BECHSTEIN PIANO


Freddie during 'A Night at the Opera' tour in late 1975.
In the studio they recorded it through condenser mics, but live they installed Helpinstill pick-ups.

Model: D
Amplification: Acoustic, Helpinstill
Size: Concert Grand
Length: 9 ft 2 in (280 cm)
Keys: 88
 Origin: Berlin, (West) Germany
Colour: White

Source: Jacques Samuels Piano Shop, Edgware Road, London
First Used: 6th November 1972 at Peasantry Club, London
Last Used: 'A Day at the Races' recordings in Autumn 1976
Fate: Unknown

Trident Productions had made some sort of agreement with Jacques Samuels, and they rented their black Bechstein grand (a 1898 model with serial number 44064 and bracing number 11870) to be housed at the studios. Such piano was employed by loads of top artists including The Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie, Supertramp, Rick Wakeman, T-Rex, George Harrison, and of course, Queen (during the first two albums).

As the band had finished recording the debut album and Trident had arranged a concert at the prestigious Peasantry Club in Kingston Road, Chelsea, the company set-up another Bechstein for the gig (since Doin' All Right had a new arrangement, led by piano instead of guitar). The result was this fantastic white piano:


The photo used for the first album cover was at a gig where Freddie used the white Bechstein.

Freddie was so pleased with its sound that he'd hire it again in 1975 for 'A Night at the Opera' recordings and its subsequent UK tour (except the concerts in Scotland, where he played a Steinway). Then, in January 1976, he'd use it again to play in Eddie Howell's Man From Manhattan single, and after the world tour the piano would be rented again and used by John to mime the You're My Best Friend video, and by Freddie and Brian to record 'A Day at the Races'.

The last public appearance of this piano with Queen was at Hyde Park on 18th September 1976. Freddie played it on White Queen, Flick of the Wrist, You're My Best Friend, Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, The March of the Black Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, You Take My Breath Away and In the Lap of the Gods ... Revisited.

For some reason, it wasn't hired for the Earls Court gigs in June 1977 or recordings of the 'News of the World' album later on. What's more, Freddie bought his Steinway in the States on early November that year and the white piano was never required anymore.

Nowadays it's unknown what happened with this marvellous instrument that in many ways is part of the golden era of Queen. The white grand piano shown in the Bohemian Rhapsody BBC Three Documentary in 2004 is not this one, which suggests that either they couldn't find it, or they were too lazy to check. Jacques Samuels doesn't exist anymore (or at least they're currently not a Bechstein dealer), so it's hard to track down this instrument.


A late 1972 Queen concert (either Peasantry or Marquee), showing the white piano in the corner.

To record the piano in the studio, two Neumann U67 mics were placed near the strings (the piano was opened-up), so they mixed it stereo as part of the backing track. Listen to Freddie's brilliant Bechstein debaucheries in Death On Two Legs, Love Of My Life, The Millionaire Waltz and others.

In concerts, they amplified it through Helpinstill pick-ups, feeding a Clair Brothers Piano Box to a SAE Stereo Amplifier driving two 15 in Cabinets and two JBL 2440 Horns. That's why the Hammersmith Odeon gig has got such a superb quality, yet for some reason they haven't officially released it yet.