Should You Buy a Steinway?

This is LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Today’s question is: Should you buy a Steinway or other fine piano? It’s tough when you’re going to buy a piano. You will see digital pianos for a few hundred dollars. Then there are pianos for hundreds of thousands of dollars! So what should you get? Obviously not everybody has the resources to buy pianos that cost a hundred thousand dollars or more. But there is definitely a choice of how far to go.

How much should you spend on a piano?

Let’s say you have the option of buying a Steinway, Bechstein, Mason and Hamlin, or some other top-tier, hand-built piano. But you could buy a perfectly good Chinese or Indonesian piano, brand new, for less money than a used Steinway or Bechstein, or something of that nature. Which one would be better for you? Is one going to hold up better? Is one going to be more satisfying to play? Is it really worth spending tens of thousands of dollars, or over a hundred thousand dollars on a piano?

There’s a lot to consider. From an investment standpoint, it actually makes more sense to buy a fine piano than to buy a cheap piano. For example, let’s say you buy a no-name stencil piano, a piano that comes from some unknown factory in Asia with a familiar name on the front of some piano company that went out of business years ago. And it’s from a reputable company and from a good store. Nobody’s trying to pull wool over your eyes. They’re telling you like it is, “This piano is made in China and imported.” It looks just as nice as the $80,000 piano sitting next to it. Why should you even consider getting an $80,000 piano, or even a used, top-tier grand piano for $30,000? Is there any reason for this? Well, think about this: a $30,000 fine used piano or $80,000 fine new piano are instruments that, because of their intrinsic value, are worth rebuilding when the time comes. That’s why you see a lot of rebuilt Steinways, Mason and Hamlins, Blüthners, and other really fine pianos. Because the cost of new ones is so great, they are worth rebuilding.

What if you buy a brand new baby grand for $10,000. (I believe there are some in that price range, although things have gotten a little bit more expensive lately.) Well guess what? When that piano wears out, it’s not worth rebuilding! The cost of restoration exceeds what the piano could eventually be worth after being rebuilt.

So I hate to say it, but they’re essentially disposable pianos!

Sometimes it’s hard to know when to pull the plug. Do you put new hammers on a piano you bought for $10,000? Should you spend $3,000 on action work? Or do you just get another piano at that point? Do you restring a piano you only spent $10,000 on? Do you spend thousands to restring it? You don’t have to ask that question if you have a Blüthner or a Steinway, do you? Of course it’s worth it, because new ones cost $80,000 – $100,000!

Of course, you’re not buying a piano as an investment, you’re buying a piano as an instrument to play.

So, what is the difference then? It depends upon how important piano is to you. If you’re an advanced player, obviously you want a piano that’s on a high level, with proper preparation. Any piano requires maintenance, but a higher quality piano will be more stable over time. It can maintain a higher level of regulation and voicing and even tuning, so you can enjoy a higher level of playing. And it won’t nickel and dime you trying to keep it that way. A lesser piano could involve more work to keep it playing okay. This isn’t always the case. There are some relatively inexpensive pianos that offer moderately good performance that can remain somewhat stable for you. So, I’m not saying every cheap piano is going to cost more to maintain. But many of them will. That’s one thing to consider. The other thing is what it will do for your playing experience. If every time you sit down at a piano you get a beautiful tone, you’re going to want to play more. Not only that, but you can do more with the music.

One of the benefits of having a really high-quality piano is the expressive potential of the instrument.

There are more gradations of loud and soft as well as colors of tone that are possible on a high level piano. On lesser pianos, the notes will start dropping out when playing very softly because the action isn’t refined enough to achieve a true pianissimo compared to a well regulated, hand-built instrument. On the other level, on a fine piano, you can play louder and louder without it ever getting harsh. With a piano like a Baldwin SF10, which is one of the great American pianos of all time, you can put tremendous energy without ever over driving the sound into distortion. It’s like a really high-quality sound system where you can turn the volume up, and it doesn’t hurt your ears. It just fills the room with sound. You can even feel the sound. On a lesser system, you wouldn’t want to turn it up that loud because the audio gets harsh and distorted. When you are playing a really fine piano, it will never get harsh, no matter how much energy you put into it. You never introduce distortion into the sound. It just opens up with beautiful, rich sonorities.

So, what level piano should you buy?

The right piano for you to buy depends upon your resources. You certainly don’t want to stress yourself by getting a piano and then not being able to pay your bills! However, if you look at the long term, you only buy a piano once if you buy a piano like a Steinway, Bosendorfer, or something of that nature. Whereas when you buy a lesser quality instrument, it’s very possible at some point in the future, you’re going to get something else. So, you might buy two or three pianos over time. If you get a fine instrument, you buy it once. And that piano, if it’s well-cared for, can get passed down from generation to generation. So, from a monetary standpoint, it’s an investment rather than an expense. And you get to enjoy the sound and the beauty of a fine instrument. So, is it worth it to get a Steinway or other top-tier piano? It absolutely can be.

Is there any benefit to buying a fine piano for a beginner?

Sometimes parents want to buy a piano for their children. They say, “Well, I don’t want to get anything too expensive. I don’t know if they’re going to stay with it.” And some parents just buy keyboards for their children to take piano lessons. What they’re doing is setting up their kids for failure. Because the keyboard is not going to be satisfying to play. And if it’s not a weighted action, their kids will have difficulty at lessons playing on a real piano. So you have to get a good enough instrument that is going to be rewarding and worthwhile to play. The piano you practice on should prepare you to play other pianos, which is the other big point. If you get serious at all, you will get to play in recitals. Or maybe you get to play at your school, or church. You’re probably going to be playing fine pianos at some point along the way. If you’ve never driven a sports car, you might not have any idea how to drive one. But if you know how to drive a fine automobile, you’re going to be able to drive anything that runs okay. The same is true with fine pianos. You gain experience getting the most of any piano when you are accustomed to playing on a fine piano on a regular basis.

There are many good reasons to get a fine piano.

The most important thing is that you’re going to enjoy it more! And it’s a good investment, so you can justify it for yourself. So yes, go out and get a Steinway. You’ll never regret it! Thanks again for joining me. I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

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