Williams Overture III Digital Piano - Ebony

Most Liked Positive Review

A bit overdue but here's my review!

I've been meaning to write a review of my new Williams Overture III piano for several weeks now, but every time I sit down to play I discover new things to write about! First off - this instrument is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The color, the finish, the whole package -- simply gorgeous -- and based on appearance alone, I'd say this piano is concert hall worthy. It certainly raises the level of class in my living room! The piano bench (which I was surprised but excited to see included in the box) is extremely solid and comfortable. It's a bit taller than I'm used to, so I wish it were adjustable, but I have played for hours without any feeling of discomfort whatsoever. (I'm 6' 4" -- so I'm thinking the height of the bench is optimized for a more average height.) The feel and overall accessibility of the controls are excellent -- even before diving into the useful owner's manual it was easy to play right out of the box (after it was set up, of course!) My son was instrumental (lol) in assisting me with the unboxing and assembly. While it might be possible for one person to set it up alone, I would recommend having an extra pair of hands to make the process easier and more efficient. Another recommendation would be to first read through the entire assembly instructions and roughly see how the parts will go together prior to actually screwing and connecting pieces together. IMPORTANT: We discovered (much to our dismay) in Step 5 that a printed mistake in Step 1 meant that we had to undo everything that we'd done up to that point and start all over again. It took the two of us a little over two hours from box to Bach (playing condition!) but it's conceivable that if the instructions get corrected or if catch the issue prior to assembly that two people could complete the set up in under an hour. I've contacted customer support, and hopefully they can rectify the snafu in the instructions. The issue involved the attachment of the "modesty" panel and its mounting brackets: in Step 1, if you attach the feet as instructed in the version that I received (10506686-V1. 0) when you get to Step 5, you'll find that the orientation of the mounting brackets will not allow the modesty panel to fit in place properly. While it's not fundamental to the way the instrument plays or sounds, I'm glad in the end that we took the time to take it all apart and start over again as the modesty panel contributes greatly to the overall look of the instrument. I have played piano now for over fifty years and in that time I've played everything from a keyboard I rescued from a dumpster to Steinway concert grands (from Hamburg AND New York, thank you very much!) and the feel of the Williams Overture III is right up there with the best. I prefer to listen to the piano through one of the two 1/8" stereo headphone jacks, stealthily located beside the handy headphone hanger mounted under the left side of the keyboard. The sound in the headphones is rich and full as it is when I connect it to an external amplifier. The built-in speakers are adequate and there are ways to adjust the EQ level settings internally, but when I'm playing for enjoyment, I'll stick with the headphones for now. My piano students LOVE playing this keyboard (and with two headphone jacks built in there is no need for any kind of adapter) and the sound from the built-in speakers is fine for lessons. The Overture III comes with so many things that truly enhance the student/learning experience -- with or without a teacher -- from the song tutor feature to Bluetooth connectivity, and USB song mode and split and layer modes. The ability to isolate the left and right hand parts on the fifty provided songs (of assorted skill level and style) was another unexpected gem of a discovery -- even more so when I found that you can download the sheet music from Williams' website! Recording directly to USB drive is fun, fast and easy. The default touch sensitivity seemed a bit off to me, but it's a quick fix to adjust via the velocity curve settings in the function menu. I would highly recommend this piano for students learning to play and, at its price point, it's an ideal instrument to have in any home for whenever piano playing guests come to visit or even to have it play one of its installed demo tracks or songs recorded on a USB drive. The finish and craftsmanship make the Williams Overture III a welcome addition and means of bringing wonderful music to any home.