Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum 70's Chickering vs. 87 Young Chang vs. 1920 Mason&Hamlin A

Hey all,

So, the piano hunt still continues! But I've given up on uprights. I can't get behind them... and I know I'm lying to myself but I'm just so much more excited about sitting down at a grand to practice on than an upright. So I'm now looking for a grand piano between 5'7"ish to 6'3".

My budget is approximately 10k. My problem is that I know exactly what my two dream pianos are.... I just can't afford them: Mason & Hamlin AA or Bosendorfer 214. Given the money, however, I would go for the M&H 95% of the time as I just love love love that sound. I'd even settle for a great M&H A!

In the past 4 months of piano hunting, I've tried over 75-100 pianos just to get a feel for everything I possibly can (and in the process have found out that I'm one of the people that really dislike the Steinway sound, despite all the pomp and fanfare surrounding it. I haven't tried Fazioli as the dealer has recently changed so none were really available to try. I'm curious to try them just from everything that I've heard.) I'm also lucky as Toronto is saturated with all the pianos you can imagine. I've done my reading about pianos so I'm nowhere near being uninformed (tough, and I feel dishonest about this a bit, I pretend to be a bit naive when I first go into a store just to see how I get treated - if the dealer tries to wow me with BS or with honest answers).

I'm really hoping to have a piano by August however, as I'm becoming increasingly dissatisfied with practicing on my keyboard (Nord Piano 2 HA88) - I enjoy playing on it immensely but it's no piano. I've narrowed it down to three or four pianos and, all things being unequal, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on these instruments.

-Chickering ~5'6" from the 1970s time period. Piano sounds good, action has been redone, touch is a bit on the medium-heavy side but nothing I can really complain about, piano is in decent condition - definitely a pleasant experience when I sat down at it and a beautiful instrument I can get excited about playing and practicing on. $7500
-Young Chang G-185 6'1" from 1987; surprisingly great tone (I've tried several YCs from the 80s and hated them all), great touch (medium-light side, just like I like it), piano in good condition. It's got something special about it - and I don't know what it is. It just works, really really well. I'm most excited about this one, to be honest. $10000
-Mason & Hamlin A from 1920's. It's basically a core piano, to be honest. Still sounds good, plays decently, I haven't yet had a tech look at it (I would before I buy it) but I'm expecting a piano into which I'd have to sink a decent amount of money in. Mini-dream piano - what more can I say? Well I can say that I'm really on the fence about this as I know that I'll have to invest a great deal more to bring it up to par. Is this a good musical investment then, for me, over the next 1o-20 years to restore? Such questions plague me. $10000
-Mason & Hamlin B. The price is really what's making me think about this one. Although, to be honest, I probably won't go for it. The sound is too compact. I can hear the beautiful M&H tone in it, which is what makes me really like it, but then I'm taken aback about how restrained it feels. The problem of small pianos, I guess. Plays like a dream, restrung, action worked on, good technical condition, cosmetically poor condition (but this is a plus for me - it shows that it's got a story). $18000

NB: The prices are the asking prices, before I haggle.

Any opinions or comments that come to mind first?

thanks!

I can't comment too much about the specific pianos but I can make some comments or raise questions about your post.

What exactly do you mean by action "redone" on the Chickering?

I can't figure out if the Mason is selling for 10K or 18K, but either way it seems overpriced unless you can clarify what action "worked on" and "good technical condition"(according to who?) mean? Exactly what was done to the original and who did the work? Do you you really want to wait 10-20 years to have it the way you want? If the piano is basically a "core" how can it "play like a dream" and be in "good technical condition"?

Hi, Pantoufle, and welcome to Piano World!

Gosh, the prices on all those pianos seem high to me... but I'm certainly no expert. I could have bought a Young Chang G-185 from the late 1980's recently for $1800. Guess I should have jumped on it, but I honestly don't need another piano and don't really have room for another grand... but the price alone tempted me a lot.

All those prospects sound like nice pianos, but I'd have the top candidates checked out by a piano tech not affiliated with the seller and try to negotiate the prices down some.

In the end, however, what matters is how well you like the piano you buy.

Good luck and keep us informed!

Rick

It's just my opinion, but I think all of them are overpriced. Maybe it is because you are in Canada, but I wouldn't give $7500 for a Chickering that needed substantial work.

I dont think the G185 was the higher end version of that Piano so if I am not mistaken, that price is way too much considering you can get the newer Y185 for that same price brand new. I paid $500 more for my Mahogany for example.
Of course, I could be wrong lol

Well, I can comment on 2 of them.
The Mason B is from 1940. Has a new pinblock, Diamond tuning pins, Paulello wire, Isaac bass strings and hammers, keyframe refelted and cleaned, keys rebushed, action shanks with new knuckles and rebushed and pinned, whipens repinned, bridges sanded down, renotched and repinned, lyre rebuilt and so on.

The Chickering is a 5'8", one owner and had the keyframe and keys done, shanks rebushed and repinned, soundboard mods, regulated and voiced.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the responses all.

In terms of pricing, it's true, the prices are a bit higher than what I might find on Craigslist or Kijiji. The reason for this is because I'm looking to purchase a used grand from a dealer. My thinking is that if they will take in a used piano, then it's probably in desirable condition. I assume that they do a varying amount of work on it - sometimes a bit more than a little depending on the piano and possible profit margins? - to improve it a bit and then sell it. Certainly this will come at a bit of a markup which I'm somewhat okay to pay for the knowledge that the piano has some life ahead of it.

Am I mistaken in thinking this?

Unfortunately, because I don't have a car, I'm limited in being able to visit all the good deals from private sellers in Toronto. The other reason I've more or less limited myself to dealers. I've made the effort to visit a few private sellers with pianos that I thought were of interest to me.

No, not at all... in most cases the dealer premium on used instruments is worth it in order to get a nice piano that you like/love and have confidence in.

Pick out the one you like best!

Good luck!

Rick