What Kind of Piano Do I Own? Let’s Find Out!

Heya Gang! Happy to be in front of you again today.  I hope this season of your life is happy, peaceful and you are full of creativity!  I want to give an easy overview of the different types of pianos there are for those of you staring at a living room fixture and wondering, “what kind of piano even is that?”. 

This can help when you are repairing your instrument, or communicating to your piano technician so THEY are prepared to tune/repair.  Also, if you ever want to sell & upgrade your instrument, you will be able to look up the true value and communicate to the buyer.  And honestly, it’s just kinda fun to know what the heck that enormous musical paperweight that’s sitting in your living room now that your grandmother passed it down to you for the kid’s music lessons really is!! 🙂  What kind of piano do you really own?!?

  Each piano is made differently.  And each piano is designed with a slightly different sound quality potential, volume usage potential, and repair process.  Knowing what can maximize your instrument’s sound and longevity is obviously useful to maintain its beauty and tone.  As well as knowing that you are using the piano as it was intended will help it feel like a “perfect fit” in your creative arsenal as a musician.

How many different types of pianos are there?

  It is pretty widely accepted that pianos can be broken into 3 categories – Grand (horizontal), Upright (vertical) & Digital.  I am only going to focus on 2 of them…the Grand and the Upright because these are the two acoustic versions of the instrument that we at TX Pianos work with.  Each of these 2 categories can be broken into a couple more subcategories that we’ll cover.

The Grand

  OK, this is the biggest, baddest and most expensive of the 2 groups.  You’ll see these pianos used for fancy-schmancy concerts, recording studios, or super-sexy centerpieces in people’s homes.  They aren’t just beautiful though…there’s a reason they are used by the pros.  See, the Grand piano has a horizontal layout.  The action of the piano (all the mechanics that make it play) and the strings lay flat and run horizontally through the very long & deep body of the instrument.  This gives it an impeccable sound.  The long strings give it a full and balanced tone.  The longer the strings of your piano, the better the sound.  Which is why the SUPER large, concert grands (9’+ long instruments) are used in symphonies & why they are so expensive!  It gives the pianist control over the dynamics and the tone of the sound.

There are 6 types of Grand Pianos

And they differ based on their size range.

• The Petite Grand is the smallest.  Size ranges from 4’ 5” – 4’ 10”.
• The Baby Grand is next up.  Size ranges from 4’ 11” to 5’ 6”.
• The Medium Grand.  Size is 5’ 11”
• The Parlor Grand.  (Often referred to as the living room grand).  Size range from 5’ 9” – 6’ 1”.
• The Semi-Concert Grand (also known as the Ballroom Grand).  Size ranges between 6’ 2” – 7’.
• And last, but CERTAINLY not least is the big-daddy of them all – the Concert Grand.  It is 9’+ long and preferred by most performing artists.

The Upright

  These babies are the most common choice among direct consumers looking to buy a piano for their home to have as a family instrument.  The uprights are usually less expensive than the grands and are more compact as they can sit against a wall.  Uprights earned their name because their action & strings sit vertically (versus laying out horizontally a-la the Grands).  

There are 4 Types of Vertical Pianos

And, like the Grands, can be identified by their size.  Considering these are the most common instrument found in people’s homes, AND the most commonly resold/handed down pianos, I’ll include a bit more info for each of the 4 vertical styles.

• The Spinet – these are the smallest pianos.  Average height is around 37” and width around 60”.  It is a wonderful choice of instrument to own as it is usually the least expensive and the most compact design…but, it certainly doesn’t pack the sound punch that other designs because of it’s small frame. One more notable characteristic of the spinet is the piano’s action is located underneath the keys…making it very labor intensive to work on repairing the instrument.

• The Console – these are the second smallest of the upright pianos measuring between 40” & 44” in height.  The piano’s action sits directly on top of the keys with the hammers and strings in a vertical position stretching downward.  This design gives the piano a much better sound than that of a spinet.

• The Studio Piano – measuring 44” – 48” in height, this is the second largest upright piano design.  Because of the increased height of the studio piano allows for a larger sound board and longer strings giving it a more rich and quality tone.

• The Upright – the tallest of the vertical piano measuring 48” or taller.  It has a very full quality sound because of its large soundboard.  And the tonal quality can rival many grand pianos.  

That’s the scoop boys and girls!

…I really hope this gives you an easy and short way to identify what kind of piano you own.  OK, now I want to hear from you, so, what questions do you have – feel free to leave them in the comments…I promise I’ll answer them!  By the way, if you are looking to PURCHASE an instrument and are not sure which is best for you, swing by and read this post by the very informative folks at Yamaha – HERE – which can give you the benefits of the two different types of pianos we discussed above.

And if you think you could use the services of TX Pianos on your instrument then please don’t hesitate to CONTACT US.  Or, if you need more info on our services, you are definitely in luck because I’ve handily included them RIGHT HERE 

OK gang, I wish you a fantastic weekend!  Until next time ~ go create great music!

~ Cheers Everyone ~

…Derek