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is frustrating.

I have Steinway tastes, but a Samick budget. But shopping for tier 4 grands is not easy. There is no way anything bigger than 5'2" will fit my space, either. It's a double whammy.

While they are all generally in good regulation, from the factory no doubt, they are never in tune. How is a person to judge the tone of a piano like that?

I saw a Weber W-150, which is the new design by our fellow forumite Del, and went to try it, but no luck. The action was still locked down from shipping.

At one shop, I understand. The selling price is unreal. At the price they are selling, you can't expect much in the way of dealer "make ready." My tech would do any needed work. At another shop, the prices are much higher (thousands) on the same pianos, yet they put no more effort into preparing the piano than the cut throat shop. I'd pay more willingly for extra work, but why pay more for nothing?

It seems in this economy, money could be made on budget pianos. A dealer who did a minimum amount of work would shine.

OK, end of venting.

"I have Steinway tastes, but a Samick budget."

Wow - what a coincidence.

Actually, I think a lot of people shopping for entry-level pianos don't have a refined taste in terms of touch and tone. Often they are buying them for their children to take lessons and may not even themselves play.

Could be worse....
You haven't acquired the Steingraeber taste.

Plowboy,

I don't know if you have looked for used Steinways online cragslist etc, cavet emptor of course, when I was looking for my first piano I found this brilliant old Steinway that I almost bought on craigslist, but ended up with a used Schimmel.
Maybe call up a few piano shops and see what they have, thats how I found my Schimmel. If you want I will send you the name of the store I found my piano; as he might know of something for you as the gentleman goes back and forth between California and Washington frequently.

While I was shopping I made a point of not even playing a Steingraber (or any really really good piano) since I thought that I simply wouldn't be happy with whatever I could afford.

I don't know if it was a wise decision but now that I've got my Hailun (which I still really love) I may drop by one of these days and finally try a Steingraber.

(I'm hoping I won't like it too much to be honest).

Plowboy,
Maybe I missed something obvious, but did you vent to the dealer? I would hope that if you told the dealer or salesman/woman, "I thnk I really like this piano, but it's so out of tune I really can't tell how it sounds," that the dealer would call and get a tuner there before your next visit so as not to lose a potential buyer. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Unless there's a crowd of tone-deaf parents eager to buy a piano for their soon-to-be musical prodigy whether it's tuned or not....but I think that crowd disappeared a few years back.

In any case, good luck with your shopping and keep us posted on your adventure.

I heard somewhere that the really small Yamaha 4'11" grand is better than you'd think, though I haven't played one. Might be worth a look. The price could be comparable to a Samick.

If you're looking for a REALLY small grand, I can't tell you how many truly respected persons have told me that the NEW 4'10" GH148R is astounding.

Your comment led me to the following website. Check out the VIDEO CLIP !!!

http://www.jimlaabsmusic.com/pianos/grands/ritmuller-gh148r-grand-piano/prod_6243.html

From the video, the sound is really nice. It is quite amazing how the quality of smaller instuments is increasing steadily.

Yes I made a point of that. They all said to call them ahead of time and they'd tune the pianos. I'm thinking though of giving priority to the dealer who had ALL of his/her pianos in tune.

I suppose the idea of not tuning the cheaper grands is to get folks to upgrade to a higher level.

And as stated above, the newer designs on the short grands do seem better musically.

Here's hoping you find a smaller grand that's in tune for you to try out and pleasantly surprises you with it's sound. Best of luck and keep us posted.