Is your twelve foot instrument the largest piano in the world?

 

No it isn’t, but then it was never intended to be the longest or biggest or what ever. The real issue, as with all pianos, should be how does it sound, and with big pianos, how long does it sound. If I may digress a little here, it seems to be a common misconception that large pianos are by their very nature louder than small pianos. This not the case at all, and at any rate it was not my intention in making a very big piano to demonstrate how loud a piano can be.

 

Are your pianos for sale, and what are the prices of your instruments?

 

Yes, in the sense that almost everything is for sale. They were not, however, designed with commerce in mind, which should be obvious. Any one wishing to enter into the piano business would probably be crazy to do so with a twelve foot piano.

 

The price for the R-371 is $350,000.00 and for the R-245 $150,000.00, that’s US dollars F.O.B. Los Angeles California. Which “pound for pound” is the same or less than other hand made instruments.

 

Is bigger better?

 

I think so, yes. Without being too technical about it, the tenor and bass of a larger instrument will be more clear and musically articulate. I am in the process of writing a technical book, Piano Making, some thoughts on designing and building grand pianos, or how pianos ruined my life; which goes into this subject at some length. Click here for more info on the book.

 

I’m sure I can’t afford to buy one of your instruments but I would like to hear how it sounds. Are there any recordings available?

 

Yes, right now there is one recording available by a pianist named David Rubinstein, no relation to me. I should mention that although this is a very good recording unless you have really excellent playback you are not going to hear a huge difference between this recording and other commercial recordings because most recordings endure a great deal of manipulation in post production.   Click here for recordings.