Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum 'Most concert hall pianos are in ghastly shape!'

noam,

I guess we have to agree to disagree here.

Baldwin has made some wonderful grand pianos and I hardly qualify them as a piece of furniture while every D is glorious and in need of rescue.

As do I. Baldwin concert grands were very good pianos and were -- in their day -- preferred by many world class musicians.

It is sad to see any piano treated as this Steinway is apparently being treated. Personally I would cringe to see a piano bearing any decal sitting in this condition in this setting.

ddf

Besides the above (which is quite true), it is hardly ethical to falsely re-badge a piano. It shows as great disrespect for the piano--- and anyone who sees, buys, plays, hears, or works on it--- as if someone arbitrarily decided, "Your name isn't noam anymore; it's Goofy. See, it says so right on the fallboard."

Of course, that would not actually change your name or any characteristic of yours, and the blame, shame, and disgust for it would not be yours, but the person's who applied the moniker. And, that person would be at risk of exposure just any time, for there are a lot of people who can tell the difference.

It's not entirely hypothetical. There are people who do this very stunt, some innocently, more who apply the false decal hoping to make a buck off of some chump who doesn't know one piano from another. It is not the kind of company someone like you--- a sincere man--- would want to keep.

You must be referring to Fry's. I'm told it gets tuned every couple of years. A few days ago there was an old gentlman playing (badly),a few pop and bar room tunes. Hunting and pecking the left hand and pounding the right. The piano has sounded worse. Its a shame that each store receives a D which gets mostly neglected. I recall when the store first opened that the Steinway was the main source of music over the PA much like Nordstroms.

It's got the 150th Anniversary Medallion on it like my B, so I'm assuming it's an 02 or 03. Not a very old D at all!

I did actually complain to the management about the shape of the piano, but I could tell this guy did not give one pickled s---. Might as well out the culprit: It's Fry's Electronics in Renton, WA.

Oh, and it has a player system, but no one ever turns it on. I want to burn a disc with a MIDI of the Rach 3 on loop and just stick it in there and walk away. Might as well hear that poor D banging away at Ossia at the people next to it who are suddenly wondering how a trip to buy PS4 games turned so moody and Russian.

Obviously they are not going to "Give it away" and obviously they aren't going to re badge it, and I said old beat up Baldwin. Like as a shell. Something that has been destroyed, maybe like in a fire.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.
I was making a point, not gathering a "Real" solution.

Why on earth would a store like that even have a piano? It's a far cry from Nordstrom or a high end jewelry store.

I think they like to give the impression that shopping there is an upscale experience, even though it is anything but.

Ah yes! I'd like an iPod in a rhinestone case and a side of Steinway, please.

Marty you are such a dork. I mean that in the most endearing way.

Noam,

Does this mean that you don't detest me as much as usual?

Lets just say that you are slowly growing on me. If you were not here, something just wouldn't be the same anymore

You mean like the warmth of a sunrise grows on you?

...or more like a rash?

Hey Rich - That makes me the rash!

(My first post on PianoWorld, want to join in on this wonderful discussion)

LOL at that last statement so hard! Well that would make for a good MW3 commercial, but I would not do that. Anyway, gosh, this is such a desecrating deed to such a prized instrument! And they compounded their not tuning the piano and not giving a darn to complaints with putting on a player system, which I think should belong on almost NO concert grands whatsoever. Player systems suppress the resale value of a piano greatly, in my observation and readings around the forums. IMHO, Fry's should just put on some house/electronic music since they are an electronics store.

If only a piano restorer is willing to bring this piano back to life...

(Good thing we got Micro Center here in MD, I've given so many tangents)

"...It's a far cry from Nordstrom or a high end jewelry store..."

Hmmm... since you mention it, there was quite a little fuss when a "high-end department store," which shall remain unnamed and unpatronized by me, got rid of their human pianist and replaced him or her with a player mechanism for the piano. AND, to this they added the insult of placing a shop window dummy on the piano bench, wearing a suit.

You can google it up if you want; in short, there were human pianists who took a very dim view of being replaced with a stuffed dummy.

As for Fry's, I've seen the piano sitting in the store, behind a little velvet rope, for quite a few years now... but I've never heard the first note come out of it. I suppose the vague association of a computerized gizmo making it run was sufficient for a computer store. The follow-through was lacking, of course. I believe all their attention was taken up right about then by a highly-publicized embezzlement scandal.

It is an odd thing Marty. I think they hope it gives an "aire" of "upper echelon." And its plopped right on the end of tow rows between computer software and the DVD section... the only place in the store where a low height false ceiling was placed. It seems to me its always open and at full stick. I suspect the few who knew how to operate the player have long since left the staff. They have a very high turnover of young kids working the floor.

While not a D that ever impressed me, more due to its situation than flaws with the instrument, it does seem a supreme waste. Perhaps it is nothing more than a reminder of the opulence capitalism affords us.

Somehow, this seems fitting.

Both the public and orchestra pianos at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver BC are in splendid shape. Ms. Uchida should come and take either for a test drive.

I think we should encourage all stores to have pianos. Hotels too, of course. Whenever I'm in a hotel lobby, ok even a motel lobby, I find myself thinking about how easily they could fit a nice small grand in there.

Once we have them all hooked on the idea that you have to have a (grand) piano, then we can start nagging them about maintenance. ("You know, I like your Holiday Inn, but the piano is kept better over at Motel 6.")