It is not uncommon for a luxury home to feature a grand piano in its spacious foyer and if you are in fact on the market for one, it may behoove you to know the black and white versions now have some more modern cousins. A company in the Netherlands has chosen to specialize in custom pianos that will complement pretty much any interior design, from simple to quirky.
CMC claims to be the world's only maker of handcrafted, transparent grand pianos. So if you want one, you will need to go through them. While showing off the intricacy of the piano's construction alone is pretty cool, each one can be further personalized as well. Future owners work with the company to fully customize the colors of the soundboard and frame.
Currently, CMC lists three models - the Giordy, Cecile, and Borizz - all named after people very special to the designer, Peter A. Tol. Potential owners can choose from an "endless" array of designs as the CRYSTAL piano can be specified to sport pretty much any color or color combination. The soundboard and frame can showcase a specialized matching color or even a duo-tone, while the lid and rim can also be personalized with a print or pattern. If you're feeling particularly flashy, the CRYSTAL can be further embellished with gold plating, diamonds, or Swarovski crystals. Decorative trends change often over time, so let's hope the piano can withstand any future home makeovers.
A fancy facade cannot mask bad tuning, however. Ensuring their instruments sound as good as they look, CMC uses high-quality components like Roslau strings, an Abel hammer produced by Helmut Abel GmbH, Strunz soundboards, Renner actions, and Dehonit pinblocks in their instruments. Although meant to complement a space, we doubt these clear pianos will fade into the background.
