AKG 414's are my studio standard piano mic. Last week I was recording live in a church for the first time, a piano jazz trio. The bleeding between mic's was horrible. In a panic, I looked at the mic's I had with me and started to evaluate which mic I could use to isolate the instruments a little better.
The furtherest thought from my mind was to use a dynamic mic on a piano. Since I was in a state of anxiety I decided to pull out the 441 because of their super-cardioid pattern. I sat them up in ORTF inside the piano about center pointing one mic toward the treble hammers and the other pointing toward the middle of the bass strings. I had the trio perform a sound/level check.
WOW-!! Gated attenuation from bleeding using the S-C pattern was about 95%. I could not believe the sound of these mic's clarity and ability to capture so much of the Grand Piano tambour without sacrifice. The 441's cut through the mix and with almost nonexistent reverb from the church walls.
Sennheiser 441 Piano Overhead Mic 
