Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Inside Steinway’s Vault with Tiffany Poon

Hope you enjoy this video of some unique Steinway Pianos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwVZP2xTQuY

Hi Grandman,

Thanks for the post.

The whole idea of "the vault" is the expansion of something piano dealers have been doing for decades. It is standard practice to have an area that is reserved for a special customer that contains special pianos. This idea originally came from the real need of someone choosing a serious piano to have some uninterrupted time to do so.

Dealers began using these areas to denote exclusivity. The feeling that only "special people" got to go in. That you somehow were "better than" others if you were invited into this special room. It made the client feel "included" in an inner circle of some kind. Wine racks, champagne coolers, chandeliers, and fine furnishings were added. The whole idea works when you are going for "exclusivity".

My personal problem with the idea is that exclusivity is exclusion. Exclusion is the way some dealers operate. I am clearly 180 degrees removed from that idea and I believe in having an inclusionary or inclusive way of doing business. I believe it will encourage more people to enjoy all of the great things that active music making at the piano has to offer. It is good for the improvement of life for all people and I think it is also good for business.

Do I have very expensive pianos? Do I supervise how those instruments are treated? Of course I do. That is a huge investment in the actual instruments and it is a significant labor expense to keep them in fine shape.

But I encourage everybody who might stop into one of my stores to sit at my most special instruments. Experience them. Understand what makes a great piano sing. Also, the look on a 7 year old's face who plays the instrument that Louis Lortie had played three nights before in concert makes my day.... and I might have planted a seed in that 7 year old that will blossom into a lifelong passion.

My 2 cents,

Totally agree, however you need a human heart, not a salesman heart to think that way! Congratulations for you thinking this way Life would be so much better if this mindset would be applied across all product categories, not feeling like you're never going to touch something special because you weren't born to..

+1 Rich definitely has a great heart.

Steinways in London let anybody try any instrument. They know that most of the time people won't be able to afford the instrument they're trying. Why do they bother?

Well, George and Moura at Steinways told me that they've seen it a few times over now, where someone will visit the shop several times, dreaming of buying a Steinway. They'll have no money, in some cases not even able to replace their shoes often enough, and then one day that same person's fortunes change, they come into some money, and the first thing they want to do after sorting themselves out is to buy a Steinway. They remember how they were treated when they were poor and go back to Steinway for that dream piano.

Rich, I like your philosophy, it's basically the same thing and makes sense from a sales perspective.

Rich, yes to everything you said!!!

The salesmen and piano techs I met at the Steinway store during my shopping were really great. (Much better than the crazy guy in an unnamed piano store who would not leave me alone or stop talking long enough for me to try out any of his pianos!)

Anyway, the Steinway guys really did a good job of being welcoming and left a great impression on me. I am now happy to say that to anyone who asks me about which piano dealers I recommend. So although I didn't my current piano from them, they practice smart business by being so welcoming. And I would definitely go back there if I'm ever considering upgrading.

Great video, but the dim purple lighting makes everything look ridiculous. Everything I've seen of the vault uses this setting, even though they apparently have a reasonable setting they can use! For someone trying to decide on a veneer, it's frustrating... the only images on Steinway's website are tiny photoshop jobs and the sample chips in the dealerships are likewise useless!

-Carl

I wasn't that distracted by the off-colour (!) lighting. My question: With extremely limited access to a very invited few to "The Valut" how did Tiffany Poon (one of ten, she said) get on the A-list of pianists who get to visit such an inner sanctum?

Regards,

This is just a really expensive and elaborate sales tactic with the purpose of lending a kind of rarefied exclusivity to these pianos for those clients whose ego demands nothing less. I have no idea how successful this approach is but if it works, good for Steinway! These pianos seem to be targeted at decorators more than pianists.
Frankly, it makes sense to me that they would quarantine these pianos and keep them away from most pianists. If one is being sold on paying that kind of extra money they should also get some theatricality as part of their experience.
Sorry if I sound a bit salty here. This approach is taken with jewelry to help it seem more expensive and exclusive and if it works with pianos that is fair game.

The 1 of 10 I think was a random number. Because of her YouTube-channel Steinway recently decided to sponsor her with access to a "free rent" Steinway Spirio for her home in return for her presenting Steinway in her channel. This was the first of many episodes of her V-blog doing just that.

Applause from me!
I started with a 67-key cheap keyboard (unweighted keys). Then I wanted a 'real' piano, a digital one. I went to a large store here in Germany. A very large showroom, with many pianos, acoustic as well as digital, including 4 or 5 grands in the 100K to 200K range. The salesman knew what I was looking for, he also knew I had no clue at the time, and I knew I had no clue. But, he guided me to the big grands and invited me to try them out as comparison. And that's exactly what I did. I 'played' on a couple of the grands, for the feel and for the sound. Then went in search of a digital that would match the grand I liked, and found it. Any and all questions were answered.
I am very happy with my piano, but should I ever need another (or suddenly need an acoustic grand), I will go back to that store.

This is off her youtube channel:

Tiffany Poon
139K subscribers

Anyone who hosts a piano channel with 139,000 subscribers gets a free Steinway. She also has some really good instructional videos, so I'd rather see her get a free piano than one of these social influencers who can't do anything except blather.

They lent her a Model M Spirio for six months.

But what about the fingerprint scanner! Oh hang on a sec. It's 2019.

I have seen some of her videos, some of her vlogs, and I must say that I like her, her personality, her obvious love for the music she plays, and I admire her I-just-can't-take-it-too-too-seriously attitude. With that, I get the impression that she's a hard worker, but she's a charmer along with it!

Regards,

+1. I agree wholeheartedly.

Yes, she seems like an absolutely charming and lovely woman.

I enjoyed the video and may subscribe to her channel. On the Steinway vault, I think anyone with a big fat checkbook and the appropriate “nothing but a Steinway will do” could get a tour and be able to try those pianos in the vault”.

I am fairly confident in saying that if you buy a new Steinway and you demand a vault tour or there is no sale, you will get it.(strange sentence I know, don't feel like correcting it)

"Plain black looks cheap. Don't you have something more expensive?"