One of the Best Upright Pianos for Your Dollar
Fandrich pianos are widely considered to be some of the best pianos in the world. They are a range of high-end premium upright pianos that are often thought have a sound and feel closer to grand pianos than traditional uprights.
Using innovative technology and construction techniques, the Wertheim WF-125 Fandrich acoustic upright piano is one of the best-sounding pianos you’ll find, performing way beyond its price. Importantly, Wertheim Piano has used the lessons learned in the making of this piano to improve our entry-level and mid-level acoustic piano offerings.
Who is Delwin Fandrich?
Our Fandrich pianos (the “WF” models) are named due to their designer, Delwin (Del) Fandrich. Del Fandrich is a renowned piano designer with an extensive career in piano design and manufacturing spanning over six decades.
He was co-founder of the Fandrich Piano Company (with his brother, Darrell) in 1990, which focused on the design and manufacture of high-end pianos using their own patented technologies. Due to creative differences between the brothers, the company dissolved and they started their own businesses. Darrell focussed on retrofitting other piano models with his family under the name “Fandrich & Sons”. Del continued his career acting as a consultant for the design and manufacture of high-quality pianos.
What makes a Fandrich piano one of the best pianos in the world?
There are numerous unique and distinct features that make this one of the best pianos available. Manufacturing the best pianos starts from the ground up, from raw material choices and innovative design through to the choices made for each element of the piano and overall quality control.
Let’s look at what makes these pianos so great.
Skeleton
Fandrich piano skeleton
The skeleton is the foundation of any piano. For WF-125, the skeleton is an entirely new design using a “semi-mortice and tenon” construction. One of the design goals of the new WF series of vertical pianos is stability. This skeleton assembly provides one of the strongest and most stable skeleton assemblies available in vertical pianos of any price today.
The top of the piano skeleton features a unique pinblock design (quite possibly the best in the industry). The massive back posts are separated by solid softwood spacers.
This whole assembly is backed by a 20 mm thick laminated hardwood stiffening panel. At the bottom of the skeleton, usually the weakest part of a vertical piano’s structure, we’ve added a massive, solid hardwood beam. The backposts are mortised into this beam.
The benefit: Improved tuning stability. Longer piano life.
String Frame
The piano string frame
The piano string frame (sometimes known as the “plate” or “harp”) is the massive cast-iron structure inside a piano that anchors the strings and withstands their enormous tension. This cast-iron frame is then attached to the soundboard. As well as being the mount for the piano strings, the frame also provides structural integrity to help prevent the wooden piano from warping.
In the Wertheim WF-125, the string frame is also an entirely new design. It uses massive and well-engineered bracing to integrate with the skeleton assembly. This ensures that the new WF series upright pianos are among the strongest and most stable available.
The benefit: Improved tuning stability. Improved tone performance.
String scale
The string scale of a piano refers to the design, layout, and tension of its strings. This thereby determines how the instrument products sound and manages vibration across its range,
The low- to mid-tension string scale of the Wertheim WF-125 is designed to provide the best timbral balance possible across the compass of the piano.
The benefit: Improved tone. Improved tuning stability.
Vertical hitch pins
The bridge is the crucial structural component of the piano that converts string tension and vibration into audible sound. The bridge is attached to a resonant part of the soundboard allowing the energy of the vibrating strings to be transferred to the soundboard. The hitch pins are driven into the string frame and hold the strings in place.
The WF-125 uses vertical hitch pins ensuring that every string has the precise string bearing on the bridge.
The benefit: Improved performance. Improved tuning stability.
Agraffes
Agraffes are small, threaded brass studs that are screwed into the cast-iron frame of the piano.
All WF model Fandrich pianos use agraffes that terminate and precisely define the speaking lengths of the strings. The agraffes also ensure precise spacing and positioning of the strings. They are a more efficient termination for the vibrating strings than a capo d’astro (or “capo bar”)
The benefit: Improved string positioning for precise hammer strike on the strings. Improved tone performance. Improved sustain.
Soundboard design
Fandrich piano soundboard
The WF Series features the exclusive Wertheim Impedance Controlled Soundboard. This soundboard and rib design has been developed over years of analysis and testing.
The most obvious design feature of the soundboard is the Impedance Bar (or Fandrich “Z-Bar”). This is a carefully designed wood “soundboard shaping device” that precisely controls how the sound board reacts to different frequencies (or notes). The impedance bar optimises the size and shape of the soundboard and smooths the transition between the bass and the tenor.
A notable aspect of this soundboard design is that the ribs are not quite parallel. This design helps to eliminate strong, undesirable resonances and smooths out the “voice” of the piano across the scale. This soundboard design is so unique that our piano designer, Delwin D Fandrich, was granted a U.S. patent for it.
The benefit: The bass-to-tenor transition is musically transparent giving the piano a smooth and well-balanced timbre across the compass of the piano.
Soundboard construction
All WF pianos use highly engineered soundboard panels. These sound board panels use a technique known as “narrow-angle” grain orientation between the thicker solid spruce core and the thinner spruce outer veneers. This construction method ensures that the soundboards perform like solid spruce soundboard panels for resonance, but have the added advantage of being resistant to swelling in humid climate regions and cracking in areas where the climate very dry.
The benefit: Improved tuning stability. Resistant to swelling and/or cracking. Longer piano life. More consistent tone performance.
Soundboard float
In conventional piano soundboard design, the soundboard is firmly attached to the skeleton all the way around its parameter. In the WF pianos the sound board is separated from the skeleton in a short area around the bass bridge. This feature allows the soundboard to move more freely and greatly improves the bass tone quality.
The benefit: Improved bass tone quality.
Keys
The keys on the WF-125 are longer than those found in most pianos. There is less variation in touchweight from the front of the keys to the back of the keys. This gives the pianist better control over the action.
The benefit: Better control. Improved sense of “touch.” Better action “feel.”
Dampers
Piano dampers are typically felt-covered wooden pads that rest of the strings and stop vibrations. This is essential for controlled and clean sound cut off once a key is released. The dampers can also be controlled by the sustain pedal to allowing strings to continue vibrating even after a note is released.
The WF V1 pianos use brass (rather than wood) damper barrels in the bass. The added mass of these barrels greatly improves damping efficiency in the bass. This allows the use of lighter damper springs and greatly improves action performance when the piano is being played at pianissimo (i.e.,“soft”) volume levels.
The benefit: Improved damping in the bass. Improved action/control/touch when playing at pianissimo levels.
Hammer strike line
The WF upright pianos are designed to have a straight hammer strike line. The hammers do not “rise” near the bass-to-tenor break. This ensures consistent action ratio on these notes and makes action control consistent.
The benefit: Improved action, touch, control.
Hammers
The hammers are the small and dense felt-covered mallets the strike the strings when a key is pressed. This causes the strings to vibrate and thereby produce sound. The types of felt used has a considerable impact on the quality and timbre of the sound that is produced.
The WF pianos use a variety of hammers to suit the requirements of the most discerning piano buyer. For the richest warm European tone, we use special German Renner custom hammers that are pressed with Weikert felt. For a slightly brighter tone we use German Renner custom hammers that are pressed with Wurzen felt. For lower cost versions we use FFW hammer felt.
Strings
Good strings are vital for pianos because they are the primary source of the sound. As they are under high and long-lasting tension, the quality of the construction materials is vital to prevent breakage and maintain pitch.
For WF V1 professional models we use top-quality custom German Heller and Custom USA Mapes.
For lower cost version we use high-quality Japanese Suzuki strings.
Actions
A piano action is the complex internal mechanism that converts a player’s keypress into the motion that causes the hammers to strike the strings. Typically containing more than 8000 parts, the quality of the piano action has a considerable impact on the piano touch, responsiveness, and tone. It also impacts the ability of the instrument to play rapid, repeated notes.
For WF V1 Fandrich piano professional models we use piano actions manufactured by German Renner and USA WNG.
For more entry- and mid- level upright piano versions we use Chinese Luo actions.
Buying a piano?
Whilst a great price for their quality and sound, the WF-125 Fandrich Piano is considered a high-end professional instrument. Wertheim offer a range of more affordable acoustic upright and grand pianos (as well as digital pianos).
If, however, you are looking for the ultimate in sound quality as a professional performer (or someone who just loves to play), come and speak with us soon. There are only a few WF-125 Fandrich pianos remaining.