Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Yes or No - one year old crated piano

Firstly I want to say I am glad I found his place. Willing to learn a lot here and hopefully also contribute something in return.

Being from Cape Town, South Africa we don't have as many options as some of you might have.

My story:
The whole family are novices in the early stages of learning. Owned a late 1800's Collard & Collard.
Decided to buy a new piano and settled on a Feurich 122. It was between that and a Yamaha, but value for money made me decide on the Feurich.

So, the new Feurich got delivered yesterday and with my luck it got damaged while they offloaded it. Minor scratch/chip on the outside of the body. Obviously they are willing to take it back.

Problem is that they only have one more in stock, crated but it was manufactured early 2016. (I really don't understand where it was all its life.)

They said I can take that one or wait for the new shipment which will be +- 4 months. If I wanted to wait then I can keep the slightly scrached/chipped one until replacement time. (They will fix the chip in the meantime at my house.)

If I waited getting a 2017 model would be nice, I think. ???

I spoke to someone at Feurich headquarters and he suggested that the new, year old piano would be better as it has settled better.
Now my real question is, is there ANY truth in what this person said?

And secondly, what would you do?

Thanks a lot for any opinions and thoughts.

Can you post us a photo of the damage?

My acoustic is now one year old and it is all the better for that period. I can say that because I regulate and tune it myself.

Wood takes five times longer to lose moisture than it takes to absorb it. Also the felt in the hammers and action parts stabilise over time. Of course there is the matter of a new piano needing hours of playing to stretch strings and bed the hammer felt to the strings.

On the other hand you have a piano now that you can play and decide if you love its sound especially if they will fix the damage to "as new"

There is no guarantee that if you change it , the replacement will sound as good or better.

Ian

Hello, welcome to the forum!

There is truth in what the Feurich Rep. is telling you. He's not misleading you.

I don't generally think of pianos in terms of "model years." Age is relevant on used pianos because of wear, damage, and the aging process. For a new piano, I wouldn't be concerned about the manufactuaring date. Sometimes they have been sitting on a dealer's floor for over a year, and I wouldn't be concered about that either.

Best wishes for the great experiences you will have with your new piano!

I would let them fix the chip and have an expert technician look it over to make sure nothing else was damaged in transit. If the repair looks ok I would keep it. If you wait a year you could end up with the same problem. If you do have another delivered in the crate, make sure the transporter follows the instructions for taking it out of the crate! If they don't take the hood off off the piano before removing it from the crate, the hood can be scratched / damaged by the device taking the piano out of the crate for example. Movers could be more careful, but actually don't care that much.

Steve
Bösendorfer 170

What kind of finish is it? If ebony, I'm dubious about their ability to completely make it go away. Be sure that you have the option of saying you're not satisfied with the repair. I think a wood finish scratch or blemish can be made to disappear more effectively. And no, I wouldn't worry about the other one having been in a crate for a year at all.

+1

Rogan, just to confirm, the piano with the cosmetic damage is one that your family tested out, were pleased with its response and tone, in contrast to your other options, two pianos you've never tested nor heard. there's the chance under those circumstances that you won't like the other pianos as much, essentially what Ian has written. if you were planning to keep the piano for quite a while (based on your earlier piano it sounds probable), assuming the surface is expertly repaired and touched up it will have minimum effect on a resale. if you're working with a good dealer, and it sounds like you are, they might set up the other piano they already have on hand, tune and voice it, and let you choose after you test it out if you prefer it to the one you purchased.

Welcome to the forum! Seems like you have got good advice here. Nothing for me to add.

Thanks for the replies.

To clarify:
The one I have now with the minor damage I heard for the first time at home as it was a crated piano. It needs some voicing done still, I think.
They have another crated one at the store. (year old)
New stock coming in a few months.

Further opinions on what the Feurich rep said regarding the year old one being a better option due to being settled?

Thanks

You said "it needs some voicing done". Did you mean to say that it needs tuning? New pianos are voiced in the factory and as the felt takes time to bed in a further voicing is not normally done until ALL notes have been played for a great many hours. You may need four tunings during the first year of playing. Many suppliers offer one of two free initial tunings.

Ian

How bad is the chip? I'd consider asking them to just cash out the repair cost and live with it. Furniture gets little bits of honest wear if you use it, it's no use trying to keep anything perfect. That's like trying to live in a museum.