Travis Neighbor Ward

First published in longer version in Departures magazine, July/August 2000. This version was published in Lifestyle and Travel for Physicians, December 2000.

Copyright 2000 Travis Neighbor Ward.

The Key Considerations Involved in Purchasing a Fine Piano.

By Travis Neighbor Ward

When Philip Calabrese, a high-end piano buyer's agent and piano technician in New York, assists his clients in purchasing an instrument, he has to employ what he refers to as piano therapy. "I always find that their entire psyche is tied up in the decision," Calabrese explains. "This is the dark secret of the piano world. Will their children turn out to be great pianists? Is their level of musicality really high enough that they deserve to have a Bechstein or a Fazioli or a Steinway? The same people usually already have a Mercedes, so it's not the money."

Whatever your reasons for purchasing a piano, when you sit down and compare the top-quality instruments to the rest of the field, there's really no question: from superlative sound to long-term value to just looking good in a living room, high-end pianos far outperform the others. But even with the best pianos -- according to experts they include Steinway, Fazioli, Bechstein, and Bosendorfer, primarily -- there are some important variables that can make the difference between making a sound investment and playing your luck. Here's the inside scoop on buying top pianos, both new and vintage.

TWO GOLDEN RULES

When it comes to choosing the best pianos that money can afford, the first rule on which experts concur is that you should think grand. When grands are compared for performance to upright (or vertical) pianos of the same caliber and condition, grands always win. Grand pianos can accommodate longer bass strings and a larger soundboard than verticals, and the horizontal construction of a grand allows the tone to be dispersed about the room more evenly, which translates into more pleasing tonal development, as well as greater musical control. "If you compare high-end grands and uprights of the same level, you're always going to get more sound out of a grand," says Jim Nicoll of Premier Piano, the U.S. distributor of Bechstein. You're also going to need a lot more floor space for a grand, and you'll pay two to three times more than for an upright at a comparable level. (The average price for a high-end, medium-sized grand with no custom-built cabinetry is approximately $45,000 to $75,000.)

The other rule: purchase the largest piano you can afford.

Because larger pianos have longer strings, they can produce more resonant bass and tenor tones. And because their soundboards are larger, as Larry Fine, piano technician and author of The Piano Book, Buying and Owning a New and Used Piano (Brookside Press), says, "It's more likely you'll have more volume of sound. Of course, it also depends on the room's acoustics." Most experts agree that the smallest grand worth buying is five feet long (the largest concert grand is around 10 feet long); the smallest acceptable vertical is 46 inches tall. "But I think that in a six-foot-long piano you can get about 90 percent of everything that's possible in a grand piano," says Calabrese. "Most people can get what they want out of a medium grand."

LONGEVITY IS RELATIVE

Whether you plan to gallop through Rachmaninov or linger over Schubert, the fact remains that not all pianos capable of making beautiful music are worth purchasing as investments. "If you look at all pianos from 60 years ago, you'll find that 19 out of 20 of them today are virtually worthless," says Calabrese. "It's also quite likely that the same will be the case in the future for pianos that are bought today. That's not to say a piano can't be an excellent investment; it can. But it is very important to be particularly choosy about what you buy."

The quality range of pianos is as vast as that of automobiles. In lower-end pianos, wood can crack and warp, legs can break off, and drill holes in which tuning pins sit can be stripped to the point that even the best technicians are helpless. At the upper end of the range, the wood, hardware, workmanship, and design are superb.

One of the key variables in a piano's value is whether it will be worth restoring, or bringing back to its original state, when it needs it-a step that is inevitable with even the best brands. "All pianos have a natural life span of 60 to 80 years at most," Calabrese explains, "after which they have to be restored. That's not to say that without restoration their keys won't go down or they won't make sound; they may, but they often won't make music." Fine says that "The life span of a piano is an indeterminate thing. If its exposed to a very hostile climate or is played relentlessly, it could meet a very early death. But once it stops working correctly, it either has to be restored or junked." Restoring a piano costs the same—usually $10,000 to $20,000—whether or not it is top-quality, and that's another reason why it's worth buying the best piano you can afford.

Some experts contend that buying a top-of-the-line classic era, or "vintage," piano and having it rebuilt can lead to huge savings and sometimes even better performance then you'll get with a new piano. "At the turn of the century piano makers were able to procure superior materials in greater quantities than we can find now," says Thomas Rourk, a piano rebuilder in Massachusetts and former head technician at Mason & Hamlin. "And there were more craftsmen who were serious about their art."

However, a vintage piano does carry risk: If it's already been rebuilt, it may not have been rebuilt well; if it hasn't been rebuilt, you can't be sure in advance that the cost of buying and restoring it won't exceed the cost of purchasing a new one in the first place. You also can't really be sure what the end result will be. "It definitely should be checked over by a really good technician," says Nicoll, "to see if there are any major problems."

THE MOST VALUABLE DETAILS

Whether a high-end piano is new or vintage, there are elements that can increase its value even more, as described below.

Exotic Wood Veneer Finishes According to some experts, an exterior finished in exotic wood will raise a piano's value. "Finish plays an enormous role in the value of a piano," says Rourk. "Ebonized pianos happen to be the rave right now. But I think that a piano with very good quality veneer, nicely finished, is of greater value than an ebonized one. I think that's reflected in the retail prices, too." (Wood veneers, exotic or not, always cost more.)

At Fazioli, for instance, a six-foot-eleven-inch F212 grand costs $89,500 for the ebonized finish; in bubinga wood, you'll pay about $100,000. Steinway's Crown Jewel Collection of grand pianos includes nine wood finishes ranging from mahogany and dark cherry to Kewazinga bubinga and East Indian rosewood. Prices range from $36,500 for a five-foot-one-inch Model S baby grand in mahogany (in an ebonized finish it costs $4,100 less) to $127,300 for a nine-foot Model D concert grand in Macassar ebony ($44,200 more than it costs ebonized).

Art-Case Exteriors The possibilities are endless, and they can raise a piano's value greatly if the decoration is done well (as long as the interior is top-quality, too). Since the grand's earliest years, art-case pianos have been embellished with anything from inlaid gold and ivory, to ornate seashells and cast-bronze statuettes, to hand-painted pastoral scenes. "Art-case pianos were quite popular at the turn of the century," says Sujatri Reisinger, who, with his brother Gabor, owns Klavierhaus, a piano restoration company in Manhattan. "They were seen as status symbols, doubling as furniture and instruments. But because of the Depression, their production stopped abruptly around 1930."

Today, you can find original, imported European art-case pianos at Klavierhaus, or new ones in Steinway & Sons' art-case collection. Or you can search at auction, where you may find a gem like the Steinway grand piano from 1883, whose art case was decorated by English artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. It sold for $390,000 at a Sothebys auction in 1980, then at a 1997 Christie's auction for $1.2 nullion-to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. "It has handpainting and marquetry of inlaid wood and mother-of-pearl," says Mazurco. "It's absolutely beautiful."

Custom-Built Exteriors "Having a sculptural piano is the latest trend," says Calabrese. "Some people decide to acquire a Steinway or a Bechstein upright piano, and then have a case built around it. It's possible to spend over $100,000 on an upright just for the custom exterior." Calabrese says he once heard of a couple who wanted a piano designed to look like their house in Colorado. "So they had an artist do it up in a sketch, then got an architect to transfer it into piano-builder's plans."

But even in the case of custom fantasy sculptures, one shouldn't ignore the realities of the market. "There's no point in having a custom exterior built for a poor-quality interior," says Calabrese. "Ultimately you'll only be attempting to resell a sculpture that sounds bad."

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SIDEBAR: COOL JAZZ

For playing mainly jazz, kudos are frequently given to Yamaha pianos. When it comes to classical music, none of the experts with whom we spoke ranked them among the very best. "Yamahas come out of the factory ready to play, and they hold up well," says Larry Fine, author of The Piano Book. Buying and Owning a New or Used Piano. "The consistency of manufacture is great, too. But they have a very bright tone to begin with, which isn't as good for classical music; however, some jazz pianists prefer it."

Says Philip Calabrese, a high-end piano technician and buyer's agent: "Yamaha makes an excellent instrument. Their quality of manufacture is consistently the highest of any company in the world. The level to which their artisans are trained is excellent. But that does not mean they use the best materials or have the best design, so I'm not sure a Yamaha would be worth rebuilding. I think they're not included in the super-premium category because pianists in general consider them a little bit cold and without character-almost too mass-produced."

Thomas Rourk, a high-end piano rebuilder and former head technician at Mason & Hamlin, agrees. "A Yamaha grand is manufactured almost to a level of perfection," says Rourk. "If you have two six-foot Yamaha grands, you can exchange their action parts and not have to make any adjustments. But at the end of the day, it's not a Bechstein or a Steinway. I think the tone is inferior; it's extremely bright. And it doesn't project as well." Yamaha; 800/854-1569; www.yamaha.com.



SIDEBAR: MAINTENANCE

If maintained well, a piano can last approximately 80 years before it needs to be restored. That means carefully controlling the environment in which it is placed and hiring a technician to service it regularly.

"A piano likes a slightly cool, moist environment best," says Philip Calabrese, a high-end piano technician and buyer's agent. "Being kept in a hot, dry room could decrease its life span by as much as one-half." The ideal temperature, he says, is under 75 degrees; the ideal relative humidity level is between 45 and 70 percent. The piano should not be positioned near sources of direct heat, cold, or light-that means away from radiators, heating vents, fireplaces, unshaded windows, and windows or doors that may let in drafts.

As for servicing, a technician should come once or twice a year to tune it (approximately $100). If the piano is played often, a technician should file hammers, tighten action screws, and regulate the action every few years, which can cost from $250 to $750, depending on the use and wear. "It might need to be done every year for a heavily played piano, every ten years for one that's idle," says Calabrese. To find a licensed technician in your area, call the Piano Technicians Guild (816/753-7747).

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