Hello friends, I'm trying to explain to my non-musical significant other why I need to spend
upwards of $40,000 on a piano but I just can't find the right words. I'm trying to find the words
that describe the sound a cheapo upright has that a piano LOSES as you go from upright to baby
grand to grand up to the concert grand stage. It's easy to describe the expensive grand sound:
every note sounds like a perfect chime (or chimelike I guess), but do we have a word in English
that politely describes the way the less expensive pianos sound?

yucky, crummy, tinny...I know...not very polite. How about crappy, garbage - oops, still not polite.
Just tell her that you are serious about your piano playing and have to have a grand. That's what I did.

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Am sparing undeserving forum victims from my abundant opinions.

Ok, then ... next question ... where do you get the 40+ thousand dollars?

Yeah, that IS the next question

"You get what you pay for!" Use that saying. It is true. It's like firearms, sure you can buy a $100 shotgun. But the craftsmanship, the quality of materials, and the feel of it will be less than desirable. That shotgun will also not last as long because of the sub-par reasons mentioned above. If however you spend $10,000 on a shotgun, it will be made with the highest craftsmanship, the strictest standards, the best materials, and will feel as if it is an extension of one's own body. It will also last a life time.

The same goes with anything and especially with a piano. Why spend $600 on something that will only last you 5 years (or less depending on how much Rachmaninov you play on it )?

A lesson to be taught and learned is that one should buy the highest quality "thing" (whether it is a shotgun, a camera lens, or a piano) that one can afford. But just to have a piano regardless of the price is a theory not to be appreciated. Myself makes a good example: I don't have a piano, I have an old digital keyboard. I could easily buy a $700 upright piano. But I know for a fact that it will not last long or sound that great. Therefore I withhold myself from buying a real piano until I have enough money to buy a quality instrument which will last me three lives.

I hope this helps.

-jg

Brian - you don't have to spend $40,000. I think that is an average price for a Steinway living-room sized grand. I paid half that for my Yamaha grand and it has a very good tone. Sometimes, I dream about buying a Steinway when I can't make my piano do something the way I want it. But it's always very, very picky and subtle things that nobody would notice except me, and it's probably not even my piano's fault, but my crappy playing. So, yes, I would take a Steinway, but you can get a decent piano for a lot less.

and shop the used pianos ... there are some really nice old pianos out there .... sometimes for better price than and quality than newer

Yeah, you're right about that. My neighbor recently asked that I come to the piano store with her to help her with buying a used grand. The store has a large room in the back where they have dozens of used pianos. We ended up finding a twenty-year old Yamaha grand, I think a six-footer, that came from a man who was moving and didn't even know how to play piano, so hence, it didn't get played much. It was practically new, but she got it for around $10,000. I played it, and it sounded great. Brian, if you're serious - go to Hendricks piano store in Downers Grove.

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Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! Juufa you are right, except for me the example is telescope gear not shotguns. Almost every clear night I wheel the equivalent of a small Steinway out into my driveway