The smallest of the baby grand pianos, this American designed petite grand has the rich, warm tone one would expect from a much larger piano.
Built to be played, this baby grand player has all hardwood action parts, like all of the world’s finest pianos. While most pianos in this price range are using plastic parts, Wm. Knabe & Co stays true to its heritage and their commitment to build quality instruments without cutting corners.
Complete with a factory installed PianoDisc PianoIQ system, it includes more than 30 hours of complimentary music and music videos, including Stevie Wonder, Diana Krall, Billy Joel, Elton John and hundreds more!
Get the piano of your dreams for nearly half the price of the closest competitor.
Let’s compare this Wm Knabe to the Yamaha DGB1K
Both are build by reputable manufacturers. Both are player pianos. Both are baby grands.
Soundboard
The quality of the wood of a piano’s soundboard provides an insight into the overall construction of the instrument. It acts as the speaker and amplifier and quality spruce is considered the best material to use in a piano.
Wm Knabe – Spruce
Yamaha DGB1K – They don’t say.*
Center Pedal
Every concert grand piano in the world has a center pedal for sostenuto. It’s a complex mechanism that allows the player to hold particular dampers open without holding down the key, providing precise sound for complex music pieces. Even if you never use this pedal, its existence in a piano is an indication that the builder designed the piano for use by professionals. Center pedals that do other things, like bass sustain (poor man’s sostenuto), are an indication that the builder was trying to cut corners (costs).
Wm Knabe – True Sostenuto
Yamaha DGB1K – Bass sustain
Finish
Some simple woodworking techniques, like using an inset lid prop, beveling the edge of the piano lid, or using a spade leg, dramatically improve the look and “classiness” of a piano’s case. It requires more woodworking skills and precision, which can also be an indication of how the builder approached that particular model. Were they trying to show it off or make their more expensive pianos look better?
Wm Knabe
Yamaha DGB1K
Size
Bigger is not always better, especially in pianos. Steinway & Sons has always been renowned for having pianos that sound “bigger” than others, which is an advantage when space is tight or you just don’t want to have a piano take up that much room. Wm Knabe takes advantage of wide-tail design to fit a larger soundboard and longer strings into a smaller case. That means you get all of the sound without giving up all of your space!
Wm Knabe – 4’8″
Yamaha DGB1K – 5′
Player Piano
The key to having a player piano system you will really enjoy is how easy it is to use. PianoDisc pianos can run easily from any iPad or iPhone using the simple iTunes software. You can even stream videos to your TV and hear the piano playing along!
Wm Knabe – 30+ hours of free music and music videos
Yamaha DGB1K – about the same, no music videos, must use Yamaha’s app to run the piano
Price
Ah… the five letter word nobody likes talking about. Here is where the Wm Knabe really shines.
Wm Knabe – $14,995
Yamaha DGB1K – $23,999 MSRP
But who pays MSRP? We’ve seen the DGB1K at Costco as low as $18,999.99 (although they claimed the MSRP was $24,378.99).
Even at the lowest warehouse club price, the Yamaha still costs more than $4,000 more.
Visit us today and discover more value. Three generations of experience has taught us that you can’t find a better piano for less anywhere else.
* Specification, pricing, and other details are according to Yamaha’s webpage for this model and the same piano without the Disklavier system on 11/30/2018. We assume this information is correct, since it’s from their website and all, but cannot guarantee accuracy. Thanks for reading the fine print!
Available Finishes:
High Polish Ebony
