I'm looking for a grand and am still put off by New York City prices and found this place, which is 30% cheaper, across the board. Shipping will cost more, but I'll still save a bit.

http://www.countrypiano.com/home.html

Opinions?

Not recently. I remember them being discussed in the past, so I'd try the search function to bring it up. You may also want to drop David Burton an email if he doesn't see this thread. David is pretty knowledgeable about the rebuilding scene n NY.

Ditto. Use the search function. The rebuilding in NYC could probably be put up against anywhere in the rest of the US. As far as the "scene" goes, you may want to familiarize yourself with others who list in the NYC area on Ebay.

I've been to Country Piano a couple times and think their work is respectable, but that is just my opinion. There aren't too many others, including David Burton, who have ever been there.

What may be to your benefit with Country Piano is that they are much more apt to part with an OK finish and discount the price to you, where I think NYC is going to hold you for ransom on full restorations only. Unless you get to know who is doing the work in NYC, a great sounding, well priced, OK looking, piano isn't going to materialize.

Regards,
Chris

Purchased a fully restored 1895 Knabe 6'2" (African Mahogany) from Country Piano in the early spring of 2000. Marvelous instrument, and our tuner (Piano Guild certified) indicated that it was very properly restored. We were/are quite pleased. We also did not like "store prices", in this case in the Chicago area, and found CP in a chance Internet search seeking a Knabe of this size and vintage.

I am two months into my 1916 Steinway "O" from these guys. The overall experience, on a scale from 1-10: maybe 15 or so (see also post to Zuzu in "piano buying opinions" forum.)
Also, if you can visit there, it's worth it ...

Myles and Country Piano did an excellent job at restoring our Knabe Baby Grand to show room condition. Myles was on time, on quote and the results will last a life time.

Chuck Luscomb
Deep River, CT

I just saw this thread again and wanted to clarify that "...a great sounding, well priced, OK looking, piano isn't going to materialize" IN NYC ITSELF if you don't get to know the rebuilders. I wasn't attempting to suggest CP, or many others outside NYC couldn't come up with one. Sorry.

Welcome dkbarclay and btsea. Two new posters who have not only visited, but bought pianos from CP.

Chris

...er, make that three.

I previously had written the same post that I had a few months ago to make the same point that I had made a few months previously concerning Country Piano's quality of work. All I need to say is that Country Piano does very fine rebuilding work and Lindeblad Piano stands behind their work 100%. We encourage anyone to contact us at contact@LindebladPiano.com.

I just had my 100-year-old Steinway A completely rebuilt by Country Piano, and am thrilled with the results. Before committing to anything, I drove from Cleveland OH to his showroom, played a bunch of his pianos, and felt like a kid in a candy store. At that point, I would have hired Myles, regardless of price, which, by the way, was significantly less than I was quoted in Ohio. He picked up my piano the next week, and had it back to me within 8 weeks, better than new. I will be singing (and playing) his praises for many years to come.

Wow - what a coincedence - 3 new posters all independently joining to praise a dealer they all happened to deal with - and after never joining in any other threads here. Amazing.

Am I the only one who smells something other than a rose??

I apologize. Lindeblad posted once before about 6 months ago.....to praise Country Piano and place their work as better than Faust Harrison.

Hmmmm....

Verbatim, Rich.

However, I'm guessing that the posters are genuine satisfied customers who did, however, probably have the posting of their testimonials "encouraged" after the fact.

But you're right, these things DO have a significant impact on prospective purchasers - especially when they are wet behind the ears and sometimes rather desperate for specific guidance. And someone like me - a single parent with little prior experience in pianos - needs a green light in making a judgment call alone with such a big ticket item. Certainly a red flag (mixed metaphor) stops them cold in their tracks.

My confidence was considerably shaken before by the thread here about Country Piano - in this case, by the negatives. I was the one who made the first inquiry way back when. It was practically my first post.

The Lindeblad post didn't have much effect on me, since by then I had been around a bit - long enough for instance, to recognize the poster and contents. (Though until I checked after you posted, I didn't realize it was the same word-for-word). However, that post too could have quite an effect on a novice piano seeker. It's obvious how baffled and frustrated we become in the process. At least two threads running make such comments.

TBC

Since the time of that inquiry, after considerable searching, we purchased an unrestored vintage piano from a private party, and it looks like a real find (I've aged ten years in the process, but what the heck?)

Other factors were certainly at work, but I think that all things considered it IS probable that I would have purchased an instrument from Country Piano had the present thread appeared in response to my initial inquiry. At least we would have made sure to get up there, and if we liked something we saw, bought without hesitation. And I would not have had my enthusiasm and confidence undermined by the detracting comments, regardless of the later retraction.

TBC

How should things like this be handled ethically - and to everyone's best advantage? We all remember well the InstrumentInstrument business and subsequent discussion: Why should honest member input be muzzled? Also the pros and cons of a dealer rating system (negatives tend to be reported more than positives, etc.)

This present incident may well be stuffing the ballot box in a sense - or more precisely, if my guess is correct - intentional voter recruitment.

Should we ask those new "members" what the story is? I myself asked in a previous thread if two (three?) new members who purchased Seilers within a short period of time from the same dealership, had had their testimonials solicited. It was after all, not only the same store, but the same salesman (whose name and number were given). What's more, in the Seiler incident, it was a dealer with whom several longer term members reported very negative dealings.

Speaking as a novice piano seeker I am certainly in favor of the maximum disclosure of honest opinion in guiding me - especially about the reputation of particular dealers or (even more) rebuilders. Whether or not solicited (but honest) testimonials should count, is kind of a grey area.

Perhaps businesses who feel their good work may go unacknowledged should be allowed (in keeping with Frank's guidelines) to suggest that satisfied customers contact Piano World if the businesses' names come up. However, their customers should be instructed to indicate two things: that although their enthusiasm is sincere, their input to the web-site was suggested.

And to put the shoe on the other foot - of course, noone - neither customer or nor dealer should be allowed to "diss" a possibly competing business without good cause. That should mean first-hand experience or at least, more than one independent report.

How do the rest of you feel - consumers aand dealers??

Ariel

This forum is read by a good many folks in the trade. We know Country Piano reads it, they've been here before.

IMO, probable scenario is that they read the question, and asked some of their satisfied customers to post up.

I would say to let the thread stand as is, and let the prospective buyer make up his own mind.

Jolly,

The issue is not whether or not to let the thread stand - it's about the influence of "information" here and how to handle it. If you read my posts above, you will see that previous negative information (and the absence of such positive information as here) had quite a significant influence on my decision not to pursue purchasing a piano from Country Piano.

Ariel

I don't think this thread is any different from most of the threads that compare various stores or manufacturers. Dealers may be informative but always(or most of the time) have their own interests in mind. Anything else would be unrealistic. When was the last time a dealer recommended a different brand from the one they sell at a particular price point?

People who have bought a particular piano almost always give rave reviews and recommend the make they bought. The large majority of opinions on this forum are the views of a VERY small number of regular posters and people reading this forum should be aware of this.

All the above is not to say there is much valuable advice given here.

At the end of the day, you pays youse money, and you takes youse chances.

This board, while extremely helpful to lots of folks, including myself is not the arbitrator of all good piano information in the universe.

Rather, it is a sounding board, a cacophony of distant voices all clamoring their version of the truth. The trick, for the truth searcher, is to distill those voices, and to divine what is true for him.

In the case of this particular thread, if I was interested in a rebuilt from Country Piano, I'd read the glowing reviews, and I'd balance that against Rich's observation.

Would that personally stop me from doing business with them? No, it would not. Would the good reviews compel me to do business with them? No, they would not.

If I was interested, I'd look at their work, I'd play their work, and I'd have a knowledgeable third party examine the piece carefully before purchasing.

Caveat emptor, even with a good, or bad, consensus of the board.

I pretty much stopped posting here because I became uncomfortable supporting something that could be abused by people (a bit too easily it seemed to me) to promote themselves and disparage others in order to gain commercial advantage. If this forum didn’t have good watchdogs like Rich, I wouldn’t even bother coming here to browse.

I am posting this here now just to express my amusement at how foolish an abuser can be made to look when he or she gets caught. Maybe by laughing loudly enough, this will give some pause to others with similar ideas. :p :p :p

Peter

What abuse?? Even if Country Piano asked some satisfied customers to express their opinion(which is pure speculation) there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. People ask others for recommendations all the time.

Thank you Peter.

pianoloverus wrote:
There are a good number of dealers here, including myself, that do just that pianolover.

Look over some threads.

(Of course the reason I carry what I do is because I like them and think they are good values - some I feel are the BEST values)