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I ran across an unintentionally hilarious article, and it inspires the question "what is the worst piano shopping advice you have been told?". Advice that was overheard or found in print counts too.

Here's my find, from http://www.uprightpiano.org/baldwin-upright-pianos.html/ (the entire Maintenance section):
"Baldwin upright pianos should be constantly refurbished and refinished to make sure that the strings are tight and the frame is strong. It is advisable to check the strings tightness especially as it affects the quality of the sound produced. It is advisable that you take the piano for tuning every six months. Make sure the frame is not exposed to any other forces such as a child sitting on it as this shortens the life of the piano. Remember that a well maintained piano can last more than 150 years."


I would love to rent a U-Haul and take my piano to the dealer for its next tuning. The look on his face would be priceless.

Wow, that IS hilarious!

And yes, it happens all the time, people pretending to know stuff they don't. In this case there seems to be a bit of ignorant innocence, however there is no excuse for giving out false information. I've seen some people, especially sales people who know they are lying, but after awhile actually believe their own lies.

I like this, also from the same website:

"many people may want the traditional Chinese piano in order to savour in their history"

I wonder what a traditional Chinese piano is like? Mabye Cristofori wasn't the first after all??

That website was good for a laugh, indeed.

There is, in my opinion, some occasionally bad advice being doled out here by those who make suggestions about pianos without having seen or played the model (or sometimes even the brand) mentioned, firsthand.

Agree with Terminator here. There's a lot of piano politics involved in advice these days, both at the professional level and the consumer to conssumer level. Opinions often do not represent the actual virtues and shortcomings of an instrument.

I think the oid chestnut: "You get what you pay for" is being stretched beyond its limit of usefulness in the current piano market, what with selling prices on identical pianos being all over the place due to economic factors such as the desperation of the individual dealer. It's virtually impossible to have an orderly pricing market in which everyone gets what he pays for when the product demand falls so short of the supply.

The responsible professional seller will always price position his inventory according to his actual costs and ask his margins accordingly, but the problem, especially in this economy, is that his internal pricing scheme may vary greatly from those of other dealers, and the claimed justification of hours of painstaking prep may not come close to filling the price gap even if the claimed prep has been performed, which in some cases it hasn't.

Also, the person who is hearing the "get what you pay for" advice will infer that what he gets for paying more is strictly a matter of improved instrument quality, whereas the price he pays may be more a function of accumulated prestige or brand image that he doesn't necessarily seek, and/or the cost of his own market ignorance or squeamishness about price negotiation.

Or it might be the lower cost of labor that is of equal quality.

With a monthy wage of $250 China and Indonesia (and soon Vietnam!!) a manufacturer can hire a good quality, experience worker.

In the US, Europe and Japan, that would buy lunch for a month!!

"The prices of the above brands vary according to size, shape and the material the piano is made from."

Wonder what other materials they are talking of? Maybe they're cheaper if they're made of bamboo & baler twine? Oh well, as long as you keep those strings tight!

I'm having a ball with this site! Upright concert pianos for $4000 to $2000? Wow, I'm getting my credit card out!

"There are also other sites apart from eBay where you may get information on the prices of upright concert pianos. However, the cost of these pianos on average ranges from $4000 to about $2000."

Back to bad piano advice, I was told that my uncle's piano wouldn't keep it's tune because the soundboard is cracked.

How many Baldwin pianos are actually made in the USA?

And what models?

Frankly the text seems as though it's been translated into English from some other language? ?

Glenn

Well, I've been told that some of the piano advice I give here on the forum is not that good, and it shows my lack of knowledge and experience regarding pianos and the piano industry... maybe so, but the advice I give here is probably worth at least what it cost.

Rick

It's surprising that there's content here at all. The owner of the domain owns about 33 other domains as well, including many with "medicare" in the name. The ones I glanced at are equally as informative as the uprightpiano site.

I think he bought a load of domains hoping to resell them, and now that he's stuck with them, he's put up "link bait" sites designed to attract traffic from people doing Google searches. The ads on the site probably bring in a trickle of income that at least pays for the hosting and maybe a cup of coffee every month.