Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site amdcad.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!amdcad!linda
From: linda@amdcad.UUCP (Linda Seltzer)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: Re: buying a piano
Message-ID: <5108@amdcad.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 18-Oct-85 20:38:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: amdcad.5108
Posted: Fri Oct 18 20:38:56 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 19-Oct-85 08:39:15 EDT
References: <4400@alice.UUCP>
Organization: AMDCAD, Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 28
Summary: Buying a piano old Steinways

In article <4400@alice.UUCP>, trickey@alice.UucP (Howard Trickey) writes:
> I'm about to buy a new grand piano, and would like some advice.
> (I haven't seen requests like this on this newsgroup, but if the
> required expertise lies anywhere it is probably with you.)
> Does anyone care to list brands of pianos in order of ascending
> quality (or personal preference), and fair price if known?
>
I bought a piano in New Jersey in 1979 - I found a 1919 Steinway
for only $3500.  The price was low because the finish was not
in good condition, but inside it is a fine musical instrument with a
really nice sound.  I found it in a piano store in Freehold.
I suggest looking at classified ads in smaller, more rural areas
in the East Coast and in the midwest, if possible, to find a good deal
on a nice old Steinway.  You can have a technician look it over
before deciding whether to purchase it.  It is cheaper to fly to
Detroit (for example) and have the piano moved back to NJ than to
pay $10,000 in Manhattan.  Pianos also cost more than twice as much
in California than they do in the East and Midwest, because there are
fewer old pianos around.  So ask your friends in different places to
check around.

Personally, I find of the old pianos much more mellow and enjoyable
than the sound of the new ones.

Also, you may already know this, but I think that old Everett
uprights were made by the Steinway company, so they are worth
considering.  The old Chickering pianos would be work looking at too.