Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Jacob's Music in the Philadelphia area?

So my wife and I are in the market for a new piano. She played from ages 5-15. We're 32 now and her parents still have her old Wurlitzer. We had always imagined giving it a new home whenever we found the right house and that time has come. Unfortunately, her piano is in Virginia Beach and our house is across the bridge from Philadelphia. Between it's age, the fact that it's never been tuned (her parents knew nothing about piano maintenance), and the costs associated with moving/servicing it, it hardly seems worth the effort.

So we visited Jacob's Music in Cherry Hill, NJ. The gentleman that helped us seemed like a nice enough guy. He gave us a quick education on what to look for in a new piano. He started out by showing us their rentals - Samick uprights. I asked him about Yamahas (I ride motorcycles so that's the only reason why I was curious, I know nothing about pianos). He played one and told us to take note of how bright it was. It almost seemed as though he meant that negatively. He then had us listen to him play the same piece on an Essex, a Boston, and eventually a Steinway. I felt as though he was injecting his own personal preference on us and not necessarily helping us make our own decision. He wrapped everything up by really pushing the "Steinway" name while explaining that Essex and Boston are both essentially Steinways without the Steinway price.

Later that night, I hopped online to do my due diligence and have not stopped reading since. It's been almost a week now. One of the first things I've noticed is unlike shopping for virtually anything else, finding prices on pianos is about as fruitful a task as tracking Big Foot. The second thing I noticed was that even if there were prices available online, my limited knowledge on what to look for in a new piano would render that information useless.

In my research, I came across Cunningham Piano Co. with whom I am paying a visit tomorrow. I've read a lot of rave reviews about them here on PW and everywhere else I've looked. I can't however find anything helpful about Jacob's Music. Does anyone have the low down on them? Can I expect to get a fair deal? Anything would be helpful.

By the way, when my wife and I left Jacob's Music, we were dead set on a Boston Performance Edition upright in a matte finish. It had a $1,000 rebate putting it in the $5,700 neighborhood. After a week's worth of research and a quick call to Cunningham Piano Co., I am now considering their house brand for a lot less that supposedly sounds as good if not better. I know choosing a piano is a very personal thing but I guess I'm afraid that my untrained ear won't be able to discern between what's good and what's absolute rubbish. I honestly can't even tell my wife's Wurlitzer is out of tune!

All right, I'm beginning to ramble and have maybe gone a bit off topic. Thanks for listening! I will report back after my visit to Germantown.

I don't know a lot about Jacobs Music other than from all I have heard they are a reputable and honest company. I wish I could say more, but I have not seen a lot posted on here about them. I do know people in the piano business who speak highly of them.

Rich Galassini from Cunningham is a regular on here and is a nice guy. Several Piano World members have visited Rich and Cunningham and have reported it to be a very fun and interesting experience. I know that Rich is a great guy and you owe it to yourself to go there and meet him!

Ken

Jacobs no!. Cunningham's yes. From someone who knows.

I would highly recommend Cunningham, over the years I have been there several times and always felt welcomed.
You can play as much as you like and never feel pressured. I think you will really enjoy the experience.
Good Luck and enjoy the search.

You can get an idea of what a reasonable price for a particular piano by reading the Piano Buyer(see free link in left column). There is a section with SMP prices. It's inmportant to read the description of what these SMP prices mean(it's probably in the pages before the prices are given).

If I can believe their web site they are a new Steinway dealer.

Steinway & Sons has selected Jacobs Music as its only dealer representative for Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware for sales, technical service and concert and artist service.

http://www.jacobsmusic.com/

Since you ask about Jacobs I feel compelled to answer.

I don't know who you were dealing with at Jacobs in Cherry Hill but I have found everyone at Jacobs to be most knowledgeable and honest, no piano dealer lies or bs. I bought a new Yamaha C3 from Ed in Cherry Hill last summer. Actually my C3 came from their Lawrenceville store (which I visited twice) where it is my understanding they keep at lot of the Steinways and other really nice inventory. As I remember Ed likes Steinway and I can understand why.

The transaction went smoothly and the piano is great. I love my Yamaha. They also have their own techs who I have found to be very good and easy to work with, mine is here at 8:00 in the morning which works with my schedule, not waiting around. They are without a doubt a first class operation to deal with.

Keep us posted.

Steve Ries

I know choosing a piano is a very personal thing but I guess I'm afraid that my untrained ear won't be able to discern between what's good and what's absolute rubbish. I honestly can't even tell my wife's Wurlitzer is out of tune!

I would bring along someone who plays for a living to help you with your decision.

I visited Jacob's piano in Delaware. Funny, the salesman I had there pushed the Essex over the Yamaha. After much research and shopping, I purchased the Yamaha U-1. I love the action, the sound, and I'm extremely happy with my purchase, and the price was the best!

Good luck at Cunningham's.

I've read similar opinions of Yamaha brightness from Rich Galassini of Cuningham in this forum. Of course he's selling against Yamaha, whereas Jacobs is in theory representing them. It seems like the City of Brotherly Love has no love for Yamaha (except for Stevester).

The bold part of what I quoted from your post is absolute rubbish. Many salesalesmen size up a customer's knowledge. If they sense a void, they are likely to fill the void with whatever nonsense suits their purposes. Boston is a very capable performer in its class, and Essex is a competent competitor in its class. But.....they are not Steinway pianos. They are lower-priced products of Steinway.

I played a few Boston studio uprights a few days ago in my university music classrooms. I was very pleased with them! Very responsive and nice mellow tone.

I've test driven the Essex uprights. enough said.

You are lucky to live in a city as large as Philly and lucky to visit Cunningham's. I've been hoping to go there for years now. Definitely read about the company online before you go.. it's really interesting and historic. I had a wonderful transaction at Cunningham's. totally on the phone.


You really can't go wrong.. (unless you get an Essex)

Oh my goodness, that really made my day

Dan

Maybe it made your day as a snappy one-liner, and I know Apple likes to be brief and to the point. But does it add any informational content to put down a brand with no reasons given?



I don't think so. I think you can do better.

FT,

Good luck on your visit tomorrow to Cunningham's. They have a wide range of pianos and are happy to provide as much education about touch and tone qualities as you have time for. We all need to be our own judges but I believe you will find what you have read here in earlier threads as confirming.

oh dear.. i really dissapprove of random dissing and I've done it here. I believe they are one, overpriced and two, rather mediocre. At a price point they would be excellent pianos, but not at the point they sell for in KC.. my humble opinion of course.

my apologies if I've ruffled feathers.

Nah! You didn't ruffle mine at least. I'm moulting right now.

Thanks for explaining.

As a first-time buyer, my experience with Jacobs was that they will steer you away from the Yamahas to the Essex/Boston products based on the purported Steinway DNA. Otherwise, they are a reputable dealer, but their sales style did not inspire confidence for this customer.

I ended up buying a used Kawai upright which Cunningham's tunes and maintains, and actually now has possession of to do a full regulation and other TLC. Certainly, Cunningham wants to sell pianos, but I love visiting there and trying/learning about all manner of pianos. I was there yesterday and spent a good deal of time with Rich Galassini talking about my particular piano's needs and, of course, new piano options.

THe whole experience is different. I find that at Cunningham's you actually get to have a conversation about what your needs are -- not what the dealer's needs are. Very different in my expereience. Plus, they're quite happy to leave you alone to plink away and try out the inventory without anyone hovering.

BTW: We played several of the 5'3" Cunningham baby grands -- just amazing. The richness in the bass for a consumer grade piano seemed impossibly good. I'm seriously considering an upgrade from my studio console, but even if I don't go that route, I feel that Cunningham's will do right if I choose to maintain the Kawai upright for a while.

Just one man's opinion.

Steinway throws a great deal of showmanship into touting its OEM Pearl River (Essex) and its OEM Kawai (Boston) as Steinways. Both of them carry certain design features approved of by Steinway, but that is about the extent of the resemblance to the New York product.

Additionally - Jacob's actively resists pursuing any and all activity for Yamaha Artist Services. This is Steinway policy. None of this takes away from the fact that Jacob's sells a lot of Yamahas and is a bonafide Yamaha dealer. But it encounters pressure from Steinway to adhere to certain policies.

This has been my experience.

Heavyweight post. I've read it four times now. My first reaction was to think --- unless Jacobs is a Steinway company-owned store, isn't this restraint of trade?. Subsequent readings made me back off from that thinking since participation in Artist Services is not directly related to sales policies.

I've seen the showmanship in person...the same orchestrated salespro demo from Essex through Boston to Steinway that the OP has mentioned. You can learn a lot by playing dumb in a showroom. I haven't seen this routine with new Yamahas waiting in the wings because, at least in my area, new Steinway products and new Yamaha acoustic products do not appear under the same roof.

I guess if Yamaha feels comfortable accepting second-class status in exchange for the potential unit sales from a well-established chain of stores, then it's their business. Since it's really the comfort level of the distributor that's involved and not the comfot level of the manufacturer, I suppose one should not be surprised. It's classic middleman thinking. Focus on nothing beyond one's slice of the pie being served.

The advantages to Jacobs of having the two highest-profile industry brands in their house seem obvious.

I can't see any benefit to the consumer though. Hey! What else is new! I guess in this situation if one really wants to have a Yamaha, one can cut through the showmanship and assert one's right to buy a Yamaha. To my nose though, the whole arrangement smells bad -- worse than a salespro subtly channeling an inexperienced shopper to that which will earn him the best commission.

Rich G,

You level of participation in this thread proves that you are smart as well as charning.!