🎹Yamaha U1 vs Kawai K-300 Upright Piano Comparison, Review, & Demo🎹

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#YamahaU1 #KawaiK300 #UprightPiano

Hi everyone, and welcome to another piano comparison video here at the Merriam Pianos YouTube channel. Today we’ll be comparing the most popular upright models from two manufacturers who make up one of their great rivalries of the 20th century - the Kawai K300 and Yamaha U1.

It’s been about 5 years since our last comparison video of these heavyweights, so we figured now was a good time for a fresh take.

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Yamaha U1:

The Yamaha U1 is a 48” upright piano from Japan. The U1 is probably the best known upright piano in the entire world, and likely in the history of the piano industry. Starting in the late 1960’s, the U1 really led the Japanese takeover of the North American piano market. The build quality, consistency and musical capabilities the U1 brought to the table for the price was truly revolutionary, and the U1 became a quick favourite among musicians and technicians.

Kawai followed shortly after with very successful upright models of their own, but unlike Kawai who changed the name of their instruments with every new design, Yamaha has kept the U1 name unchanged for decades.

The U1 can be described as an instrument with a loud, clear tone, often described as ‘bright’. Unlike the K300 which has a tapered soundboard, the soundboard here is not tapered, so the presence of distortion can sometimes be felt when playing in the upper ranges, but on the other hand, the non-tapered soundboard can sometimes mean slightly stronger tuning stability.

The bass strings are shorter than the K300, which means a tighter, punchier attack, but with less warmth. Some of the newer U1’s are being shipped with softer voicing for a slightly mellower tone, but in general, the U1’s of today are generally still quite bright tonally.

The action is quick, and in terms of the key dip, it’s pretty down the middle - not too deep or shallow. Yamaha has a repetition for lighter actions, but this is likely due to how quick the U1 can get loud, whereas the K300 requires more energy to get loud.

Another difference with regards to the action between the U1 and the K300 has to do with keystick length. The U1 uses a fairly standard length keystick, virtually unchanged since the 1970’s, whereas the K300 uses an extended length keystick to make the action feel more like a grand and increase the level of control. Beginners won’t notice a difference here unless they’re going back and forth between an upright and their teacher’s grand say, but more advanced players will likely feel the difference.

Kawai K300:

The K300 is also a 48” upright piano that’s made in Japan. The current design has evolved out of previous designs, stretching all the way back to the 1950’s. The K300 is an update on the previous generation K3, incorporating many of the same design innovations that you’ll find in Kawai’s GX series grand pianos. From a design standpoint, the K300 is quite a departure from what you’re getting in the Yamaha U1.

For starters, the K300 uses a lower tension design which results in longer bass strings compared to the U1. This results in a warmer, rounder bass tone. The second meaningful difference has to do with the soundboard. As previously mentioned, the U1 uses a non-tapered soundboard, whereas the K300 features a tapered soundboard, which allows more of the soundboard to activate with less energy. This makes for more projection and warmth in lower and mid level dynamic ranges.

The third difference brings us to the action. The U1 uses a primarily traditional wooden action, while the K300 uses Kawai’s Millennium III Carbon Fiber action for improved maintenance and long term durability. From a musical perspective, the extended keystick length in the K300 offers more control, especially in the lower dynamic ranges, which allows the player to take advantage of the tapered soundboard.

In terms of aesthetic differences, the K300 uses a wider music desk, which can be a huge benefit to folks who still like to use sheet music. Both instruments use a soft close fallboard and high quality brass castors.

Conclusions:

We hope that this video has helped clarify some of the most critical differences between these two instruments. If you’re in this price category, about $10,000 USD, these are two essential models worth checking out.

Thanks for watching!

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