Thanks to all of you who've replied to my recent threads with postings or private messages. I'm grateful for all the thoughtful advice and information you've provided.

Today it became clear to me that the right piano for me is the one that's now known as CD-888. I've talked with techs who've worked on it and others to find out what I can about its history . . .

It was built in 1993 and went to Manhattan to enter the retail sales inventory. In 1994 it was sold to Indiana University School of Music. I haven't yet learned what happened during the next 11 years, but I do know that in late 2005 it returned to Manhattan, entered the Concert and Artists program, and was sent to Detroit in early 2006. CD-888 has been doing classical and jazz concerts in Michigan since then. I'm told by a tech who knows it well that when it arrived in Detroit it was a bit green and the tone wasn't fully developed, but he feels it's developed nicely over the four years he's prepped it for concerts. CD-888 is often the concert D chosen for concertos because it can hold its own with a full orchestra.

Next week CD-888 is going to a concert at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where a tech who comes highly recommended will inspect it for me. Assuming the tech finds no deal breakers, CD-888 will then retire from the concert stage and resume its old identity as 528716. It will return to Detroit for a complete refinishing and should be ready for me to take delivery in about three months.

I had endless debates with myself about how I should shop for and choose this piano: Should I shop in Michigan or go to New York? Should I look for new or used? Is rebuilt better than a retired concert? Should I go back to my original plan to buy a B or or should I pursue a D? And on and on.

In the end, my decision was based on nothing more than this particular piano's tone and touch, and that's enough for me to know that it's the right instrument for me.

CD-888 has a lovely light touch and a clear, sweet, mellow tone. I'm astonished that whatever I play sounds beautiful. For example, I love recordings of Rachmaninov's Elegy, so I've been learning it, but I've been disappointed at my inability to come close to achieving musically what I hear in recordings. Today, playing CD-888, I actually began to hear what I was looking for. It's a pleasure to play very softly as well as to release CD-888's full power. I don't have to concentrate on achieving exactly the dynamic results I'm aiming for; the piano seems to read my mind. And CD-888 is so comfortable to play that it reminds me of wearing a favorite old pair of jeans.

So it became a choice of the heart, not the head. As so many of you said it should be!

Carol

Congratulations, Carol! Assuming the tech inspection turns out as expected, you have purchased a wonderful instrument. Finding a really "killer" D is much harder than finding a "killer" B. In fact, I have only ever played one D that I would take over the B I have. And it isn't for sale, fortunately.

May you have the joy of it.

The last D I saw was a sad case..."someone" had filed the hammers flat, installed the WNG action, drilled out the leads to make THAT work...and this a 3 year old...

I really can't say more, as I think charges may be pending...but, rest assured, she was in good hands and "coming back"!!

Oh wow! Congratulations!

I heard/ leaned on a D once, and that was convincing enough that it was one of the best pianos ever! Fantastic instrument!

How exciting Carol! A piano with history and a track record. I would have dark circles under my eyes my the time it arrived! It sounds like a perfect match.
Carl

Oh, and YOU MUST POST PICS!

+ 1

It's a great conclusion to your story. May your new piano bring you many years of loyal service.

Wow! you are going to have so many hours and years of wonderful music. How fun. Enjoy how wonderful to have a little piece of heaven here on earth.

Carol, I loved reading your story. Congratulations! The first time I played a D was at a recital, and I felt like a surgeon with a great scalpel. Nothing stood between the idea in my head and what came off the strings.

Before the recital I was intimidated by the piano. Then when I started playing, (I know this will sound strange) I felt like the piano wanted to help me, like we had some kind of mutual respect. A weird but wonderful experience.

I hope the next 3 months pass quickly for you.

Congrats,

I do find myself confused now. I have been told many times a Steinway "D" should be retired after 10 years of concert use. Something about the soundboards loosing full power after 10 years. I always thought that was a load of garb since most of the "D"s I work on are well over 10 years old and my clients decide to repair them instead of replace them.

I am please to read it was used for 10 years before it became a C&A instrument and then found fit to still "tour"

Fantastic!!!!

hzppy for you - and can't wait to hear about delivery - do share!

Sounds awesome. And though you mention you picked with your heart, it also sounds good from the head. You clearly did your homework and had everything thoroughly investigated.

I'm sure Rach's Elegy would sound spectacular on it.

Congrats. I'm always happy to hear when a fellow PW poster lands a high-end piano. (Well, any piano, but particularly a high end one.)

Congratulations!! A great NY D is a dream piano -- I'm so happy for you! please keep us posted on it.

Sophia

Says he who still owes us pictures from his practice space.... Give me your address and I'll send you some fresh batteries.

.

I don't owe anyone anything, mate.

School is nuts these days, so between actually practicing (!) and schoolwork, any extracurriculars are a crapshoot. I'll try to git r done after finals.

In a way, I know what you're saying...but, in another way...how sad...

What I meant was the former. I don't owe people on the interwebz pictures of my house; I will post them because I really would like to share pics of my practice space as per the Pianist Corner thread, not because someone tells me I have to. But time is at a premium for me these days, so it will have to wait.

That said, I'm signing off to do other things soon.

Judging by the amount of posts you have accumlated in the last 2 years you have plenty of time ;-)

Congratulations, Carol, on your new Steinway! (I'm optimistic the tech inspection will work out.)

Are you going to keep your current pianos?

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Yes, we're keeping the other, uh, three pianos ... I feel sheepish trying to explain why we need so many, but I guess if there were ever an understanding audience, it would be this group!

Actually, it's because we're finishing our lower level. And since we're expecting that we'll be spending much of our leisure time down there, of course we'll need a piano ...

And it's turned out to be quite a large space that we're finishing, so getting a large piano reduces the amount of furniture we'll need to buy.

Perfectly logical, right?

Carol

Good luck Carol. btw, I have heard that your tech is very good

Carol,

I am quite excited for you, have made your choice and anticipated your new D.

In my last few years of piano adventures I will admit not having played more than one Steinway D.

It was a Hamburg and had a beautiful tone.

I wish you the best with your new find and hope you keep in touch with this new adventure.

.

Is that supposed to be funny?

Anyway, enough of hijacking Carol's topic.

I apologize for being too intrusive. My comment was only meant in a good way. Naturally, you don't owe anyone anything.

PM sent.

If your playing is as elegant as your writing you must be a spectacular pianist, and obviously very deserving of as special piano as the Steinway D you have described.

There is no reason to NOT have more than one piano!

Each piano is different and speaks in a different way. Some people want a strictly mellow european piano, but also want a honky tonk ragtime piano!

I mean I have a few pianos. Ive got a Bose Imperial 97 key, a Fazioli 10', an 1845 erard, and a Steinway D.... I need more!

Hehe just kidding of course! If I had those pianos.... man oh man that would be incredible! I think I would sell the D, and buy a nice digital pipe organ.

Numerian, what a wonderful compliment! You're very kind. I hope someday my playing will be worthy of my new piano. I confess I have quite a long way to go ...

... Twice the Steinway salesman described with great enthusiasm the impressive ability of CD-888 to sustain dissonant chords. Finally I burst his bubble by replying that the dissonance was likely to come from my wrong notes, which I'd prefer not to be sustained!

Dave, thanks for reminding me that having multiple pianos is not so different from having multiple cars. One of my former bosses had five (expensive!) cars. A few times I tried - unsuccessfully - to talk him into directing his resources towards a really great piano instead of yet another car. Hey, there's no accounting for tastes.

Same here, same here...

Dissonant chords are dissonant since the waveforms are canceling each other out to some extent. Thus, I think it would be more accurate to say that the decay time of dissonant chords on CD-888 is longer than other pianos.

Whether one describes piano tone as (attack, decay, sustain) or (attack, sustain), in common piano usage saying the decay time is long is the same as saying the piano has long sustain.

Sustain is almost always used in reference to single notes and not chords.

Horowitzian, now that you explain it, it sounds familiar and I'm sure that's what the salesman said.

During our discussions the salesman gave me countless similar reasons to believe I was making a good choice, but in the end none of that mattered. I'd have chosen this piano even if he had told me that the decay time of dissonant chords was woefully short.

(And I was tempted to be contrary and ask him how CD-888 manages to defy the laws of physics -- waveforms that cancel each other out should do so regardless of the piano that creates them, right? Never mind, I know it isn't that simple, and I don't want to hijack my own thread!)

So Carol, did you get my adoption papers?

Hey, Mark, I'll check Monday's mail!

Did anyone notice my new signature?

Sounds like one salesman who actually knows what he's talking about.

Hehehe, I'd love to do that to an obnoxious salesman sometime.

BTW, nice sig. The marriage license should be ready soon. (with apologies to Diane...)

Horowitzian, my husband John has just pointed out that half of each piano belongs to him. Sigh.

Darn...oh well...best of intentions and all that.



PS — I apologize for my rather sharp sense of humor.

BTW, last night I managed to sleep for about two hours. During the other six I was thinking about the piano. If I keep this up for the next three months, I will be too exhausted to play the piano when it's finally delivered ...

When you are setup Carol, we must see pictures of all these beauties...

Mark, I promise to post pictures!

Hooray!!

CD-888 had its inspection today and it passed! I’ve been so worried that something awful would be found. At last I can relax ...

The tech phoned me this afternoon with his report. He was already familiar with CD-888 because he’d prepped it in the past for concerts. Here’s what he told me:

The action is in good shape. (Whew!) Last October, he’d done quite extensive voicing and regulation when he prepped it for a concert, and it’s unchanged, so he assumes it hasn’t been voiced much since then. (The pianist who was performing that evening in October said that CD-888 was the best-prepped Steinway he’d ever encountered on the road.)

The tech’s recommendation: If he were buying CD-888, he’d ask the dealer to restring it, replace the agraffes, resurface the capo d’astro, and rebush the damper guide rail.

I phoned the dealer, and he agreed to do everything the tech recommended.

As I write this, CD-888 is on stage for its final performance. Tomorrow it will go back to Steinway to begin the refinishing, restringing, etc. My next update – with photos – will be in about three months when I take delivery!

Carol

I would still assess the piano after the top end was completed.
Rebuilding the top end of this piano as in repin,restring,new agraffes,damper felt,down bearing,side bearing etc. is a major thing especially on a Steinway concert grand. What about the pinblock ? Oversized pins? Of course the piano will be in good hands at Steinway.

Congratulations, Carol. I just read through this thread (which led me to your thread about this piano going into retirement, which led to the one about purchasing your Estonia, and then about the digital piano--jeez, I log onto this forum and become a chain reader!), and it was great to see the entire story. I can't wait to hear what you think about the piano when the work is finished. Did you go to the final concert? I think it would be a lot of fun to watch a professional play "my" piano before it retired!

Nancy

Congratulations Carol! You are one lucky gal. Sadly however, for the next three months you'll have to just get by with playing your Estonia 190 and Bluthner B. Look forward to seeing the pictures.

Rich

Congratulations Carol!

Just in case you're numerologically minded, you might want to know that the prime factorization of your new piano's serial number is:

528716 = 2 * 2 * 131 * 1009

The 1009, a large, lopsided-looking prime number, is unexpected and interesting.

Enjoy (in three months)!--

-Jason

Thanks, Pianobroker -- that's excellent advice. I was also thinking about how to make sure that the work is done to the highest possible standard, so yesterday evening I discussed this with the tech who did the inspection. I'm going to have written into my purchase agreement with the Steinway dealer that this tech will be the one to do the first tuning and regulation after the piano is delivered and that any problems the tech finds will be corrected by the dealer.

Hi Nancy -- No, I didn't go to CD-888's final concert. I was tempted, but couldn't get a date! My husband John isn't a fan of modern music (for him, modern = post-Baroque), and since he's been so wonderfully accommodating about my piano obsession, I decided I'd better not make him sit through a couple of hours of jazz (Danilo Perez was the pianist last night).

Rich D –- thanks, I’m hoping I can cope for another three months!

Hey, Beet -– Well, what can I say? I forwarded your post to my husband, who responds that every number is interesting. John says there’s a well-known proof of this. "Let N be the smallest number that isn’t interesting. But that would make it interesting!"

Of course I needed to know how to factor my other pianos:

Estonia 6552 is 2x2x2x3x3x7x13 ... Bluthner 150915 is 3x5x10061

(Are we sure 10,061 is a prime number? I’m taking John’s word for it.)

Carol

I just checked on my end, and yes, 10061 is prime. This means that your Bluthner and your Steinway will share an unexpected numerological kinship!

That "least number that isn't interesting" argument is a famous paradox, related to the even more famous Berry paradox and the inherently non-mathematical nature of English words like "interesting" and "definable". Good stuff!

-Jason