Hi, Everyone: I posted a couple of weeks ago with some preliminary questions about piano shopping. I'm slowly working my way through some options. Today's question: would a 15% reduction on a new Steinway O that a highly trained pianist (not me!) deems excellent be a pretty good price reduction in the current market? (I know there are tons of variables; I'm just trying to get the right ballpark.) This may be a totally hypthetical question as far as how far into debt I can talk my partner into going (way outside my previous outer limit), but, well, it's not entirely hypothetical! Am also looking at a smaller one year old Kawai later today. More on that later. Thanks for any advice!

Price concessions in the sale of new Steinway pianos much below 10% off of NY retail are rare.

Follow-up: by 15% reduction, I mean 15% reduction off the MSRP/SMP listed in the current edition of the Fine supplement.

The only way to find out would be to offer less to a dealer. I can't imagine anyone revealing any information here that would be helpful--the only person who could help would be a Steinway dealer, and saying publicly that he/she is willing to take more of a discount than 15% could only be counterproductive.

Have you already decided on a Steinway? If not, I think you should at least consider/try out Mason AA or BB, Estonia 190, and the Shigeru models between 6'-7'. I think all these will cost quite a bit less than a Steinway O and for some people, sound better also.

If the Steinway sound is your favorite and the cost is not critical, then stick with Steinway.

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Thanks. I know these price questions pose all sorts of problems. Perhaps it is easier for professional pianists to trust their own judgments about what a piano is worth. For me, the whole pricing situation just seems incredibly arbitrary. Prices for the very same piano shoot up by several thousand dollars--sometimes substantially more--from year to year. Just seems crazy. I get frustrated trying to think about it.

Thanks, Pianoloverus. No, I haven't firmly decided on a Steinway. There just happened to be a local sale this weekend, so I went, and there the O was. People recommended Estonia, M&H, & Shigeru (and Charles Walter) during the previous go-around when I posted, and I'm still interested. I just haven't yet had time to travel out of town to places where these brands are sold. I'm too busy working to stockpile money to pay for whatever piano I do end up buying! I do think it would be nice to have a piano versatile enough to work for classical and more modern/jazz/popular styles, but the main purpose of the purchase is for a kid studying classical music. As for cost, well, yeah, it's an issue!

Regarding a versatile piano, and purely my opinion: outside of the very highest echelon of stunning concert grands, versatile simply equals good.