Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Piano finishes... black Polyester vs Mahogany

I refinished hundreds of pianos if not a thousand or more in the 60s and 70s,grands,uprights and spinets.Never did we have an ebony finish come thru the shop.Nor was an ebony finish ever requested.And to the best of my knowledge no new pianos were sold thru the music store with an ebony finish,even when the customer had a choice of finish..tastes in piano finishes may have changed since then.And as a wood finisher of some 50 years I can tell you that a glossy finish is much harder to apply.I don't like a glossy finish on wood myself.

Rich, when you talk of a polished finish on a beautiful veneer, are you thinking of polyurethane, or something like a french polish such as antique furniture would have? The latter would be my preference.

Classic black (satin or polished) can go with most decorating color palettes. Trends in wood finishes cycle every few years -- lighter, darker, reds, mochas, browns, etc. You can't just paint over a piano on the weekend. Well, I guess one could, but... Refinishing a piano is a costly and time-consuming process. All of the other wood finishes in a home can be changed pretty quickly and with lower costs, especially for the DIY'er.

If you go with Mahogany, just make sure you can live with that as a primary, influencing finish in your decor for many, many years to come. And what if you move for some reason, and the new house is all light oak? One water heater mishap a couple of years ago, and every wood finish in our entire house has been changed since except for the kitchen cabinets. Re-doing one room leads to another and another -- especially with a modern, open floor plan.

My 2 cents from the practical side...

Glossy finish CAN be harder to apply, but when polyester is applied in a controlled area in a factory set up to do it on a large scale, ebony polish becomes an easier finish than just about anything else.



I wasn't actually referring to a particular process in that quote, David. Any of the above can be beautiful, but I still usually prefer a hand rubbed satin finish. That's just me.

The glossy ebony finish is like a young woman's little black dress; it is always in style. And it is much easier to fix (i.e., the finish that is).

It would be a veneer. There isn't anything wrong with veneer, it is used on the best pianos in the world. The outside of my piano is a beautiful black high gloss finish and the inside has beautiful mahogany veneer.

Best of luck with your decision.

Steve

I'm in the group that does not prefer glossy or black.

I don't know about Hoffmann, but I've heard it said that some "veneers" aren't much more than "grain" printed on paper and covered over with the thick, glossy plastic .

I think that many of us have become accustomed to associating the ebony, glossy finish with the beautiful concert grands we see in concert halls. There is also an aesthetically pleasing combination of the shiny black finish and the black and white keyboard.

I also love the natural wood finishes on pianos and many of them feature rare and spectacular woods. These finishes can cost significantly more, especially when buying a new piano.
We live in the market driven age of functionality. It is wonderful to see a piano in a resplendent natural wood finish.

Kind regards,
Robert.

Painting a piano green is a way to deal with golden oak going out of fashion. 😀

And “Kermit” green won’t go out of fashion, of course.

W. Hoffmann might be the "mid-priced" piano line of Bechstein, but they are still expensive pianos, and I don't think they would use cheap wood-grain paper on such an instrument.

I personally would opt for the mahogany finish, but "basic black" goes with any décor. If you intend to keep this piano for a long time, go with the finish you prefer. If you intend to sell it within a few years, a mahogany veneer might be a little harder to sell because mahogany might clash with a prospective purchaser's décor or aesthetic

The choice is yours.

P.S. - a $2,000 premium is not outrageous considering what other makers charge for mahogany, but try to knock it down to $1,000 or so.

Yikes! The author asks for opinions. I'm at a loss for words. Neither "ghastly" nor "grotesque" seem strong enough.

And the audacity of "the hubs!" He "actually uses it." Otherwise she'd surely be free to do something really ... err ... "creative," like lift the lid and use it as planter.

Well, I suppose if you're going to ruin a piano, you might as well do it in a big way.

Piano aside, I genuinely pity the hubs.

I didn't mean to imply that Hoffmann is a lessor piano. The printed wood grain comment was aimed more at the earlier discussion about whether wood is worth more.

Personally, I like prefer wood grain to black too. People just need to be sure what they're getting, but otherwise buy what they like.