Williams Grand Piano – REVIEW – WGB digital piano

UPDATED REVIEW – The Willams regular digital mini baby grand piano ($1299 at Guitar Center) is DISCONTINUED and the lastest and only mini digital grand from Williams is now called the Symphony Grand “micro digital piano” and you can learn more about this new 2016 model from my review at the following link: Williams Symphony Grand 2016 Review

The following past review is from the review I did of the previous discontinued model back from about 4-5 years ago:

This small 3’3″ long mini digital baby grand sells for about $1299 internet and store discount price and is sold by the Guitar Center Company including it subsidiaries Musicians Friend, Woodwind & Brasswind Music Company, and Music & Arts, and others, all of which Guitar Center owns (small world).

When I had a chance to play one of these pianos not too long ago, I could instantly tell that I did not like it (although I really was trying to). It had a decent mini-baby grand piano “appearance” in a polished black cabinet, but that was about as close as it got to a piano. The 3 pedals each squeaked terribly loud and were very hard to press, and the sustain pedal (the one on the far right) only had off & on switching on them (like a cheap keyboard) instead of the normal acoustic piano gradual half pedaling, which is a must on any good piano and all acoustic pianos have that. The instrument sounds were below average (there were just 14 of them), and the key touch and response was very poor. In fact there was very little velocity response changes from soft to loud in the key action even though the piano had three velocity settings. It was almost like playing a piano without any volume changes at all while playing the keys hard or soft, very strange. So trying to play the piano “smoothly” and to have expression was next to impossible.

So why is this piano being offered for sale with some people buying it? Very simple: many consumers want a mini baby grand look in their home despite how poor the rest of the piano may be or they simply don’t know what they are really getting. If you have very low expectations or simply don’t know what a digital piano should play & sound like, then this may be the perfect piano for you, but you usually get what you pay for. By the way, the Williams “company” is not a “real” piano manufacturer like Yamaha, Casio, Roland, Kawai, and a few others. It is a name that is owned and created by the Guitar Center company and made by “unknown manufacturers” in China.

As far as I’m concerned, this Williams WGB digital grand piano is simply a “PSO,” which stands for Piano Shaped Object because that’s as close to a piano as it gets in my opinion. And who knows if the pianos will hold up and be reliable? (my experience so far is not good). I have even played new $150-$300 keyboards by Yamaha & Casio that outperform this Williams piano in dynamic response, tone quality, and features which just shows how deficient the Williams WGB really is. So do yourself a favor…save your money or buy a Yamaha, Casio, Kawai, or Roland digital vertical or portable piano which would be far superior to these Williams pianos. If you really want that mini baby grand appearance, it will cost you a lot more money for something that actually behaves like a real piano and that will take you way out of this price range.
 
As a piano teacher, musician, and experienced digital piano expert, if you are wanting this instrument for anything else but looks, save your money and look elsewhere. In my opinion, you just just try to get past the “cute looks” and get a piano that will play like a piano. I am not talking about the “perfect piano” but just something basic that has a decent piano key action and sound which I strongly believe the Williams digital mini grand piano does not.

Disappointing Rated 2 out of 5

by Paul on July 7, 2010 at Guitar Center

• I purchased my Williams Digital Grand approx. three months ago. Shortly thereafter, we began to have problems with the keyboard, and eventually, some of the keys stopped playing. It took over a month to get it repaired. The technician mentioned that some of the solders were bad…not a good sign regarding quality of manufacturing. Also, the keyboard is not in the least bit touch sensitive. While it’s a beautiful piece of furniture, don’t expect a piano-like experience. 

  Cheap Rated 1 out of 5

• by Unhappy With Williams on March 18, 2010 at Guitar Center

  You’d do better buying a name brand console type than this grand shaped object. You get what you pay for.

  These are actual owners, I did not make them up and they came off a web site. So once again, I recommend that you stay away from the Williams pianos and go with a high quality brand like Yamaha, Casio, Roland, Kawai, and other well known piano manufacturers. You’ll be glad you did.