Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum PW's "MOST WANTED" List

Hello Everyone!

I was interested in generating a sort of statistical list of "Most Wanted" pianos from members and experts here on PW. It could probably show no clear pattern or might reveal some distinct winners or at least contenders.....either ways, if some substantial data is collected, it would be extremely interesting to analyze it.
So here goes....
I invite all the members to post their response in a simple but preset format.
The question is simple:
Which Piano would you buy if you were to spend: (In other words, your favorite Pianos in the following price ranges:)

1) 15K or under
2) 25K
3) 50K
4) 75K
5) 100K
6) Money No Object

Here are some basic rules:
NEW PIANOS ONLY - No used/restored pianos.
It should be a Grand (Not Uprights)
No questions / explanations as to why the choice was made
Please be specific as to the model number, in addition to the make.
Please No either / or: Please pick ONE dream piano for every category, otherwise it would be very difficult to analyze the data.
Please keep the response simple as :
1) XXXX Model XXX
2) YYYY Model YYY and so on...

It will really be fun and informative for everyone here to look at the results.....
Thanks for your responses in advance

Let's give it a try (prices in Europe as my refernce may vary slightly form the US):

1) Wendl & Lung 178, nowadays Feurich 178

2) Venables & Sons 200 Custom

3) Estonia 225

4) Sauter Omega

5) Bösendorfer 214CS

6) Bösendorfer 225

schwammerl.

1) Ritmuller GH-170R
2) Brodmann PE-212
3) Mason & Hamlin AA
4) Steinway A Satin Ebony
5) Steinway B Satin Ebony
6) Bosendorfer 290 Satin Ebony

Using Australian prices and brands I can find in my area:

1. Bernstein 178
2. W. Hoffman 175
3. Estonia 190
4. Kawai RX-7
5. I'll update when I think of one.
6. Stuart and Sons 220

Great question!!

1) <15K: woulda been Kawai GE-20 (which I do have!) but they stopped making that, so: Kawai GM-12

2) 25K: Kawai GE-30

3) 50K: Steinway S

4) 75K: Steinway A

5) 100K: Hamburg Steinway B

6) Money No Object: Hamburg Steinway D

P.S. Sorry but I can't help sticking in this footnote....I wasn't sure how to handle the price categories, because in the current economy, prices have often been discounted a lot. Like, in the <25K category, I think I really could have said Kawai RX-2BLK rather than 'just' GE-30, but I don't think that any published lists would show the price being low enough for that range, and I guess we should go more by the published lists than what price we think we might be able to get.

3) 50K - Steinway M ($50,790)?
4) 75K - Steinway B Ebony $69,385)
6) $ No Obj - Steinway D ebony ($107,00)

I think your Steinway figures are a few years old. The SMP is 83K for a B and 58K for an M. So even with a possible 10% discount they're probably more costly. You might just make the cutoff with a spectacular deal.

#1 < 15K I'd try one of those new Yamaha digital with a real action
#2 That tall Steinway upright, the K-52
#3 Yamaha C7 (I owned one before)
#4 Estonia
#5 Steinway B
#6 No object: What I have now, the Bosendorfer 225.

But that's a misleading question. Money isn't "no object" to me. It's just that Pianos are important.

If money were "no object", I'd build a larger house and get a Fazioli 304 AND a Bosendorfer Imperial. Or, maybe a reproduction of the White House Steinway D complete with Eagle legs.



BTW: My first reply was flippant and silly. I apologize! (I was just fighting City Hall over an assessment.) I didn't have my coffee yet.

Thank you everyone for your responses.
While I respect everyone's principles, this thread is not for discussing them. I just wanted to collect some data for analyzing whether there are some clear "winners" or at least "contenders" in any category...and if so, are they "surprise candidates" or in sync with common perceptions.
Any member could also look at this data and derive any stats for knowledge or fun.
Also, sorry if the last category (money no object) hurts anyone. I completely agree and respect that money is important for everyone. However, everyone has dream pianos they wished they could buy. This category is just meant for that dream piano....If there wasn't any budgetary restriction, which piano would you have bought?
Hope that clears somethings.
Once again, thanks and please keep responses simple.

I thought the same.

A couple of things:
-- People are doing exactly what you said to a very great extent. You're getting great replies, with just a minimum of digression.
-- To the extent that they're going beyond it, with 1 or 2 exceptions at most it's been just to clarify the price thing, which has some real issues to it. (Not your fault, just inherently.)

thanks for the update!

1) Hailun 178

2) W. Hoffman T161

3) Mason & Hamlin AA

4) Bösendorfer 185

5) C. Bechstein MP192

6)?

1) Brodman PE 187
2) Yamaha C2
3) Estonia 190
4) Grotrian Charis
5) Bosendorfer 200
6) Fazioli F228

1) Cunningham 6 footer (don't remember the exact length: 5 11, 6 1?)
2) Bösendorfer 130 CL upright
3) Schimmel 230 (what a beefy/wide piano!)
4) August Förster 275 (never did price this piano)
5) Fazioli 278
6) Ravenscroft 275

These would be for my wife.

I am assuming ballpark (+-15%) street prices as of last fall, not book prices or current street prices. I am not up on current street prices.