Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Samick vs Pearl River

DW (dear wife in RV lingo) has desired a piano for many years. We are both retired. She took some lessons about 55 years ago and would like to get back to them.

I decided she now had my vote to get a piano (not that a vote against would have mattered much). We did some looking and decided that the best bet would be an upright.

For the past year I've been trying to convince her that we should be a player unit and that the new ones were very different from the paper rolls she automatically thought about (her family had one in the 1940s) when I said "player." She has been saying NO, she wants a real piano, not something electrical.

Well, when our browsing the other day we happened to see a Samick Sig 50 with the Pianodisc. Well, when she heard it and saw the features and realized it was still a "real" piano she changed her mind.

This Samick looked like a good entry level piano (all we will ever need - I might even consider lessons as well). We then went to another dealer and saw a GP142 Pearl River that also had the Pianodisc (renumbered GD142 with the disc. This unit is about 4 inches shorter than the Samick. It also appeared to be a nice entry level piano and to our untrained ears we noticed no significant difference between the two.

The two units are being offered at identical prices - $10k Cdn with bench, Pianodisc and the package of CDs (15 or more).

From what I can see selecting one of these two is a coin toss with our knowledge. Is one of these pianos clearly superior to the other.

Thanks

GR

ps. We'd like to purchase tomorrow so quick replies would be appreciated. Should we be asking both dealers to include a semi-annual tune up for a year or two?

The Samick, hands down. They are actually making a decent piano. The Knabe line they make is as the the Yamahas in my opinion. The tall Knabe upright is wonderful to work on and a school work horse.

Any new piano should be tuned atleast 4 times in the first year. The tuning stability and clarity of sound depends on it.
Check the regulation after a year

That's why we tune each new piano at least 2-3 times before shipping out.

I never understood why most dealers *don't*.

It may cost a bit, but makes for a much better piano in the long-run.

Plus it certainly tends to bring even *more* business....

Norbert

Personally I would consider some other manufactures. Grands under 5' are considered in the industry as a petite grand. Persons consider these if there is a major space limitation.Anyone that can accomodate a petite can accommodate a baby grand.(5'-5'3") The difference in sound is considerable and the action geometry is also considerably better in the BG in that the keys are usually a bit longer. The price difference is usually nominal in that the larger BG is manufactured in larger numbers than the demand for petites.

Fine. My question, however, was, is one clearly superior to the other? Can you answer that question?

GR

Yes, the Samick is the better deal.

Thanks Steve and Keith.

We did order the Samick today and provided the weather isn't too bad tomorrow it will be delivered in the morning.

More comments a little later. DW has a job jar that I have to tackle so the dining room will be clear for delivery tomorrow (we just moved and decided to do without a formal dining room since we only use it 3 or 4 times a year. This home has a very large eating area off the kitchen and it is ideal for a group of 12. So, the Samick will occupy a rather small dining room.

I found browsing the forums here the past week very helpful. We had a pool table installed yesterday and I did the same thing with pool/billiard tables and found a lot of similarities. We set out to buy a Chev (with respect to the piano) and I think that is what we are getting. We didn't want a Caddy, Merc, Lexus or Rolls since we think a piano of that nature and quality would be wasted on us. On the other hand, we didn't want a Yugo either. Hopefully we didn't buy one.

Thanks again

GR

Hi Grandriver,

Congrats on your new piano! Please post pics when available!

4 times a year????? How many tuners agree with this?

That's four times the FIRST year.

I am in perfect agreement with that.

Pre-delivery
6 weeks following delivery
~four months later
~six months later