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Now he's trying to sell paintings!!!

Shameless!

Thank goodness I don't know him.

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Everything that irritates us about ourselves can lead us to an understanding of others.

Young Carl

Nope.
Not for sale.
These take too much time to paint to sell them.

Beautiful painting... Wow!! The detail and the reflections of light and shadow in the facets of the doornob are just stunning!! *applauding*

Hey Kenny,

When was the last time you were able to get into that powder room?

Thanks Frank.

Palley, I assume you are talking about the door that the piano is blocking. (I had to think about it for a while.)

Actually it is a door to the the kitchen, and fortunately there is another enterance.

great minds think alike, palley. that door really caught my attention (the painting did also -- very nice work, kenny!).

if kenny had a good technique for squeezing through there, i was going to expand my placement options!

Thanks for putting up with me as I travel this road to the right piano and the right price.

I've been wondering about the Boston. How does it line up with Vogel, can't find that in the book? Many (majority) of you have recommended Kawai and Yamaha (tier 3). Is that basically because of resale value? I don't want to resell (I love the piano- even if daughter would quit), however, I know it's wise to keep it in mind.

Boston only lets you trade up for Steinway.

Help me out. I am hung up on wanting to stay out of tier 3. I just don't want to have to bump up later. Help me out. Why do I think I will need to bump up to tier 2 or 1 later if I go with tier 3 now? Daughter likes the NWS Schimmel quite a bit (but behind the C-7 and behind the Shigeru).

I rambled alot more about this in a post a few mintues ago- but it didn't post as my computer was acting up.

So, I'll leave it at that for now. I think I'm not taking a break- the search is still on. It's summer afterall, I have more time now than I will when summer is over.

I don't think there is a distinct line between the tiers.
I think of it as continuous.
Play everything.
Find a piano you love at a price you can live with.

I love the Schimmels I have played.
I played a 7 foot that I was very impressed with.

I think with Boston you are paying thousands for the association with the Steinway name.
I'd look at a similarly-sized Kawai, since they make Bostons for Steinway.

You can't go wrong with the PIII - we bought one 2 months ago. We had a Petrof upright for 10 years. Our tuner always commented on its beautiful tone. As for the price, bargain down lower than $20k. We paid $20CAD for a new one but it was a 2004 model number. Check out the model number. I would characterize the Petrof sound as having nice overtones.

Do some research on this site about the Boston.

It's built by Kawai for Steinway. The action is a bit different, the hammers are a bit different, there are a few differences in scale, especially with the wider tail.

Yet...it is still built in the same factory as the RX series, and the same guys do the initial voicing, etc. There are some who say they "play in" a bit better than the Kawai, primarily due to the hammers...

The big sticking point is the price difference between the Boston and the RX, but Steinway dealers do, and will discount Boston.

Your call as to whether you feel that the difference is worth the money...

MrsSV,
I can't see a reason to think you'd have to trade up later. If you like the sound and touch, why would you trade a Kawai, Boston or any tier III, for a "better" piano?

A Kawai or Yamaha, Boston or any well-maintained tier III grand piano can handle the demands of a concert pianist. It could easily take your daughter through college as a piano performance major.

I would only repeat what's already been said in other words: Don't get hung up on the "tier" in which a particular make has been placed. Remember that those are arbitrary groupings, and not all pianists, professional or amateur, necessarily agree on where the borders are between those "tiers."

What a day. I took daughter to her lesson and then took our teacher/friend with us to look at that ebay piano (RX2).

Then we went to 2 dealers (same ones I took daughter to on Friday)- so teacher could play several pianos. I love doing that because she gives me so much insight as to what it is my daughter likes about certain pianos.

The results? Wow, our teacher/friend loves, loves, loves the Yamaha C7. I mean she said it's really special. And my daughter said Friday it was better than the Steinway B.

You want the story? Well, the RX2 was nice but something is weird (real fishy) about the whole situation...so that specific piano is out. I don't know if it's okay to get into it on the forum or not. So, fishy is fishy, I'll leave it at that. Fishy, or maybe I mean shadey.

We went by the dealer that had the jazz players repo (the Petrof) and the teacher told me what it was my daughter liked- her age (6) came shining through- it's the tin (or ting-y) sound. Yuck. It's the only tin sounding piano she's liked. That specific piano is out and I don't care to look at any other Petrofs. By the way, her age came through one other time when she saw a PINK Pearl River, I mean the whole piano was metallic pink. At 6 years old, it didn't matter what the thing sounded like- or felt like- it was her favorite color.

Ah, and I heard from Estonia, there are none in Vegas.

It was such a nice day. Salepeople were nice today- they didn't run on and on- just let us have the little time we needed to play. Having our teacher/friend along might be what makes the difference in the salespeople.

Until next time.
MrsSV

You know, I meant I'm glad we are finding pianos that are LESS than 1/2 the price.

is the C7 new? how much is it?

i'm told that schimmel is running an "8 months no payment" special financing through the end of august. might be a tie-breaker.

The C7 is in Yamahas Concert line of pianos. It is in the same line as the CFSIII and the S series pianos. I do not know the actual count but my bet is that there are mutiple thousands of classical concerts performed on one of these pianos every year by extremely accomplished classical pianists all across the globe. A C7 is a beautiful instrument. Don't think for a minute that a Yamaha piano is not appropriate for a classical repetoire.
Your piano shopping stories are amazing!
Continue, please.

Mike

I can't get my computer/Adobe and the 2007 book I downloaded to work together at the moment. The C7 in the 06 says 43,900. The dealer's tag says 51K. That's how it is here- at all the dealers (except Schimmel and Bosie). There is NO competition. So the dealer might come down to 45 and act like they are doing you a big favor, never mind that you're still paying on the high side.

A handful of posts helped me not to be in a hurry. Thanks to all of you for that. I am amazed at the technique of the the dealers/salespeople, the idea that the piano will fly out of their showroom today- there are multiple people looking at it. Anymore, I think the multiple people are the students that walk past the showroom for their lessons. Every showroom I re-visit- still has the exact pianos we looked at...since May. Even that 44K Bosie- is sitting on ebay (for the 2nd or 3rd time)...oh, but a few weeks ago when they contacted me about it, 2 different people were about to buy it. The evaluation Steinway has been there at least since May. It was a retail of 70 then and this week it has a new tag of 71,300.- so they might come down to 68?

Thanks Mike for the insight on classical music and the C7.

I feel real fortunate that my daugters first (and still current) teacher is our friend- and she's willing to go all over the place with me. She deserves a consulting fee. Amazingly, because of her background, she has not been exposed to most of the pianos I've had her play...so it's really fun to see her play and get her insight about the tone/action and so on.

As my daughter moves on to the master teacher soon- that teacher is very accomplished and really only loves Steinway- so I really won't be able to lean on her insight the way I can with our teacher/friend.

If I ever went back to work- and loved one piano more than any other- and believed a dealer had integrity- I might apply for a job.

It's amazing how many times my first time in a shop no one greeted me- they weren't busy- just standing behind a counter or sitting at a desk talking to each other- and I left. Or how rude and condescending salespeople can be.

Seems like the CEO of Yamaha, or Mason, or any of these big dog companies would be fire some people if they only knew. Not one salesperson who has asked for my name/number has ever called me- not to follow-up, not to inform of a new piano, a sale, an opportunity...nothing. That is not a sales force- that's just a bunch of people waiting to get their paycheck and clock out- well and they will run the cash register if they HAVE to. It's pathetic.

I take some of it back, the Bosie dealer (owner) is very good- and the Schimmel dealer (also owner) is very good. And the Bosie fella has stayed in touch well.

Do any of the techs here know if there are inherant problems with the desert and Schimmel sound boards? Next week I will call my tech here but I'd love your input. Of course the Schimmel fella says there are no problems...but Fine says they need special care in the desert...and the Schimmel fella NEVER recommends dampchasers.

Thanks for all the input and encouragement- to all who have posted!