Since sound is based on wavelength, and wavelength is based on the length of the strings, specific to this question, can a baby grand sound exactly the same as a grand piano? What about a spinet* piano? And, if they all do sound the same, such as middle C = middle C regardless, how is this possible? I must be missing something. :scratches head:
Jinx
*curiously, Wikipedia’s picture of a “bent spinet” is what I might have called a baby grand. Spinet - Wikipedia But, I thought a spinet model is a box-like piano where the strings run vertically, to save space - perhaps the most commonly found piano…well, the latter is what I mean by spinet.
They can’t sound exactly the same in tone quality. The smaller one has shorter strings, so to sound at the same frequencies, it either has to have heavier strings or lower string tension, or a little of both.
The fundamental frequency, such as A=440Hz, defines the pitch of a sound. The distinctive qualities of a sound are the timbre, and as that article demonstrates, it’s a term which is not all that easy to define.
But in short, no, no two pianos have identical timbres, and none two sound quite alike even when playing middle C. However, they do sound more alike than they do compared to, say, a clarinet playing middle C. Or to somebody singing it.
There’s more to it than that even. A sound wave is not a nice neat sine wave at 440 hz or whatever, it has all sorts of variation with various harmonics and other qualities which make it sound different.
Consider this, a guitar made of one type of wood but otherwise identical to a guitar made of another type of wood will sound quite different!
Materials and design has a huge impact on timbre and playability. Materials and the way they are put together affect the resonances and damping - causing some notes and harmonics to be reinforced or muted. So each piano is individual. The differences between two pianos constructed to the same design and materials are slight as compared with an upright vs a grand, and some people won’t be able to hear the difference that an experienced player will notice. Some players are so wedded to the instruments they use that they have very expensive (and heavy) pianos shipped from concert to concert, requiring a retune at every gig. I heard one pianist (who was touring and playing all of Bach’s piano works) who had two identical pianos, shipped to alternate venues and toured with his own piano tech. And every venue probably had it’s own top quality grand piano, but he wanted the specific sound and feel of his own pianos.
It reminds me of Jimmy Hendrix, who needed a new Octava (electronic effects unit). He sat in the store trying every one on the shelf, until he found the one he wanted. No-one else could hear any difference between the units, which were all brand new. But Jimmy could.
Or thought he could. The chances of a variation between simultaneously mass-produced electronic devices is much less than handmade pianos which use wood and may be of different ages, shapes and sizes.
There are Hi-Fi “experts” who say they can tell the difference between $1 worth of speaker wire and a $7000 hookup, too. Just because they say they can doesn’t mean there really is a difference.
Yeah - I agree there, and Jimmy may have been spaced out. But those Octava’s were probably assembled with 5% tolerance resistors and transistors that had a fair bit of variation as well. All those little bits could impact the filters and resonances in odd ways - so who knows.
But to answer the OP – not all pianos sound the same in the way that not all singers or guitars sound the same. But most people would recognize any piano as a piano.
Speaking as one who has played pianos for approximately 60 years (since age 5):
No two pianos sound exactly alike. There are substantial differences between upright pianos (spinets & old-fashioned uprights) and grands (baby, 7’, 9’, etc), and there are smaller differences between the differing classes. Though I’ve only ever played one of them, antique square grands have a yet different sound (but vastly superior to uprights), and that one I played had a very mellow sound.
My Roland electric piano has a choice of about four different piano sounds - each of which is clearly distinguishable from the others. About the only one I never use is the honky-tonk sound. Listening to those sounds from a good electric piano might help the curious non-musician to understand.
The most important variable in a piano’s sound is its sounding board. These are made of wood and metal. The sounding board can crack - this is one of the hazards in moving, and a reason why no grand should be moved by amateurs - at least not without supervision by someone who understands the innards of the beast. However, the wood of the case itself does contribute - just as the kinds of wood used in a guitar affect the sound. The size of the chamber within which the sound reverberates, and the size and shape of the opening (whether the lifted lid of a grand or the lifted top of an upright) also affect the sound. A physicist could explain that - I can’t; sorry.
If there were no difference between instruments, Steinways and Yamahas wouldn’t be worth more than Baldwins. Nor would Bosendorfers be worth more than any other - extra octave or no.
As for Jimi Hendrix and the guitars … it sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Were I guitar player with an unlimited budget, I’d likely do the same. I know I would play a seemingly endless procession of “real” pianos before choosing, if I had both the money and space for one.
And then go listen to any real piano. We had a decent electric piano and while it sounded nice, there was something missing. Over on the real piano (in our case, a spinet) you can tell that the origin of the sound is something is being hit. The one thing that the nearly thousand dollar electronic instrument could not capture was that impact of felt hammers on steel wires.
No question, pianos have a distinct voice clearly beyond just their size rating. My wife is a musician teaching at a university here in Alabama–a university that just recently achieved the “all Steinway” designation in their music program–and claims that she can recognize individual pianos within the program by their sound, despite the fact that these are all identical instruments with about the same amount of use, maintenance, tuning, temperature and moisture conditions, etc. I have no reason not to believe her.
I’d guess those folks who don’t believe the Jimi Hendrix story are non-musicians.
Although I never heard the “Octava” story, I believe Jimi would buy amps after trying just about all that the store had on hand. I’d also be surprised that he’d be the only one who could detect the subtle differences between each Octava or each amplifier.
A factor I’ve noticed with pianos (more than with guitars but it also must happen with them too) is that the size/shape of a room and the decor, that is whether it has wooden floors or curtains or other fabric has a bearing on how it sounds. Maybe it’s just reverb but when we moved the piano in our home from one room to another the change in sound was quite noticable.
She’s been playing piano since she was four or five, so I have no doubt that she can tell different instruments apart. For my part, as a tuba player, I could absolutely tell the difference between the first tuba I played and the second. I had only ever played the one, and then when I got to high school the band room had three or four tubas, and each of the low brass guys had one that they liked best. I was least senior so I got one of the ones that was left over. Strangely they weren’t the “worst” ones, they were simply the ones that the last graduating seniors had preferred. You’d think that if one tuba was demonstrably “better” than another it would always be the senior player’s tuba… but it turns out that by the time you’re a senior, you’ve been playing the same one for three years and you don’t want to switch up. A lot of that is the balance and the physical touch of the keys, but it’s also how it warms up to you when you play it.
Yes, a room has a huge effect on the sound of an instrument, or more accurately, it has a huge effect on the sound that you hear in the room. It is all to do with reverb and also the shape and size of the room boosting and cutting various parts of the sound spectrum.