Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Which do you dislike?

This is not meant to be a piano bashing thread and for many, including me, the "answer" may be "none". But I thought it might be "interesting" to give a list of most of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 pianos from the PB and have people tell us if they thought any on the list were highly overrated or they just personally didn't like them and why. This can be a purely personal dislike, i.e. one might be thinking "I know this is a high quality instrument, but my personal taste in tone or touch doesn't allow me to like it".

Boesendorfer, Bluthner, Bechstein, Steinway, Fazioli, Steingraeber, M&H, Estonia, Schimmel, Shigeru, Sauter, Forster, Feurich, Grotrian, Seiler

Please do no make this a thread for "responding" in an angry way to someone who doesn't like your favorite piano!

"have people tell us if they thought any on the list were highly overrated or they just personally didn't like them and why."

It seems to me you're going in two different directions here. Comments about any piano being highly overrated are likely to produce angry retorts that you don't want.

Comments that endorse the quality but indicate a difference in taste shouldn't elicit angry retorts, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility.

For example, I don't relate well musically to August Forster pianos. I hope that doesn't make anyone angry. I do think at least one of your listed brands is highly overrated, but I won't mention it in order to not disturb the happy mood that pervades your thread.

If I may ask a question, you said that your list includes "most of" the brands in your chosen categories. Why not all?

If people can express their opinions and responses to those opinions without being nasty or arrogant or immature then someone saying a piano is overrated shouldn't create a problem. I would also assume for the most part people will be saying that these opinions are based on their personal tonal or touch dislikes.

Thank you for answering a question I did not ask while completely ignoring the question that I did ask.

Can't do that.

There are too many people here who enjoy their choice of piano.

And who am I to say that I don't like it?

It is a matter of THEIR choice and falling in love with a certain sound/touch preference. It may not have been mine, but I do respect that our opinions and our choices may be different.

'sides, I enjoy most every piano that I play for its own characteristics.

LL

This is like choosing different kinds of chocolate truffels or a meal a fancy restaurant. Which one do you really like and want to choose is your personal taste. The Schimmel and Boesendorfer pianos for example, have a far different sound than that of the M&H or Steinway. The older instruments of the latter two actually sound better to me than the new ones, but again that's my opinion.

I'm not really familiar with some of the others in the list so I can't be the judge.

John

Disliking something is quite a different beast than calling something "overrated". You are correct in that the former is simply a matter of opinion, however the latter implies some level of quantitative analysis. Overrated vs what? Popular opinion? Fine? Price (as in $$$)? Any talk of something being "overrated" is bound to lead to some very unproductive discussion. After all, the very act of using the term overrated has more posts in this thread without even getting into any specific pianos!

Mercy, pianolaverus! Talk about stirring the pot. Reminds me once of when the director of my agency [who had been in the first wave at Iwo Jima] called in all his senior managers and asked them to tell him nicely what they didn't like about him. They all looked at the ceiling and whistled.

But in answer to your question--and with disclaimers--I can only address Steinway. I don't necessarily think it is over-rated as such, but perhaps it is overrated considering how much it costs. I can only compare it to Petrof and Estonia, both of which have preferable tones to me and both of which, in comparable sizes, cost a lot less. For all I know the same could apply to the other top tier pianos--I have no way of knowing.

But this is just another way of saying that there is a law of diminishing returns as you go up in price.

Russ

The people who have the experience and expertise to answer your question probably also have the good sense not to.

Yes, it may not be possible for some people to say some piano is overrated without getting flamed. I really don't think it's a problem with the word "overrated" being unclear: it's more a problem with people getting defensive, overly sensitive and less than mature.

But if anyone feels uneasy calling a piano "overrated", then just tell us about any pianos whose tone or touch you "personally" dislike?

I understand that some posters would not be comfortable saying that a particular piano is "overrated" because,for one thing, some posters will unfortunately, despite my request, attack them for this. (I just got a PM from a member who thinks the piano I own is overrated(I donlt think he knows I own this piano).

Or, if you prefer, send me a PM about overrated pianos. I promise to treat them confidentially.

Since you're a dealer, I realize it would be inappropriate for you to say although you once hinted you thought some of the highest rated pianos were not so great...If I buy three D's will you at least PM me your opinion?

Non dealers have, of course, made thousands of posts about overrated pianos at PW, but the undeserved flaming some have gotten(assuming they expressed their opinion in a reasonable way) makes it hard for many.

Interestingly enough, I got the idea for this thread from a thread at the Pianist Corner about composers you dislike. When it comes to composers, people seem not have any problem saying thinks like Bach is not one of the top 18 composers.

total mess up

blasphemy

Indeed, and then there's the question of the matches. While matches have their uses, to whom do you entrust them. Do you pass them to someone who insists that those who doubt the value of his question are either "nasty", "arrogant", "immature", "overly sensitive", "defensive", or "less than mature"?

I wouldn't.

Except I said that those words described people who unnecesarily flamed those who who post negative descriptions of their favorite piano. It had nothing to do with people who doubt the value of my question.

If you don't like my question ...don't respond.

If you buy 3 Ds from me, you will be privy to so much heretofore top secret piano information, your head will spin.

If someone says they don't like a composer who has been dead for 200+ years, the composer probably will not be too upset. If someone says here that they think a particular currently manufactured piano is overrated, they are likely to hurt the feelings of regulars on the board who spent big bucks and a lot of time buying one. They also will incur the wrath of dealers and manufacturer reps whose livelyhoods are dependant on those instruments being "overrated".

It's not that I don't like your question. That would be as bad as not liking your piano.

It's just that I don't see any good outcome that could result from this kind of probing, whereas I do see a lot of potential lather with no soap.

Take the word 'overrated'. You could slice it into different segments. Is the piano simply overpriced? Well, no...if it is uniquely matched to the buyer's preferences, how can it be overpriced? Is it over-hyped by its sellers? Virtually all pianos are. Is it overly praised by its owners? Why of course it is openly praised, but who decides what the boundary of 'over' is? Is it rated too highly in the Fine groupings? Could be, but are any opinions going to be changed by that old chestnut being kicked around once again?

BTW, I'd still like an answer to why "most of" instead of "all of".

OK, but to see if you're for real...is it true that pianos really have only 87 keys? PM me if necessary.



Yes. I never imagined or thought it would be appropriate for any dealer to answer although some have certainly done the other side of the coin. Although some people's feeling will get hurt, posts indicating one is upset about another's opinion of their favorite piano must number in the tens of thousands here already. And Fine's ranking always cause a minor furor.

Bit dog barks first, plover.

I just love a good smackdown.....