Bananas for Scale
Steinway Model D Concert Grand

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Steinway Model D Concert Grand

The instrument against which all pianos are measured/Musical Instruments

The Steinway Model D concert grand piano is 2.74 meters long and contains 243 strings under a combined tension of about 20 tonnes. It has 88 keys and over 12,000 individual parts. About 98% of concert pianists choose a Steinway for their performances. Each one takes about a year to build and requires the hides of 12 to 18 animals for the felt hammers alone.

Measurements

Length2.74 m
2.74Guitar lengths
1.6 hundredthsWashington Monument heights
10.3Dinner plates

8 feet 11.75 inches

Width1.57 m
2 millionthsFlorida lengths
41.2Silver dollar diameters
1.57Tuba heights
Height (lid open)1.02 m
3.7 billionWater molecules
364 trillionElectron radii
Weight480 kg
480 quintillionVirus weights
6.5 sextillionthsMoons
107House cats

About 1,060 pounds

Total string tension196,000 N
1.96Anchor chains
1,960Firm handshakes
28Sedan engines

About 20 tonnes

Lowest note (A0)27.5 Hz
1.1 tenthsMiddle C notes
36.7Dryer tumbles
8.6 thousandthsSmoke detector beeps
Highest note (C8)4,186 Hz
1.31Smoke detector beeps
41,860Toddler questions
Browse more in Musical Instruments