🎹 5 Reasons the GL20 is Disrupting the Used Grand Piano Market | Kawai GL20 Review & Demo 🎹

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0:00 - Video Introduction and The 5 Reasons why the Kawai GL20 has disrupted the Used Grand Piano Market
0:11 - Reason #1
0:27 - Playing Demo on the Kawai GL20
3:00 - Reason #2
4:05 - Reason #3
5:43 - Reason #4
6:57 - Reason #5
7:50 - Playing Demo
10:15 - Outro

When the Kawai GL20 was first introduced in 2015, the assumption was that it would attract hobbyist players willing to pay a premium for a piano made in Japan. While there have been customers like this, the majority have been mid-level students who chose it for musical reasons.

With this in mind, here are the 5 reasons why the GL20 has totally disrupted the 30-year-old used grand market in a way that few other new pianos have done.

Tone
Atypically, for an instrument in the five foot two length, the Kawai GL20 produces a super complex, well-structured tone right across the range. There is a ton of bloom, a lot of sustain and extremely well-structured complexity; meaning that the harmonics are sustaining and blooming at about the same rate, allowing you to pick out the mid-range harmonics versus the fundamental. This creates a well-balanced and structured tone. As well, there is a very subtle transition towards the low range as you move from the steel strings to the copper.

When people look for larger used pianos, they are focused on the action and the tone that a larger piano can provide. The GL20 has a tone that will convincingly mimic a more expensive, larger piano.

Cabinet Resonance
There is a tremendous amount of cabinet resonance over the entire range of the GL20 with some of this coming from the rim material and some due to the stretcher bar. The entire structure of the piano contributes an outsized proportion of the tone when compared to other instruments in this price range.

Duplex Scaling
Also tonally related is a working duplex system. This is the extra length of string that sympathetically vibrates and adds a bit of extra resonance to the sound. On higher-level systems with tighter tolerances and longer finishing times, duplex is expected to be an active feature; however, with sub-$20k pianos, the tolerances are such that duplex scaling may not even activate or activate evenly. While the duplex scaling is not overly apparent in the higher range of the GL20, it is very evident in the second and third highest octaves. You can hear a thickness to the attack and a maturity to the sound rather than a thinness in the top register.

Bass String Length
The small difference in bass string length makes a noticeable difference in the GL20 when compared to pianos like the GL10. This gives greater clarity up to an octave lower than on those other instruments. When trying to determine the lowest triad you can clearly hear, the GL20 reaches all the way to the lowest Ab major triad, which is a challenge on other instruments of the same size and price.

Key Action
The action on the GL20 gives you a similar sense of inertia, depth and dynamic range as a larger piano, even one up to six feet in length. Teachers will promote a larger piano for its improved repetition speed, greater dynamic range and greater control. The GL20 has extended key stick lengths and all of the accompanying altered geometry to accommodate this longer length.

Final Thoughts
The GL20 is produced in both Indonesia and Japan, depending on which market you are in; Indonesian pianos are sold in the US, while Japanese pianos are sold in Canada. The differences, musically speaking, are virtually undetectable. You can hear and feel the same sustain, complexity and action experience regardless of whether the piano was made in Japan or Indonesia. From a resale point of view, there is a bit of a premium placed on a Japanese-built GL20, but this is slowly shifting over time. That being said, lack of access to a Japanese-built GL20 is not a reason to change models or look out of market.

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