If you somehow figure a way to manufacture even a few of these a year, I think there would be enough institutions and wealthy people to pay handsomely for them. Absolutely magnificent achievement to build this. Bravo!
@@alexanderpianos1038you need to let famous pianists and concert halls lease it for events....that will create a demand for buyers, add credibility so you can charge $$$ to sell one, and leasing it brings in revenue to you in the mean time.
The bass notes are 'honest'. They have overtones that are pure and are not 'buzzy' as a grand piano wound bass wires sound like. I liken this to when you hear a pipe organ with a large bass pipe register. Nothing can compare to the purity of the sound and the tone envelops you in a way no electronic or other source can do. I use the term 'Organic' these days to refer to music and sound from pure sources. This includes reed instruments and string as well as various others. This piano is absolutely 'organic' in its purity of sound.
Where can I find an orcanic computer which allows to listen to the organic sound of the organic overtones of this pure source without electronic interface?
If you cannot understand the concept of canned digital music versus the sound of real instruments played well I really cannot help but think you are either very under privileged in that you have never heard an orchestra or jazz combo live on stage or that you are intentionally ignorant of these and prefer to listen to modern soulless and unoriginal recordings. I am referring to the obviously huge sound this piano creates and how the resonance is so clean and natural. You can hear these things through a high speed internet connection played at a high enough bit rate. It is the source I am commenting on and you can tell the difference between this instrument and any other piano as well as any digitial piano which while they do sound pretty good, they lack the nuances of the players performance because a switch under an electronic keyboard cannot mimic the feel a pianist has when he plays no matter how expensive the digital keyboard is.
Ok, at first I was like I can't tell the difference. Then I listened to other renditions on other pianos and now I can definitely tell the difference. They Hyperion seems more present and more genuine and richer sounding. Not sure how else to describe it, but it sounds amazing.
I am not a piano player and very far from being knowledgable on this topic, but even I can hear in this video the richness in overtones on the bass notes. Excellent achievement!
It is amazing how my upright that was made by a company sounds terrible and muddy yet this piano created by one man can compete sound and tone wise with a Bösendorfer imperial grand.
Thank you for your kind words! I think I have quite a way to go to be anywhere close to Bosendorfer high manufacturing standards haha but the project was a huge step forward for this particular idea
@@alexanderpianos1038 Regardless i as a pianist find it such a privilege to hear such an instrument. I hope this piano makes the pianists who get the amazing chance to play it smile for generations to come. All the best from Britain.
I have always been able to hear the winding of the copper on the bass strings. the pure tone of those bass strings is lovely. what an amazing instrument
The winding adds quite alot of longdatudional harmonic, I'm just getting my head around that with re scaleing pianos. Flexability core size and tension are important factors
How did you manufacture the steel frame to hold all those strings? Actually the most curious thing for me is, as a 16-year old, where did you find the space to assemble the piano and the resources to build it (steel and wood, funds, and people with enough fabrication knowledge to put it together)? I used to be an adventurous and creative teenager like yourself but these kind of logistics always put a stop to my ideas before they started. I admire your achievements and wish you continued success :)
To be honest I just didn't know there were limitations, I had the long string I did the experiment, fell in love with the sound, from that point I knew the length was possible, I just had to make the piano around the bass A string, It was 22 foot long but the shed was 20 foot so the piano became 18 foot 9. Then the learning began. There had to be a specific strike point so the keys had to be huge, the hammer line was way inside the piano and luckily I had made the case the right size (only just) I had to go back and cut a heap of piano out of the case. 4 keyboards were built until one worked, 2 bass bridges, I stuffed up the action geometry and had to do major changes in the first year. The whole frame/ scale was drawn onto a sheet of tin tacked inside the case but only after the action/ hammer line was built and established. From that, the bridges and frane were designed. Scale was determined by a formula I was given, I think it was ÷37×39 for semitone lengths with every 6 notes going up a guage starting from guage 13....
@@alexanderpianos1038 The only thing impossible to do is find something impossible to do Reality takes awhile to assert itself There's quite alot u can do wen u stop adding hurdles to your marathon but most people love chucking them on there path FYI U probably can reduce the size of the piano down if you used multiple strings to anchor ⚓️ the main string in parallel instead of just solely to the frame and/or running the string in loop and achouring it at multiple points with strings and having multiple tension points Sort of like reverb springs in gituar amps type thing
What a lovely sounding piano. Is there any chance of a full performance of the Moonlight Sonata in it's entirety on this instrument? (all three movements). Would love to hear how the third movement sounds on this piano.
The bottom end sounds percussive. This is all a gimmick. The pianist is playing so insensitive without any shaping of the harmonies. And conventional Steinways do not sound fat and lazy. You are able to reach much more nuanced tone colors on a Steinway.
@@obiwankenobi8163 i can assure you it is neither a "gimmick" or "percussive". Try a decent set of headphones? Or perhaps develop some culture. Steinweys should have good bass.. they've made thousands upon thousands of them. This piano is one of a kind. Amazing. And full of beautiful tone. When you build one...I'd be very interested to have a listen. :-)
@@DC-ve8dv I am perfectly cultured. I have won numerous competitions and am currently playing Barber's sonata for piano, Chopin's 4th ballade and 3rd sonata, and a bach prelude and fugue. I am perfectly cultured, thank you very much. Judging by how this sounds with my airpod pros, I can confidently say that if given the chance, I would rather play on a concert D Steinway. Oh, and by the way, you misspelled "Steinway." It's not "Steinwey." Anyone educated enough would not write that. ;)
@@obiwankenobi8163 congratulations on your cultured-ness. I am very well educated actually. 2 years in every class. Purposely misspelled for effect. :-D
good performance. piano has unique sound. potential. the sound has some twang, which is not my preference. if this twang could be reduced, the sound would be incomparable. what have players said about playability, action, response, etc?
Theres many things I'd change in a second piano the tone is ok but I did things to those hammers I wish I hadn't read about, perhaps a new set...pianists like how much controle they can get, touch weight is quite normal
I’m sorry if you get a lot of questions about this piano but I’m curious, does this piano solve the issue with needing to stretch the lower octave/octaves in order to be harmonious? Thank you in advance and thanks for sharing your videos.
Yes, the sound is deep, rich, and resonant! If I didn’t know what instrument was being played, I would guess that it was either a Bosendorfer concert grand, or a large electronic keyboard with an amplifier. The only remaining question is, how’s the action of the keys? Does it feel like you’re playing a large Steinway, Bosendorfer, Fazioli, Yamaha, or Kawai?
Yes, that's nice to know! But is the action quick and responsive like any of the above high-end brands? A quick and responsive keyboard action is absolutely essential for playing very technically demanding works by, for example, Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, etc. @@alexanderpianos1038
Scriabin etude is about as demanding as I get in the piano, others have played much bigger more demanding works, in concert even.. and have not complained about any lack of speed in repeating, trills or responsiveness
I would love to hear a Scriabin or Rachmaninoff etude played on this piano! I’m curious because these other name-brand pianos…like Steinway, Bosendorfer, Kawai, etc., have spent decades on perfecting the action of their pianos. It would be very difficult to match that kind of manufacturing technology and development! And finally, how many of these 18-foot piano behemoths are out there? @@alexanderpianos1038
I’m curious because these other piano manufacturers have spent many years developing and perfecting the action of their keyboard. It would be very difficult to match that level of development and design. @@alexanderpianos1038
Sound board shape and size, build a better bridge, action geometry and key length would be diferent, Wider, more notes in the bass, improve the treble, probably longer improve the capo design......
also the great pianist of our time should travel to New Zealand to play it... but their tears would be sufficient to fill the Pacific Ocean when they would to have leave it... so better you stay with your Steiways, Faziolis and so on, you great pianists 😄
@@alexanderpianos1038 when you build your piano you were young and it was hard to believe that this will become a fine instrument. Now you are a serious piano builder, one of the very few who can say that he has really built there own piano, by hand. Wait and one fine day the great pianist will cue to play your Alexander.
Wow! The bass is so great! Do you play the original score, or transpose the bass octave down sometimes? And did you use triplet chords for the bass, or just single?
How does the tuning of this piano differ from a normal piano? Would it still be the same technique or would you need a specialist who really knew what they were doing?
My aunt met liberace looking after rooms at a Hotel, she got to know him a bit, even talked to his mother on the phone. She got to try on the ring one time and was then fired from her job.
I FIGURED OUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH ALL THIS. On traditional pianos the bass gets so muddy you have to basically just stick to playing octaves. On this piano, it's so clean that the bass octaves actually sound thin. The pianists should consider throwing in fifths or even thirds. (I've designed synthesizer software and consider myself kind of a professional listener on matters like this. In my youth I played several of the works on this channel including this.)
Highly suggest you get in touch with a company that specialises in that sort of thing if you decide. There's a LOT of money to be made from library packs for stuff like kontakt. I'd easily buy it- though I understand the hesitancy. It would be cool to to give it a play. Of course it won't be like the real thing bug my gosh it sounds so lush and love what you've built here
Wouldn't it be great if some music manufacturer like Yamaha, Korg or Roland sampled This piano's full range of sound and programmed it in to a portable keyboard.
Bring Richter back to life so he can play all Rachmaninoff preludes and etudes. Bring Horowitz to play Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto, piano sonata 2, Chopin Ballade 1, Schubert impromptus and many more....
Money was never in the front of my mind when I was making it. I was simply chasing a sound, I really would like to make some more and develop the idea further
I can't believe a concert hall somewhere hasn't commissioned one of these for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Favioli gets paid that for ugly monstrosities with no practical acoustic reason.
If you somehow figure a way to manufacture even a few of these a year, I think there would be enough institutions and wealthy people to pay handsomely for them. Absolutely magnificent achievement to build this. Bravo!
I keep telling people I can make them one!
@@alexanderpianos1038you need to let famous pianists and concert halls lease it for events....that will create a demand for buyers, add credibility so you can charge $$$ to sell one, and leasing it brings in revenue to you in the mean time.
@@alexanderpianos1038how much would that cost though?
I'm not sure, 400k at a guess
I need to learn how to make that holy crap
WOW. I have a master's in music performance and I feel like I'm hearing a REAL piano for the first time!!! 🤯 speechless!
Quite a few pianists really like the full range of bass through to treble
The sounds and tone must be absolutely out of this world when a person can hear it in person. Absolutely beautiful! :)
It's fun to lie under the piano while a big piece is being played!
The bass notes are 'honest'. They have overtones that are pure and are not 'buzzy' as a grand piano wound bass wires sound like. I liken this to when you hear a pipe organ with a large bass pipe register. Nothing can compare to the purity of the sound and the tone envelops you in a way no electronic or other source can do. I use the term 'Organic' these days to refer to music and sound from pure sources. This includes reed instruments and string as well as various others. This piano is absolutely 'organic' in its purity of sound.
This is precisely how I hear it. Its a piano for organ lovers. Would love to see a pedal register made or a Bossendorfer style extension.
Organists have interesting comments very much along those lines
Where can I find an orcanic computer which allows to listen to the organic sound of the organic overtones of this pure source without electronic interface?
@@epitimaios best place is right in front of it!
If you cannot understand the concept of canned digital music versus the sound of real instruments played well I really cannot help but think you are either very under privileged in that you have never heard an orchestra or jazz combo live on stage or that you are intentionally ignorant of these and prefer to listen to modern soulless and unoriginal recordings. I am referring to the obviously huge sound this piano creates and how the resonance is so clean and natural. You can hear these things through a high speed internet connection played at a high enough bit rate. It is the source I am commenting on and you can tell the difference between this instrument and any other piano as well as any digitial piano which while they do sound pretty good, they lack the nuances of the players performance because a switch under an electronic keyboard cannot mimic the feel a pianist has when he plays no matter how expensive the digital keyboard is.
The bass is spectacularly rich and smooth. Bravo!
Ok, at first I was like I can't tell the difference. Then I listened to other renditions on other pianos and now I can definitely tell the difference. They Hyperion seems more present and more genuine and richer sounding. Not sure how else to describe it, but it sounds amazing.
I can feel the bass notes in my sternum, excellent. Must be a whole experience playing it in person.
Sounds incredible, especially the low notes, extremely clear and stable
god the bass clarity
These should be the standard for schools and other music institutions
superb mid-low and bass, very powerfull and rich tone, bravo!!!
I have never heard such rich bass notes from a piano. The sound made me overcome with emotions. Thank you 🙏
I am not a piano player and very far from being knowledgable on this topic, but even I can hear in this video the richness in overtones on the bass notes. Excellent achievement!
Thank you
Awesome! Hopefully you were able to patent and protect this concept/design?
It is amazing how my upright that was made by a company sounds terrible and muddy yet this piano created by one man can compete sound and tone wise with a Bösendorfer imperial grand.
Thank you for your kind words! I think I have quite a way to go to be anywhere close to Bosendorfer high manufacturing standards haha but the project was a huge step forward for this particular idea
@@alexanderpianos1038 Regardless i as a pianist find it such a privilege to hear such an instrument. I hope this piano makes the pianists who get the amazing chance to play it smile for generations to come. All the best from Britain.
@PinkPanther4958 if you are ever over this way you would be welcome to call in and play it!
What amazing tone. I had to get my headphones on. Very, very impressive, clean low frequencies.
I have always been able to hear the winding of the copper on the bass strings. the pure tone of those bass strings is lovely. what an amazing instrument
The winding adds quite alot of longdatudional harmonic, I'm just getting my head around that with re scaleing pianos. Flexability core size and tension are important factors
Wow, this adds a whole new dimension, a whole other depth to an already beautiful piece. Thank you for this
Ahh beautiful. So pure.
How did you manufacture the steel frame to hold all those strings?
Actually the most curious thing for me is, as a 16-year old, where did you find the space to assemble the piano and the resources to build it (steel and wood, funds, and people with enough fabrication knowledge to put it together)? I used to be an adventurous and creative teenager like yourself but these kind of logistics always put a stop to my ideas before they started. I admire your achievements and wish you continued success :)
To be honest I just didn't know there were limitations, I had the long string I did the experiment, fell in love with the sound, from that point I knew the length was possible, I just had to make the piano around the bass A string, It was 22 foot long but the shed was 20 foot so the piano became 18 foot 9. Then the learning began. There had to be a specific strike point so the keys had to be huge, the hammer line was way inside the piano and luckily I had made the case the right size (only just) I had to go back and cut a heap of piano out of the case. 4 keyboards were built until one worked, 2 bass bridges, I stuffed up the action geometry and had to do major changes in the first year. The whole frame/ scale was drawn onto a sheet of tin tacked inside the case but only after the action/ hammer line was built and established. From that, the bridges and frane were designed. Scale was determined by a formula I was given, I think it was ÷37×39 for semitone lengths with every 6 notes going up a guage starting from guage 13....
@@alexanderpianos1038 very interesting, thanks for the additional info!
@@alexanderpianos1038
The only thing impossible to do is find something impossible to do
Reality takes awhile to assert itself
There's quite alot u can do wen u stop adding hurdles to your marathon but most people love chucking them on there path
FYI
U probably can reduce the size of the piano down if you used multiple strings to anchor ⚓️ the main string in parallel instead of just solely to the frame and/or running the string in loop and achouring it at multiple points with strings and having multiple tension points
Sort of like reverb springs in gituar amps type thing
😜 Great performance, with boosted bass: thanks! 🙏
What a lovely sounding piano. Is there any chance of a full performance of the Moonlight Sonata in it's entirety on this instrument? (all three movements). Would love to hear how the third movement sounds on this piano.
Not by me, thinking of finding a pianist to do alot more
Awesome piano, well done, sir! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
I don't normally stray from the notation.... just this once
Fabulous!
stunning ! goosebumps for days, so beautiful !
Wow
@@alexanderpianos1038 i love it sooo much !
Beautiful Adrian
You- 're a genius!
It’s so clear in sound!
You've got those mics placed nicely. It sounds great!
Thank you!
Sounds really amazing! 🔥👍
Thanks!
One more question: what's the total tension force of all the strings, compared to a standard stage grand piano?
I havnt worked that out but it won't be more than a standard piano, the lowest notes are at a low % of breaking strain
The bottom end is so tight and clear on this. Conventional pianos just tend to sound fat and lazy to me. Absolutely cracking piece of gear mate
Thanks!
The bottom end sounds percussive. This is all a gimmick. The pianist is playing so insensitive without any shaping of the harmonies. And conventional Steinways do not sound fat and lazy. You are able to reach much more nuanced tone colors on a Steinway.
@@obiwankenobi8163 i can assure you it is neither a "gimmick" or "percussive". Try a decent set of headphones? Or perhaps develop some culture.
Steinweys should have good bass.. they've made thousands upon thousands of them.
This piano is one of a kind. Amazing. And full of beautiful tone. When you build one...I'd be very interested to have a listen. :-)
@@DC-ve8dv I am perfectly cultured. I have won numerous competitions and am currently playing Barber's sonata for piano, Chopin's 4th ballade and 3rd sonata, and a bach prelude and fugue. I am perfectly cultured, thank you very much. Judging by how this sounds with my airpod pros, I can confidently say that if given the chance, I would rather play on a concert D Steinway. Oh, and by the way, you misspelled "Steinway." It's not "Steinwey." Anyone educated enough would not write that. ;)
@@obiwankenobi8163 congratulations on your cultured-ness. I am very well educated actually. 2 years in every class. Purposely misspelled for effect. :-D
good performance. piano has unique sound. potential. the sound has some twang, which is not my preference. if this twang could be reduced, the sound would be incomparable. what have players said about playability, action, response, etc?
Theres many things I'd change in a second piano the tone is ok but I did things to those hammers I wish I hadn't read about, perhaps a new set...pianists like how much controle they can get, touch weight is quite normal
I’m sorry if you get a lot of questions about this piano but I’m curious, does this piano solve the issue with needing to stretch the lower octave/octaves in order to be harmonious? Thank you in advance and thanks for sharing your videos.
Would be very curious too...
They are so much easier to tune inharmonisity is low, you don't hear the longdatudional harmonics much at all
@@alexanderpianos1038 Thank you, that’s very interesting
@artonion420 this could be interesting to hear... ruclips.net/video/2uWsLwy7YzM/видео.htmlsi=pm2RB-n7a7nlUXh1
Yes, the sound is deep, rich, and resonant! If I didn’t know what instrument was being played, I would guess that it was either a Bosendorfer concert grand, or a large electronic keyboard with an amplifier. The only remaining question is, how’s the action of the keys? Does it feel like you’re playing a large Steinway, Bosendorfer, Fazioli, Yamaha, or Kawai?
Bosendorfer are my favorite pianos. Playing it is easy, it's quite light actually in the keys, more so than all the above brands.
Yes, that's nice to know! But is the action quick and responsive like any of the above high-end brands? A quick and responsive keyboard action is absolutely essential for playing very technically demanding works by, for example, Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, etc. @@alexanderpianos1038
Scriabin etude is about as demanding as I get in the piano, others have played much bigger more demanding works, in concert even.. and have not complained about any lack of speed in repeating, trills or responsiveness
I would love to hear a Scriabin or Rachmaninoff etude played on this piano! I’m curious because these other name-brand pianos…like Steinway, Bosendorfer, Kawai, etc., have spent decades on perfecting the action of their pianos. It would be very difficult to match that kind of manufacturing technology and development! And finally, how many of these 18-foot piano behemoths are out there? @@alexanderpianos1038
I’m curious because these other piano manufacturers have spent many years developing and perfecting the action of their keyboard. It would be very difficult to match that level of development and design. @@alexanderpianos1038
If you built a second one or more, what would you change or do differently to improve?
Sound board shape and size, build a better bridge, action geometry and key length would be diferent, Wider, more notes in the bass, improve the treble, probably longer improve the capo design......
also the great pianist of our time should travel to New Zealand to play it... but their tears would be sufficient to fill the Pacific Ocean when they would to have leave it... so better you stay with your Steiways, Faziolis and so on, you great pianists
😄
We are so far away from everywhere that no one comes here much and if they do they never hear about the piano
@@alexanderpianos1038 when you build your piano you were young and it was hard to believe that this will become a fine instrument. Now you are a serious piano builder, one of the very few who can say that he has really built there own piano, by hand. Wait and one fine day the great pianist will cue to play your Alexander.
I can't imagine what it must feel like to stand beside that behemoth while being played.
Wow! The bass is so great!
Do you play the original score, or transpose the bass octave down sometimes?
And did you use triplet chords for the bass, or just single?
Normally I play the score, but just this once for the video I deviated. The bottom 5 notes are bichords. The rest are trichords
Amazing
How does the tuning of this piano differ from a normal piano? Would it still be the same technique or would you need a specialist who really knew what they were doing?
It's exactly the same. Easier in the bass as the octaves are more pure
The mystery of the bass is deep as the ocean.
I think you should try some binaural recording
Как и у гитар , увеличиная мензура, это уже баритон - пианино !
Классный звук ,от верха до низа !
Thank you
I hope Martha Argerich comes to perform on this amazing instrument!
I keep wondering what Liberace could have done with this!
My aunt met liberace looking after rooms at a Hotel, she got to know him a bit, even talked to his mother on the phone. She got to try on the ring one time and was then fired from her job.
I FIGURED OUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH ALL THIS. On traditional pianos the bass gets so muddy you have to basically just stick to playing octaves. On this piano, it's so clean that the bass octaves actually sound thin. The pianists should consider throwing in fifths or even thirds. (I've designed synthesizer software and consider myself kind of a professional listener on matters like this. In my youth I played several of the works on this channel including this.)
How would you describe the bass notes? Sparkling?
Crisp.
Base is incredible but those mids are so choice.
Have you made a Sample set of this Piano or are you planning it??? thanks
I don't know how I feel about doing that
Highly suggest you get in touch with a company that specialises in that sort of thing if you decide. There's a LOT of money to be made from library packs for stuff like kontakt.
I'd easily buy it- though I understand the hesitancy. It would be cool to to give it a play. Of course it won't be like the real thing bug my gosh it sounds so lush and love what you've built here
This will always be one of my favorite pieces. Nicely played, Adrian.
How are you! Yeah it's a nice one that :-)
I’m doing very well, thank you! How are you? Would love to see more videos :)
Wouldn't it be great if some music manufacturer like Yamaha, Korg or Roland sampled This piano's full range of sound and programmed it in to a portable keyboard.
Churches should start being build wider and have one of these long pianos to the left or right of the pews.
It was in St. Marys church in Timaru for about 2 years
I would LOVE for my church to have this...
create a Kontakt Sampler from it
Could be used or dubbed in, into a movie/ movie music.
I have been asked infant there was email I must reply to thanks for reminding me
How many oktave (keys) does this piano have?
7. When I started making it I did not make it quite wide enough for the full 88 notes so it's an 85 note keyboard like the older pianos
@@alexanderpianos1038 I thought more than 88
Bring Richter back to life so he can play all Rachmaninoff preludes and etudes. Bring Horowitz to play Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto, piano sonata 2, Chopin Ballade 1, Schubert impromptus and many more....
Great job! Do you realise you could get rich by making a few others?
Money was never in the front of my mind when I was making it. I was simply chasing a sound, I really would like to make some more and develop the idea further
@@alexanderpianos1038 the world needs more people like you
@@alexanderpianos1038 THANK YOU ... thank you for chasing that sound!
now play the 3rd movement and let us wub wub along with the basss
This piano has enormous potential for improvement based on global experience.
I would like to build another to incorporate things I have learned since
I jist can't believe it what is this thing
A very long piano
Beethoven wrote this sonata for a fortepiano, keep that in mind.
Yes and there are many many fantastic recordings of that
How has this not gone bacterial yet?
I can't believe a concert hall somewhere hasn't commissioned one of these for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Favioli gets paid that for ugly monstrosities with no practical acoustic reason.
Sounds terrible! Or is it the pianist?
No it is just you and your terrible taste.