at The Turn of The Millenium

Thanksgiving, November 25, 1999

Updated, November 27, 1999

Now maybe it should be better known that anyone selling a new piano is taking on something of a risk just holding the goods; they have paid a lot for the instruments themselves and then must have a place to adequately store and protect them. One thing I've discovered is that there is a lot of lore out there about pianos being almost living things that are in some sense perishable goods; all their intricate moving parts must work flawlessly and the whole mechanism must be tuned, usually many times, before it "settles" in a particular place, where it becomes "at home". This makes it difficult to show pianos adequately. It's a pretty traumatic journey for some pianos, of over eight thousand miles in some instances, just to get to us.

My point is that these pressures operating on the piano retailer usually mean that they are more willing to negotiate. Where they wont, consider the merchandise. The lower the asking price, the more likely it would be for that price to be negotiated still lower. How much lower depends on the retailer's situation at the time. For the higher priced goods, there is also a rarity issue; the goods offered for sale at the higher price levels, or "break points" as some call them, are produced in far fewer quantities than the cheaper brands. That's basic economics; that larger factors of scale available in some countries due to their cheaper labor and willingness to make a competitive product will produce more product, in some cases ten to twenty times the production output. And make no mistake, anyone entering this business as a newcomer to the American piano market, intends to make a competitive product. But as matters of scarcity go, a piano purchased in the higher price ranges will depreciate far slower than the lower priced merchandise will. This does not usually mean that pianos are investments, although most above a certain point do tend to depreciate slower and may in some cases appreciate.

The American piano market is perhaps getting smaller, but it is also changing. The notion among most people here that a piano is basically just another piece of expensive furniture may be going away. Not that pianos have to be visually ugly, but they are basically musical instruments and it is this fact that motivates most piano manufactures more than ever. There has been more interest in the engineering of pianos too, most of it as usual coming from American innovators, notably Aston-Weight, Fandrich & Sons and Charles Walter.

It is in the area of the large upright piano as with the six foot grand that we can form a just basis for measuring and considering a piano company; its products, it's integrity, its designs, musicality, style, touch and tone, etc. These are often called "studio" pianos, occasionally "studio grand" or more often "professional" uprights. Again, we begin with a simple question; what if we know we're looking for an upright piano with a full sized single blow action or better, that must be 48" tall or taller (the taller one's will get special attention), but we want it again in ebony, nothing fancy and we again want to know what's out there? My list may include some uprights uder 48" where they are worth considering and or where the manufacturer makes nothing taller. In some cases a single manufacturer makes many models that fit the criteria and as many as possible of these are listed. Keep in mind that the prices are usually very flexible and may occasionally go up and down without notice. Also note that a few makes; Aston-Weight and Fandrich & Sons for example, are best dealt with directly, since they seem to have few if any retail outlets at this time.

Lets find a few classics to get our bearings. I'm choosing the Yamaha U1 at position 31 as an effective center around which all the rest are organized. The U1 is an excellent standard piano, very dependable, usually nice to play, with a tone that's crisp, clear, glassy, etc. It's brothers, the U3 at position 38 and the U5 at position 43, are also the last of the Asian pianos; everything Asian that's not a Yamaha is going to be cheaper. Yamaha's entries form sort of an effective balance scale in that theoretically you could buy 4 U1's with the money you'd spend on a Bechstein 8A or you could also buy 4 Schubert B-15's with the money you'd spend on a Yamaha U5. The hot and burning question is whether a Bechstein is worth four Yamahas or whether a Yamaha is worth four Schuberts.

The Story & Clark pianos are all listed as BIG, TALL pianos! I'm curious, I've never seen any Story's that were that tall. Of course I could just as well get one of Fandrich's for around the same kind of money and I know the Fandrich will be pretty awesome.

The Weinbach and Petrof models might be nearly identical. They have a reputation for requiring more prep than others, like Kawai. The Schirmer at 27 figures as Estonia's entry in the upright game since they do not make any uprights under their name. These pianos would normally require a nice prep at your own expense. How else do you suppose I made such a nice piano out of my Schubert? The idea of these pianos seems often to be, "take us in, we're better than you think, just be willing to fix us up." And I have been willing to and have achieved really remarkable results.

The Charles Walter 1500 at position 28 is probably the shortest piano on the survey but I have been told to include it and that even though I've never played one I'm due to be surprised when I do.

The Mecklenburg is sort of Germany's answer to getting some of the best of both worlds; German engineering put together by cheaper labor. This is the only model they make so who knows?

And at position 30, Baldwin's first entry, the 248A appears. This is a new entry for Baldwin and represents, for those who wonder about Baldwin's often bewildering product line, a step up from both the Hamiltons and Accrosonics and priced to compete with the Yamaha U1. The entire Baldwin line is getting something of a face lift. They are eliminating any cheaper models having the Baldwin name and all theirs are featuring full sized single blow actions. I'll definitely try and find one of these to report back on in the future.

Between the Yamaha U1 and it's big brother the U3, which I liked better than the U1, are half a dozen interesting pianos, the Knabe being the least interesting of the bunch. The Blondel, Boston, Kemble and Schulze-Pollmann are all worth a look.

The wonderful Petrof 131 at position 39 marks another serious place in the table with me. It's almost $10,000 and that's what I decided a long time ago would be the upward limit for me to spend for any upright piano. I now think that as far as new pianos are concerned that the breakaway point has to be higher.

This is where that all important question comes up; how much money do I have to spend for a good grand piano where a good upright piano will do? Where is the breakpoint? Well, I think it's where the lowest price for the first grand you'd actually consider buying matches the highest price you'd have to pay for an upright. And righthere at around $10,000 in uprights we have serious contenders; Petrof, Astin-Weight, Fandrich. You have to jump another $12,000 to get to the first acceptable grand happened to be; also a Petrof.

From there to position 53, where Mason & Hamlin's wonderful upright stands, there are five English uprights. The only one I remember playing was the Knight, a lively thing that sounded and played like a much larger piano. The Pleyel is in there too, actually cheaper than the Mason & Hamlin but probably with less flexible deals too.

Steinway's Studio Grand K-52 is at position 58. I've always enjoyed playing these though sometimes they can be a bit finicky. From there you again enter the German alps. These pianos, some of which I have played, are, well they're frankly astounding. Some reports have it that they are regarded as every bit the equivalent of a six foot grand. Forster's 125G for instance has an amazing bass section for a piano that size and a more sure feeling action than even the Steinway. Is one of these the equal of say a Petrof III grand piano which sells for around the same price? By the way be forewarned that not all Forster's are the one's that come from Germany. Someone has run off with their name and is importing Forster pianos made in China into Canada. I'm sorry but after playing one of the real Forster's I really almost think a boycott is in order.

The German uprights are expensive but just how much they provide over their cheaper rivals is a matter to be determined by everyone who goes piano shopping. This is very definitely an interesting crop of pianos and strongly argues against there being a scarcity in the number of uprights of "studio" or "professional" caliber out there.

At the last minute I just put in two additional entries to take very seriously; A pair of German made pianos by Wwith all the right stuff matched to a Fandrich vertical action, "the vertical action that plays like a grand" in two models a 49" and a 51".