The wonderful world of tonal colours. What sounds like a pedantic obsession with detail is the basis of the rich tonality of Schimmel pianos. All 88 hammer-heads of each upright and grand piano are pricked with voicing needles several ten thousand times by hand in a painstaking process to form the versatile tonal colouring of Schimmel's instruments. The voicer utilises his finely tuned manual dexterity to give the felt its elasticity and thereby provide each instrument with an optimum tone quality. This requires a rigorously highly-trained ear and great sensitivity for the finest tonal nuances. This is how the Schimmel craftsmen breathe life into the soul of Schimmel pianos!
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Magical resplendence. For many people, thirteen is a mystical number. This number certainly provides Schimmel instruments with a magic gloss. This is because they utilise a traditional piano varnish which is applied in thirteen work phases with around one and a half kilogram per square metre and is primarily further processed by hand to produce a high gloss. This is how Schimmel produce the unique gloss and the special depth effect which are so characteristic of their upright and grand pianos.
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Instruments with distinctive character. The Empire style (1804-1830), originating in Paris, took the world of the grand salons by storm and was closely linked to the personality cult surrounding Napoleon Bonaparte. Representation and decoration were the objectives of the style which was characterised by straight lines, austerity and solemnity, for example in furniture, art and fashion. Schimmel have recreated this style in their Empire grand pianos, but not in its most opulent form. The slender lines of marquetry and fine carvings emphasise the classic elegance of the Early Napoleonic era. This is an ornament for any room in which the grand piano can communicate the flair and atmosphere of a French salon.
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The fount of good sound. Here we must first give our thanks to Bartolomeo Christofori who invented the hammer technique in 1700 which heralded the birth of the pianoforte. Ever since, piano makers have been searching for the perfect hammer-head for a consummate sound. At Schimmel, the characteristics of the hammer-head felts which have an influence on the composition of the tone are examined meticulously. The density and weight of the felt, its tension and simultaneous flexibility, the type of wool utilised and how this wool is processed, the correct way of cutting the felt and the way in which it is moulded: these aspects are all vital to ensure that their hammer-heads transfer the energy of the player’s touch to the resonating strings in an optimum manner. The felt manufacture is undertaken according to a traditional process which is more time-consuming than modern industrial felt manufacture, but is the sole method to ensure delivery of premium-quality felt for Schimmel's instruments.
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Consummate tone. Pythagoras of Samos is said to have asserted that “Everything is related to numbers”. In ancient times, he experimented on a one-stringed instrument to discover the ratio between notes and numbers. This interrelationship is still relevant today for the constructors at Schimmel. For example, when they calculate and develop the cast-iron plates for specific instruments according to stability and acoustic criteria. Nowadays, Schimmel employ high-tech software for this purpose which is also utilised in the aircraft construction industry. The almost 1000 computer-controlled precision bore holes in the sounding body alone guarantee a fitting accuracy to a micron-exact degree in the acoustic element of the piano. This is precision work which makes a major contribution to the consummate sound of Schimmel's upright and grand pianos!
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A class of its own. With a compact length of 2.56 metres, the K 256 Tradition is slightly shorter than the traditional 2.70 metre concert grand. The model is however 16 centimetres longer than the wide range of grand pianos available in the 2.40 size – this extra length means greater tonal volume and sonority. This is the perfect alternative model for medium-sized concert halls, churches and for institutional purposes. This model is certainly in a class of its own among the larger concert grands!
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Glass has a magic all of its own. Its history dates back almost five thousand years. Discovered in Mesopotamia, the cradle of all culture, glass in a seemingly infinite variety of forms has conquered the world. Whether crystal clear or in colours like the windows of cathedrals, whether intended for daily use, for jewelry or for decorating a table set for a banquet – down through the ages and throughout all cultural epochs, glass has occupied an important place in the life of mankind.
In its original form, comprised of minerals, it is brittle and fragile. Transparent acrylic plastic, an achievement of modern science, combines the optical characteristics of glass with a flexibility which renders it virtually impervious to damage by impact. Yet in whatever form we encounter it, glass has an enchantment all its own. A convincing proof of this is the Schimmel grand K 213 Glas with acrylic plastic cabinetry, created by Nikolaus W. Schimmel. A uniquely fascinating instrument.
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The grand piano for great moments. Accolades from competent sources are balm for the soul. In traditional instrument tests carried out by major music journals, Le Monde de la Musique in France writes the following on the grand piano K 280 Tradition: The “...entire action [is] particularly pleasant and well-balanced with the necessary dynamics for large-scale virtuoso movements...emphasises the abilities inherent in the instrument to bring across great moments in the Romantic repertoire: not over-saturated and here also a fine balance in tonal colour.”
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