrate

To you and your family too ! ( I was only joking earlier )

😉

Lady Bird,
I'm pleased that you remember my playing! I think I have made progress now.

Yes, I still keep my Sauter Alpha. I also have a Schimmel K132, and a Grotrian Cabinet. The sound of Schimmel and Sauter really share many similarities. To express the subtle difference of sound is really difficult! If I take Sauter as chocolate, Schimmel would be more like butter. If Sauter as gold, Schimmel would be crystal. I know the description might be subjective, nebulous, ambiguous, even specious. However，when I wish to make it more clear, I have no words!

Well, my experience of purchasing piano was a long story. When I was a student in college, I always dreamed of a great grand piano of my own. But at that period, for me "great piano" meant Kawai GX (named "RX" at that time), Samick made Seiler，at most Petrof, or Estonia, or some others in that price range. I had played C.Bechsteins and admired their beauty, I always heard the gorgeous sound of Steinways at concert hall, and I also read and heard quite much （compared with people around me then）about German makes, of course also Bosendorfer and Fazioli, but I thought these pianos were for concert halls and recording studios, I couldn't even imagine that I had one only for home use. Such a luxury!

Ah, time for meal. As I've said, it was a long story. Just to be continued

By the time when I had worked for three years, I had the budget for my new piano. After some research (The most important thing is trying pianos by yourself !) I realized the most basic requirement for a good piano should be first stability, and second musical capability. For instance, it should be capable to play fast and repeated notes, and to connect notes into singing words with ease; it should have wide dynamic range and rich palette; it should have the clarity to make phrasing and different parts of music structure clear enough. I came to believe that I could not take cheaper substitution as the best for value/cost reasons. A number of options were removed from my list. I thought the left problem for me was just an optimization: I would take the one with lowest price which met the above requirements. But soon I found it was not that simple.

The sounds of pianos were different from brand to brand, and from model to model. For European makes, especially German makes, each brand (actually each line of each brand) had a unique soul. I could not compare them just according to performance ability! Many of them impressed me a lot, and the choice relied more on my personal taste. I began to try every brand if there were chances, and if there was no dealer in my neighborhood, I turned to my friends for help. I asked them to make records for me and describe their feelings about the piano they played. I also read many threads here, listened to many videos on Youtube, and I sought for advice from Norbert, Rich Galassini and other warm-hearted piano fans here.

@aesop Can you say why your K132 is your favourite, or on the other side of the coin, when do you like to play your Sauter and your Grotrian?

@Withindale
My word might be misleading — "my favorite" means my favorite upright, and also my favorite model of Schimmel. I do love the concert grand K280, semi-concert grand K230, and smaller ones such as K195, but those didn't astonish me, because I've played quite a number of wonderful grands, and surely I won't be surprised for their excellence. But the Schimmel K132 surpasses my expectation and imagination of an upright. After all, an instrument is made for music. For what I hear, who really cares the shape of it? Furthermore, if compared just based on appearance, are grands born to be superior to uprights? I never take that for sure. Actually, uprights are better suited for smaller room. For me this upright certainly beat many grands even at the first sight, hahaha~

Of course I don't think my Schimmel is better than my Sauter or Grotrian. I will not even compare them. But I really play more on the Schimmel, only because it's easier to place music score on upright, but for grand I must open the lid, and it results in louder volume. I usually play Sauter with its lid closed, after I've recited the score. The Grotrian is with my parents, so I can only play it when I go to live with them. But I always feel happy when I hear and touch it.

@aesop
Thank you for a perfect explanation of why the Schimmel K132 is such a wonderful, and practical, instrument. What you say about the Grotrian is absolutely true.

aesop
Do you have a Grotrian upright ? I know you have a Sauter Alpha ( must be gorgeous! ) and you have the Schimmel K132.
I suppose like us in Vancouver you have to think about tuning when the weather is warmer or do you tune them only once a year ?. My Schimmel has kept its tuning well , so it will no doubt be tuned in May or June.
It is a very new piano , so I shall let the technician check things like the regulation. I suppose as it has settles down "things may have moved " in the process ? ( not sure ? )
Best wishes! LB

Lady Bird,
The Grotrian I have is a 192 grand made in 1989 and first sold in 1991, and it is with my parents now. I think I will not buy another upright after playing my K132
Yes I used to tune my Sauter and Schimmel twice a year. At first couple of tuning, they were out of tune quite much, but after that period they become a lot more stable, so I tune them once a year since then. They seldom had issues, and sometimes when the weather change there might be very tiny case but all of them disappeared without any treatment in less than a week.
However, there has been more than two years since my last tuning, mainly due to the virus. My tech live in a nearby city from me, but since virus it's difficult for us to travel for most of the year. Sometimes the situation get eased, but I had to treat with my work, and it became grim again when I had spare time. My tech is very conscientious and I trust him a lot, it's hard to find someone equally excellent in my city as substitution. I‘ve made an appointment with him in April, or May. Hope everything goes well then.
These pianos can be really stable after the first 2-3 years (I think at this period they should be regularly tuned). The sound still very concentrated and the keyboard still very sensitive. But I'll let my tech assess exactly how much they are out of tune.

Best regards~
aesop

I have tried one of these and am trying to find either a used Schimmel C130,a K132 or a Grotrian 124.How are you enjoying
this piano? Any regrets? I tried a Schimmel 130 and I think it was a Konzert model.,it sounded wonderful, better than many grands!

So congratulations!

I may in fact buy a new piano! However we are always changing our minds around here.New or almost new! ☺

I believe the OP has been banned from the forum.
The current 130 model is part of their "classic" series, the C130.

Oh trust me,I never noticed that.Quite sad that! 😔 I never noticed the "little grey imoji face" on the profile.Its a little like speaking to a dead person...?

Regarding pianos I have to sell my C2 and will decide on either a grand or a good upright.New or used(almost new) I shall have to see.The antique Feurich has been restored and is very nice but I do not want to practice on it every day.(may cause a sudden problem?)