Which Piano Brand Is Best?
Topic Series Notes: Piano Value
The most popular article in this series is “Which Piano Brand is Best?” ~ the most well written and best thought out article “What is my piano worth?”, used by permission, was written by Bob Conrad of Conrad Piano Services ~ a piano owners guide to determine the value of your piano.
Which piano brand ~ manufacturer is best?
There are many different opinions about piano quality. In the end, the best piano is the one the customer gets the most pleasure – both in short and long term. Along the same thought, it depends somewhat on what the customer likes. Example: I have said before, if you like a big bass then you need to buy either a Bösendorfer or Baldwin since they have the biggest bass section. However, some would say their bass section swallows up the rest of the piano. If you like a bright sound then you need to go with a Yamaha or other bright pianos on the market.
Performing artists prefer Steinway
Steinway pianos can be voiced to be either very bright or mellow, while other bright pianos start to sound muffled if you voice them too far towards mellow tone. Steinway is top of the list for performing artists and there are many reasons performing artists prefer Steinway. That being said, Steinway gets a lot out of their name and allows their pianos to leave the factory in questionable shape when it comes to regulation and adjustment. I have also seen brand new Steinway pianos, still on the dealers floor with questionable pinblocks, etc.
Yamaha easiest to service
When I started in the piano tuning business, someone who was a big Yamaha fan, gave me their opinion the best pianos where the ones easiest to work on (an opinion that I do not necessarily agree to). Their thought was Yamaha, unlike many other well know brands, has taken the time when designing their pianos to think about the technician – that was smart. Yamaha also pays extra for all new Yamaha pianos sold to have their “preventative maintenance program” known as the “Yamaha service bond” included in the new piano service.
I do not want to be misunderstood in my next statement so let me say up front that I too like Yamaha pianos, however, if you wonder why, when asking technicians about recommendations of piano brands, that Yamaha is one of the first mentioned brands – there is the fact ~ technicians get paid more (because of the Yamaha Service Bond) to work on the easiest piano made to service – Yamaha was very smart in their marketing.
Ask your piano tuner / technician
Good technicians, and can make any brand sound like a dream piano of a lifetime by talking up their strong points or make them sound like a huge gamble – all without being dishonest, because technicians know the strong and weak points in all brands they service. So make sure you have a piano tuner / technician you trust when asking for advice about piano brands.
The most important thing when buying a new piano is to have a trusted piano tuner / technician assess the piano before you buy. If possible, it is best to have more than one piano picked out so he can inform you which one he likes best.
List of Piano Brands and Manufacturers
Piano Tuning Fee
My Price for basic tuning
A basic tuning fee ranges from $105 ~ $140 and although a basic tuning usually only takes 45 to 90 minutes, I recommend reserving two hours for complete service. Please read the following for more insight.
Piano Tuner Price Shopping
Quality is the best economy ~ Similar to other businesses, piano tuners receive phone calls from potential customers shopping for the cheapest price. I wonder if they realize the huge differences among piano tuners. While everyone enjoys a good bargain, the care of your piano should only be trusted to a skilled professional and the piano tuning fee should not be the determining factor in choosing your piano tuner.
For many, there are only three issues that shape customer’s opinion and judgment about a tuner’s service.
- The opinion of the person who recommended the technician.
- The personality of the technician.
- The price ~ fee ~ cost of service.
In regards to price, if a piano tuner / technician’s price is low, many reasons to themselves; “If he is so good why are his prices lower than my last tuner? … or lower than Aunt Susie’s tuner?”
Piano Tuning ~ There Is A Difference
The bargain-basement tuner, believing customers have a hard time distinguishing one level of piano service from another, adopts an attitude of, “Why should I spend time, money and effort improving my piano tuning and servicing skills when customers can’t tell the difference anyway?” More often than not, he underestimates his customers, and is therefore always looking for business.
Not only is that attitude unethical, but the bargain-basement tuner seems totally unaware of the “WOW” factor. When an exceptional high quality technician services a piano after following a bargain tuner and the customer sits down to play, many times the pianist responds with; “WOW, what a difference!” When given the chance to compare high quality piano tuning with low quality piano tuning the pianist can, and does tell the difference.
Customers pay thousands of dollars for their instruments and to gamble on the care of such an instrument just to avoid a small difference in tuning cost seems an unwarranted gamble.
What Customers Have Said
Special thanks to everyone for such kind words of recommendation. Each and every comment is important to my piano tuning business.
Thank You!
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