Really like your thoughtful comment! It's definitely true that warm and bright are far from perfect terms but work as a decent short hand way to categorize in broad strokes different piano sounds, which language alone cannot adequately do. It'd be similar to asking someone to describe an exact shade of a color, words can bring you some level of understanding but can't put the absolute right image in your head. The complex and sometimes conflicting attributes that make up a piano's sound, at the end of the day, are best not described but listened to. But any attempt that can help people to better understand, think about, and categorize what they are hearing is a worthwhile undertaking despite the limitations. Take care, friend. -Max

@@familypianoco It is indeed difficult. Thank you, Max.

From what Benjamin said "warm and dark" just like we use to describe for the piano tonal quality in Taiwan. However, these terms have been misleading and interpreted into positive and negative when people selected the piano long time ago. So, before 1990, Yamaha pianos were the majority of consuming (nearly 85%) on the market. Taiwanese people have learned the dark tone pianos fitted in classical music better afterword. I personally like Kawai pianos for their dark tones(mellow and rich).

By the way, I always played on Yamaha pianos until fully understood the characters between them, bright and dark.

Waaay better!

Glad it was helpful! There's a lot of imprecise language thrown around pianos, which makes it difficult to really talk about what you're hearing.

Thank you for watching! Great comment, I totally understand what you mean by "bellish" and "twangy" - I like those terms! In general, I think people should be using whichever terms are most easily understood by the most amount of people and have alternative terms like you suggested for getting even more specific. For example, "Bellish" makes me think of a certain type of warm, a very smooth but full toned type of warm. "Twangy" works great for many more rustic, "older" bright sounds but I'd argue it wouldn't be the best term for the type of brightness a newer, high quality piano might have (I'm thinking of the sort of sound bright, newish Yamaha grands often have, for example). Always love hearing from audio engineers with a detailed understanding of sound from a scientific perspective. I recently downloaded a decibel reader/sound analyzer app and think I'll do some experimenting on what the frequency graphs look like for different types of pianos. Who knows, could make for a good part two to this video!-Max

Good idea! In the mean-time, I'd recommend going to a piano store and basically just playing a bunch of pianos. It really helps to experience them in-person.

Glad it was helpful! My personal preference is for warmer pianos but in the last few years I've come to really appreciate a bright-in-the-right way piano, especially depending on the music being played. Too bright and it can definitely be ear piercing for me too. -Max

A complete restring and new hammers isn't the only way to change a piano's tone! And while you're not going to make a warm piano bright this way, you can definitely change its tonal characteristics with a voicing. We can usually get that done for around $300, and people tend to be really happy with the results. Find a good technician in your area, and give them a call -- you might be surprised to hear it's not as expensive as you think. In either case, a couple hundred bucks is still cheaper than a new piano!

Well, we do ship all over the country. . . . Haha, try a local dealer! "Bright" is subjective so you'll want to hear it and assess its tone for yourself.

Knight pianos are very nice quality, I'm pretty impartial towards them myself! -Max

@Family Piano Co aaah...that's great... hers is also in top notch condition! 6 monthly tuning helps that!

Super! Different genres and styles demand different tones. We wish pianos were like guitars where it was easy to own a bunch. Digital pianos is about the best solution we have to that until we invent a shrink ray hahaha.

I'm sorry to hear that! You might talk to your technician about "voicing" your piano, which is basically the process of making a piano sound brighter or warmer, primarily by affecting the hardness of the hammers. You'll want to find someone experienced in voicing, but it should help!

Hello! Typically, pianists prefer a brighter sound, so it'll stand out a little more amongst the other instruments. But part of it will depend on the environment. An environment with lots of hard surfaces will brighten up the sound, whereas one with lots of soft materials will soften and warm up the sound.