Every piano ever built has either been a lower-tension or higher-tension design.

From the 1960’s until recently, if you were going to buy a lower price piano, it was going to be a higher-tension model. The preferred “warmer” and “fuller” tone of lower-tension pianos always carried higher price tags… until the late 1980’s.

Steinway & Sons is the world’s best known lower-tension piano. Renowned for their longevity and musical expressiveness, they have always carried a higher price tag than most piano brands. Still, to this day, no other company in the world builds a piano as good as a Steinway for less money.

Before the 1960’s, if you wanted a really responsive touch and full sound on a budget, you had to buy a really big piano – six feet at least. Smaller pianos – limited by the size of their soundboard and, well, physics – compromised a lot in terms of the feel and tone.

The invention of the vertical vacuum plate mold brought the world higher-tension pianos. The vacuum molds made it possible to mass-produce plates that, when combined with higher string tension, made smaller pianos sound louder. Invented by Schimmel, it was quickly adopted by most of the Japanese piano builders, including Yamaha and Kawai.

Because they’re louder, the feel of the keys is sometimes described as “lighter” even though the weight – how much pressure needs to be applied to the key for the piano to make sound – is actually the same.

What?

That’s right. Properly regulated pianos, whether high- or low- tension, should be weighted the same. They feel different because our brains like to play tricks on us. What’s actually happening is that the softest a higher-tension piano can play is louder than the softest a lower-tension piano can play.   Being able to play softly is instrumental (pun intended) to adding motion and expression to music… in other words, it’s just more fun to play a piano that has better dynamics.  That’s why lower-tension pianos are described as being more “musical.” The word piano literally translates to “soft” or “quiet.”

For decades, piano customers who complained about their pianos being too “bright” were told to put a thick rug under their pianos or to close the lid. While this does help absorb some of the sound, nothing can make up for it being more difficult to play soft passages on higher-tension pianos.

Another compromise that had to be made with higher-tension models was shorter performance life. While increasing a piano’s string tension made it louder, it also meant that the tuning pins had to be held with more pressure – almost twice as much pressure! Tuning pin torque on lower-tension pianos is typically in the 65-75# range, while higher-tension pianos are typically 100#+.

Why does that matter?

There are two benefits to having less grip on the tuning pins.

First, the main reason why a piano will no longer be tunable is pin block failure. Pin blocks under less stress last longer which means the piano lasts longer.

Second, when a tuner is tuning a piano with less pressure on the pins, the pins slide more easily into place and tend not to slide out of place. Pins under more pressure are known to “jump” or “skip” when turned, making it harder to “set the pins” in the proper spot and forcing the tuner to over stretch the strings trying to find the sweet spot. If you listen to a piano tuner tune (which we do all of the time) you can actually hear pins skipping. Over stretching the strings shortens their life and, again, effectively shortens the life of the instrument.

So what happened in the late 80’s?

As computer technology evolved, computer aided design (CAD) took on a major role in the development of lower-tension pianos – which everybody wanted – that cost the same as higher-tension models. Steinway & Sons was at the forefront of this technology when they introduced the Boston piano line in 1992 (test marketing began in 1990). The Boston was the world’s first concert quality, lower-tension piano.

CAD helped the designers find ways to incorporate Steinway & Sons piano features in new, more economical ways. By going back to sand cast plates, sticking with timeless features like all hardwood action parts, and implementing new technologies like tapered wide-tail soundboards, we finally had moderately priced instruments that sounded musical and were fun to play.

In 2000, Steinway introduced the Essex piano – described as a home version of the more institutional Boston piano – using most of the same technology.

Today, similarly prices lower- and higher-tension pianos are available, making it easier than ever to find exactly the sound and response you’re looking for.

How can I tell the difference between higher- and lower-tension pianos?

Piano builders generally do not advertise their pianos this way. In fact, most piano salespeople and tuners do not understand the difference or know which is which. However, if you listen side by side, the difference is obvious even to the untrained ear. Visit Steinway Piano Gallery and we’ll be happy to help you compare and decide which you prefer.