Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Is it a bad idea to audition a piano you cannot afford?

Well .............. It certainly could be mistaken for a Hamburg-A.

So ignorant me must ask as googling Hamburg-A did not bring me much info

Trying expensive pianos to find the sound you want in a cheaper brand can be a good idea.

I loved the sound of an S6 Yammy that was too expensive, but it gave me an idea what I wanted to find.

I sort of did that when getting my current piano by testing the most expensive Kawaii and Yamahas they had but this will be a step up:D

Tee-Hee-Hee,

I forgot that you are still a babe in the woods!

Steinway & Sons Model A-188 (6'4"), Hamburg production. (Estimated list price in the US = $93,500 in Gloss Ebony. Mahogany would be considerably more expensive.)

http://www.steinway.de/

Oh yes, I just need some nice photoshop skills to place the decal on that side

When I visit a piano store, the first piano I go to is the concert grand . I just make sure I play something tuneful as well as flashy (the Schumann/Liszt Widmung is a favorite), so that the salesperson won't think I'm not worthy of the piano, and I've never been 'sized up' by them in any store.

Though once, I went into a (Schimmel) store where I had to gain access by ringing the bell, and the posh lady there sized me up (- scruffy T shirt and jeans, red sneakers... ) and directed me towards her cheapest vertical. I played something sweet and simple - Schumann's Arabeske. She liked it, so she asked me to try out her small grand. I played something even sweeter and more difficult (from the Yellow River Concerto), and she obviously wanted more, so she let me loose on her big grands - and didn't bother me anymore while I played through all my memorized repertoire. (I learnt long ago that if you want to be allowed to play those concert grands in showrooms without being hassled by the sales staff, you shouldn't walk in carrying any sheet music. Real pianists, to their minds, always have music that they can trot out at any time, whenever they come across a piano. It's only beginners who need music to play from....).

But my best experience was my first - as an impoverished student travelling by train around Europe on an InterRail ticket. In the city of music, Vienna, I visited the Bösendorfer showroom in Bösendorferstraße, and boldly asked the elegant man there if I could play his Imperial 290, which was in a prominent place by the large glass window where passers-by could see. I was wearing a tatty T shirt and scruffy jeans with more than an odd tear, but though he obviously knew I wasn't a potential customer , invited me to sit down. My memorized repertoire was very limited then, but I just kept playing and playing......until he (seemingly) regretfully told me that it was half an hour past closing time. Apparently, I'd attracted something of an audience peering through the window (which I hadn't noticed), which might be partly why he let me play on so long...

And the experience has left me as a life-long Bösendorfer devotee .

Nice...but I better not play anything or they will send me to their Casio/RadioShack Room

Real salesmen never judge you by your clothes. In NYC I once went to one of the most important antique dealers' shops dressed in my work clothes because I had just finished delivering antiques to Sotheby's and didn't feel like driving in NYC again after going back to my motel out of town. They treated me like a king and never blinked. Most of the items there were five and six figures but they let me roam around and offered me a beverage, asked if there was anything they could do to help, and left me to enjoy the shop. I could have been Bill Gates. Who knows? (Unfortunately I was just me.)

The only reason any salesman might care how you play is if there is another customer in the store who might enjoy it or be impressed by the piano if you played well. Otherwise, why would they care how you play except for the obvious reason that it's nicer to listen to someone who can play well but is not buying a piano compared to some who can't play well and is not buying a piano?

They are much more interested in how serious a customer you are. Their job is to sell pianos. If someone had walked into any of those stores you mentioned with a clear interest in purchasing piano and said they wanted to try out piano uninterrupted they would have politely asked you to stop playing...immediately.

Hi Rick,
So if he asked what kind of piano you were looking for and how much you wanted to spend, was that consistent with the Cristofori line? If so, it seems like he was just being guided by your stated intentions. It would be odd if you had stated you were interested in a Steinway and then he brought you over to the Cristoforis but that doesn't sound like the case.. I'm not sure what the problem was.

Sophia

,,, and if they are actively working with another customer, you will likely be asked to get off of the piano.

My advice to the OP is, if one wants to try out pianos above one's price range, then try out ones that are way above one's price range. If one tries a piano closer to one's price range there is the chance that one will have buyer's remorse if one buys the less expensive piano but really liked the more expensive piano better.

After listening to the Van Cliburn Competition for two weeks, I know(actually I knew long before from listening to so many YouTube videos where the greatest pianist play that piano) I'd love to have a Hamburg Steinway D, but since it's so above my price range I don't regret purchasing my Mason BB(which is great, but really can't compare).

No

Sophial, I’m not sure there was a problem either. Thing is, I was so naive at that point, I honestly didn’t know what kind of piano I wanted.

Had he invited me to play the Steinway grand, I may have fell in love with it and bought it… even if it did cost more than my house.

Do most piano shoppers honestly know what they really want when they go shopping? I didn’t.

Rick

Well, that depends on a few things. Is it the first time one ventures into the scary world of pianos and encounters the fanged sales people , or is the eighth time, and you're refining options. Are you trying to decide between an entry level 4'6" or a 5'1", or are you trying to decide between a Bluthner or a Steingraeber! Are you a beginner -- or shopping for an eight year old student -- or are you a person who plays at a high level.

PL,
What a Hamburg D won't fit in your apartment? I've never come across a Hamburg D but the one Hamburg B I played was just outstanding.

Rich

siiiigh. i keep running into 'unreal' sales people, i guess. have met exactly *one* who even asked any good questions. i have always thought the 'budget' question is particularly tricky, because different customers have different priorities. even so, to ask it first in a setting where prices tend to be squirrelly even if they *are* posted, is to telegraph, "well you are lucky, because i have a [piano from the worst year of a brand name you remember from a 70's game show], and it's priced at [exactly the top of your budget]!" salesfolk probably aren't quite that obvious, but why so many start by putting the thought into the customer's head..? i don't get it. how about asking first what we've played so far, and what we remember of the experience? how about asking asking if we know what our favorite would be if money were no object?

along tbe lines of your comment, chopinlover49, that you "could have been bill gates": more people are willing to flex on budget than one might think, if led to the right instrument.

yeah, i'll be looking for the right used vertical into the foreseeable future.

Someone mentioned that no serious player would show up in a piano store with music books or sheets planning to buy a piano and that is probably true more often than not, but when I went to stores, I had no choice but to bring my music as I cannot remember anything. Not even Mary Had a Little Lamb. Nothing. I wasn't wasting the store's time, however. I bought a Mason-Hamlin BB grand. Not all of us are accomplished, but some of us love our music and our pianos anyway.

One should ABSOLUTELY try out pianos they can not afford!

Thinking that trying and comparing some of world's finest [and most expensive..] pianos is only giving perspective to buyers.

In many case it has not only helped people realize for how much less money great quality is available in today's market but how "good" pianos can be, even in much lower price groups than expected.

Not trying to be pretentius but all of our last Sauters,Estonias and even Ritmuellers sold this way - the more the better.

Bring'em on Baby!

Then go spend your money as see fit...

Norbert