BösendorferModel 188

Bösendorfer 188 — a Viennese grand, 1.90 m long, in black high gloss.

For a living room where somebody really plays, for advanced teaching, and for small halls and rehearsal rooms.

Bösendorfer builds in Vienna, and an instrument of this size is what is called a salon grand: more bass string than any upright, a good deal less than a concert grand, but in a room you can still live in. A grand action repeats faster than an upright action — quick repeated notes and trills come more readily. Two pedals: the right holds the note, the left shifts the action and takes back both volume and colour. There is no sostenuto pedal here; anyone who plays music that expressly calls for one should know that.

High gloss is a mirror surface: dust and fingerprints show at once. A soft dry cloth is the whole of the care.

Allow roughly 2.4 × 1.6 m of floor — the case measures 1.90 × 1.46 m, and the stool and legroom take the rest. No grand goes through a door upright: the legs and the lyre come off, it travels on its side on the trolley, and that is work for movers. Not by the radiator, not in the sun — swings in humidity put it out of tune. If you play in a block of flats with neighbours: an acoustic grand can have a Silent System fitted, and you then practise in headphones on the same keys.