Please help me

[mikeyg]

find a good grand piano.  I live in America, am 16 years old, and have no experience whatsoever buying large things.  My piano teacher reccommends getting a refurbished steinway (she has a steinway and bosendorfer at her house).  I have no idea where to start looking.   Is there any good internet sites that have their piano inventory online.  My parents are willing to help with payments, transportation, etc.

I would be eternally grateful for any help.

Thank you.

     -Mike

[Brian Lawson, RPT]

Take your time

Have a piano tech inspect any piano before you are seriously deciding on buying it

Buy the one that sounds best for you, not your teacher


pianomart.com for second hand pianos, which give you an idea of prices and what's out there.

[mikeyg]

thank you.

[mikeyg]

What model steinway (refurbished) would you like most with a budget of lets sy 20000 USD

[iumonito]

pianomart.com for second hand pianos, which give you an idea of prices and what's out there.

First of all, don't pay list price.  For some mysterious reason most car and piano sales people give you a price entirely above what they are willing to sell to you.  If you find one that up front gives you a reasonable discount, this is a person worth talking to.  Let the various sellers from whom you are considering buying know what other options and prices you have available.

Second, just as with cars, there are loads of technicians that have no idea what they are doing.  Judge by the state of the other pianos they service or offer for sale.  Try several, you will be able to tell right away which ones are the good ones.

Brian, wouldn't you agree that for the most part the pianos in www.pianomart.com are significantly overpriced?  That's my impression.  Exceptions, of course.

Mikeyg, if you have a $20K budget, which is quite respectable, and depending how much space you have available, I would actually seriously consider buying a new piano from a reputable technician (my favorite guys are at Pianocraft, in Maryland, just in case you are curious; I bought from them and they have been great to me - top notch service).  I don't recall whether you have told us where you are located, but if you are in USA east coast you have many nice choices.

I would recommend you check out Estonia pianos, particularly the 190 (I think that's about 6'3 or so).   Very nice instruments.  i think they are within your budget; not sure, though.

Nothing wrong with used pianos, but if you are spending a lot of money, it would be nice that the piano would be in top shape and used pianos rarely are.  The scenario where I consider used pianos is actually very cheap pianos ready for rebuilding.  You spend about $1,000 in the rough piano and spend the rest of your budget in rebuilding.  You would need a piano worth the effort (Mason A, AA and BB usually great choices, although hard to find a rough one for rebuilding under $5,000).  Knabe, Chickering also good choices.  I have heard Kawais KG-5 have a lot of potential too (make sure is an old one, the rim made of oak).  Don't pay for the cosmetic stuff, spend all your money in belly work (hammers, action, restringing, pinblock, soundboard and the rim).

You can save some money if you expand your search to Chinese pianos.

There, I have posted and did not disect the Steinway.  Don't tempt me, though.

[Axtremus]

Sorry to say this... but in the USA, I've never come across any 20000 USD Steinway that I like, not even close. With that kind of budget, I'd look more closely at the 6 feet (180cm) or larger Japanese or Eastern European pianos. Steinway would not come into the picture for me unless I have more than twice that budget to blow. This is not a knock on Steinway -- there are some very good Steinway pianos out there, just not at the 20000 USD price point.

[Brian Lawson, RPT]

Second, just as with cars, there are loads of technicians that have no idea what they are doing. Judge by the state of the other pianos they service or offer for sale. Try several, you will be able to tell right away which ones are the good ones.

Too general, rather say there are some tooners.  Otherwise they are'nt technicians in the first place.

Brian, wouldn't you agree that for the most part the pianos in www.pianomart.com are significantly overpriced? That's my impression. Exceptions, of course.

As mentioned, it was given as a guide, just depends on where you are and what your budget is as to whether you want to pay those prices.

End of the day, its up to you as the buyer what you are prepared to pay.

[CJ Quinn]

I would be eternally grateful for any help.

Mike, you;re getting some solid advice here already let me add this.  Take this as an  oppportunity to go and play lots of pianos beyond your target Steinway.  Lots of people start looking for one brand and are shocked to find out that there are so many great pianos out there even if the name on the fallboard is not seen in many concert venues.

As Ax has indicated, 20k probably won't get you much of a Steinway, but it can get you lots of other great pianos.  I paid 20k for a lightly used August Foerster 190.  I'm a good shopper and had very good timing, but the fact is that most fine German pianos have very low name recognition in the USA and have relatively poor resale value: hence the recently built, but used models are an exceptional  buy.

Check out Baldwins of recent vintage as well. When I was shopping last year I could easily have gotten a Baldwin L (6'3") for 15k or less, made within the last 10 years.  If you like the American sound you may like these.  Also the Baldwin SF10 7' can be had for 20k with some shopping, I do believe.

Reports of new Petrof IIIs in the 20k range are still surfacing. New.  These pianos are really fabulous.

Ax is a fan of the Kawais, I have not played any of the grands, but the fact that he likes them so much makes me want to play them.  Plus I have heard recordings of his RX-A (?) and the piano sounds fabulous (also, Ax does not suck as a pianist, BTW    try to listen to his recordings, maybe he'll post a link)

So get out there and expand your horizons. PLay stuff and get back to us.

[mikeyg]

Thanks all for replies.  I'll keep looking for "the perfect one".