I have been reading posts on this forum and learned a lot from all of you. This is such a great and useful forum. Finally, I have taken up the opportunity to buy my first grand. a childhood dream has finally come true. It was a long drive to the dealer and when I was finally 15-20 mins away from the dealer's store, I started to feel very emotional as I realized.....my dream might finally come true. I was nervous and excited.

The dealer has 2 of the same models for me to try. I had to say it wasn't love at first sight (or "play"). but the more I played it, the more I started to feel the connection. after about 2 hours of playing, I found "mine". If my little toddler wasn't waiting for me, I probably could have spent another few hours there lol.

How was your first grand experience? did you get emotional?

Now I have to get ready my living room to welcome my new love of my life :-)

I am so very happy for you. I had that feeling when I purchased my upright last October. However, I am also preparing for my dream Grand Piano in approximately four years when I retire. It is my present from me to me. That emotion you describe is sacred. I believe it is was separates us from others - having a passion and a vision to embark in something that takes us to a sacred place - be it for ourselves, or for an audience.

So very very happy for you. Please post a photo, should you wish to. I can't wait for it to be me. I am already planning.

All the best,

So what'd you get?

Congratulation on your new piano!

You already bought after 2 hours of trying one single model??

>How was your first grand experience? did you get emotional?

I was heading for a DP first but even the most expensive one did not hold up against an upright acoustic. Then I searched for the best upright and I found that the best one did not hold up against a mid-range grand. And then I found that there is still a huge range of variability between the grands, even same brand same model.

It's always exciting to hear and play a good grand. But "emotional" is quite a loaded word, I would not say so.

Hi Music Me, thanks for your post and sharing. I think not everyone would understand how we feel (e.g. my friends who don't piano. they thought i'm little bit nuts). I'm glad to find someone who shares the same passion. I hope "your day" will come very soon too! you never know.. it might happen sooner than you planned!

Michaelh, ooops.. i guess I was too excited last night and forgot to mention what I have gotten! it's a Kawai RX-2 Blak! I know it's probably "nothing too exciting" for the regulars here as it seems like there's a new owner of a RX every other week! Btw, I played the RX-5 Blak at the dealer... I love the even bigger sound but I don't have the space and don't want to further blow my budget (husband will kill me..). so in the meantime, I'm just perfectly content and happy with my new rx-2

Wouter79, I have tried and played on more before the trip yesterday. I just didn't post them

I went to a yamaha dealer before and tried some hailun, C2, C2X and couple others. I like the C2X and the "fatter" black keys, but the dealer was not pleasant to deal with at all and price seemed to be substantially higher. I currently have a kawai upright and love it so I just didn't have enough motivation to pursue harder on the C2x.

I tried a couple of M&H at another dealer. they're lovely but they're just too above my price range.

Also tried the Boston. I like the sound and tone but for some reasons, I'm not crazy about its action. I feel it's harder for me to have the control. Also, it's quite bit higher than my budget as well. If it's the same price as the RX-2, man, it'll be a very tough call.

Congratulations! RX-2 is a fantastic piano. I am sure that you will get the thrill of playing a piano like that for years to come!

Congrats Rileybunny,

I probably say this to all new RX2 owners ad nauseum.............so why stop?

One of my favorite RX2 piano player.........

http://www.youtube.com/lyricmudra

You have a great model. I had a chance to play several RX2's in a variety of finishes and all grouped together. They all sounded great but noticed the actions varied by a noticable margin.

Like you, it wasn't Perri kind of moment. I was too busy being critical. I was at the dealer to compare an RX3 to the Yamaha I WAS going buy. Everyone said I had to check out the RX3 before committing. Luckily the dealer was very accomodating and let me play for hours on everything and anything I wanted. In the end, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I was not prepared to buy, especially that day. Once the deal was done and I realized that in less than 48 hours that piano would be sitting in my studio, I started to get excited from that point on. It helped that my g/f was over the top supportive and to this day, she loves the piano more than me! I wasn't sure about the sound at first but now it's grown on me. How about you? blob

Omg! they just got here... moving is going to start... i'm soo excited!!

RileyBunny I can feel your excitement! We won't probably hear from you for a few days. Enjoy playing. I hope you will post a photo or two.

I'm mid-quest as I type, but will check back in with a brief post-mortem on the experience when it's over. Shopping pre-owned instruments is challenging and complicated, but also a little bit fun, and sometimes face-hand-y., and sometimes a *whole* lot of other things.

Emotional? Not so sure about that, but it will be a commitment.

Congratulations on your RX2! I hope you have many years of enjoyment with it; and I'm sure you will!

Rick

Ok. Done. 1920's M&H A, original condition, mostly. Once I decided I was interested in the one I now have, it took about two weeks to get the details worked out.

I wouldn't call the experience emotional yet. I'm so excited to have it that I practically hyperventilate whenever I think about it or walk past it. The emotional bit is yet to come. It needs work. The price reflected that to some degree, but I have a feeling that it's going to be pretty expensive, and my husband may lobby for it to be refinished. I had its guts checked out by a decent tech -- but his taste is a little different than mine, and there were some things it seems he wouldn't even have checked, had I not asked him to explicitly. Since *I'm* not a tech, who *knows* what-all else we missed.

For the new-owner evaluation and first tune at least, I'm switching techs.

I've had not an instant of buyers' remorse, except that the search has ended -- just when I was beginning to hit a stride. What pleases me immensely, is having an instrument that's *worth* the professional attention I envision it having (over time), and whose life truly can be significantly extended by this care.

e/t/a Oh, yeah. And it will be *wonderful* to have an instrument that will serve my learning. I'm kind of low-intermediate (a re-starting grownup on a shoestring), and my sweet old vertical was actually holding me back.

Congratulations, Thorn (and also Riley)! I'm sure you'll get many years of delight from the piano.

I found mine after a loooong search a couple of years ago. It still makes me feel happy and incredibly lucky every day--even when I'm not playing it, just to see it and realize it's there for me. It's (almost) equally delightful to hear others play it.

jdw 'others playing it' is a *most* interesting point i hadn't thought of until yesterday when a good friend of mine asked if he can try it out sometime.

of course the answer is an emphatic 'yes'! i hope he will bring some brahms he mentioned working on. maybe others will play it as well. nieces & nephews. maybe my husband will decide to learn to play...

maybe i'll even finally develop some social skills through ownership of a grand piano. heh

I honestly didn’t realize just how good my piano (C7) sounded until another family member (who can play better than me; which doesn't take much ) sat down and played it while I stood back and listened. It is amazing how there is a difference in the perception of the sound/tone while playing or standing back listening to someone else play. I thought to myself, wow, that piano sounds good; I’m glad it’s mine!

Anyway, congratulations again, RileyBunny and thorn_was_taken!

Rick

My husband was inspired to start lessons--there's something about the grand piano that calls to people. Luckily, we are pretty good at sharing.

I was almost begging my teacher to play on my piano but she seemed to feel little awkward about it. I really would love to hear someone playing on my piano but I don't really know anyone who plays. I wish there're a piano club or something in the area so a few piano enthusiasts could take turns hosting a get-together at people's home and play for each other.

Completely agree! I just feel incredibly happy even just looking at it! also, I don't have to have this extreme envious feeling when I walk by other people's homes and see that they have a nice grand piano but I didn't. Now I am still interested to see other grand but I feel very happy that I have one myself too which I love!