Is anybody familiar with Petrofs? I like their uprights. But grands are weird...
Pearl River pianos are better suited for fire wood.
This thread reminded me of my student days when we would go out on paid gigs in the community (rotary clubs, etc.). Many of the pianos were so bad we dubbed them "PSO's" or "piano-shaped objects".
For me the worst uprights are WELMAR pianos (the compnay has now gone bust!) and a poor grand is a GROTIAN STEINMEG
I think you mean Steinweg! Both Welmar and GS made/make very good pianos, almost invariably. Unfortunately, both firms suffered from the 'it's not a Steinway' syndrome, by which I mean that people who know enough about pianos to recognise the Steinway name, but not much more than that, tend to write them off as cheap tat and not look after them properly, so they often end up sounding a lot worse than they should. I play quite a few Welmars and they are really tough old birds: a 30-year-old Welmar will still play nicely which is more than you can say for a lot of 30-year-old Yamahas, and I'm prepared to put money on most of the cheap Korean and Chinese pianos of the last 10-20 years being sawdust before they reach 30.I will admit that GS grands are in some ways a little eccentric - they often feel rather odd under the fingers and the voicing seems to be quite individual sometimes, but they are well designed and made and really very rewarding instruments when you get used to them.I agree that Kawai pianos are not half bad, especially recently. Some from 20 or more years ago were not that impressive. They were never in any meaningful sense 'the worst' by a long way, though.
What brands do you consider to be "cheap chinese" pianos? Just curious as i own a pearl river, not that I'm arguing with you
I hate Kawai pianos with a passion.