Stuart & Sons is a Australian-based company who build hand-crafted pianos. They are unique pianos for a number of reasons:
What is so special about Stuart & Sons pianos?
- They have 4 pedals. The fourth pedal is a second soft pedal, called the dulce pedal. It brings the hammers’ resting point halfway up to the strings, reducing the intensity of the hammer strike and giving the pianist more control over sound quality and color.
- They have a “bridge agraffe” string coupling device, which “enables the string when struck by the hammer to vibrate vertically and for a longer duration than in conventional piano designs.” This allows the piano to have an usual clarity especially in the low and high registers, and to have better dynamic and sustaining qualities. Read this article for a more information.
- Stuart & Sons pianos have 97 keys instead of the usual 88. The outermost keys are both F’s, putting middle C exactly in the middle of keyboard.
Check out this video:
Read more:
- Listen to the piano on the Stuart & Sons website and on YouTube.
- Read the Wikipedia article.
- See what people on the Piano World forum are saying.
The Stuart & Sons piano sounds fascinating! A trip to Australia to try one out might be in order someday. Who knows, maybe a piano like this is bound to become the next Steinway. =)
3 Comments
Hello Joy,
I am the author of the pianoworld thread you refer to, and Stuart & Sons indded make very high quality hand-crafted pianos at the factory in Maryville. These pianos are a totally new paradigm and are, as you say, quite unlike any other piano ever made. The latest pianos sound and are quite extraordinary to play. Gregory Lewis of Leatham music has made some stunning recordings -- one of which may be found here -- http://www.leatham.com.au/machlak/brahms.htm.
Regards
Dr Christopher Moore
.-= Christopher Moore´s last blog ..The Ultimate Piano (™) =-.
Thanks for great link! Fascinating video. If only I could someday afford one of these pianos!
In fact the largest model spans down to CC (as low as the Boesendorfer Imperial) and has 102 keys.