What You DON'T KNOW About Piano Stores

[@2Hearts3]

I appreciate that you and other dealers are still around. It is difficult to find an affordable piano, especially trying to find a grand. Complex at both ends of this transaction, it seems.

[@trainliker100]

It depends on the piano. For all the spinets and even some larger uprights, people can't find anybody to buy them and are giving them away. I just looked at my local CraigsList and there were two decent looking ones for free.

[@chrisdei9121]

That was so informative and well done. Thank you!

[@rolandgerard6064]

Thanks to share these background informations, beautiful and difficult business!

[@JayMSinger]

I was lucky to find my M because I knew the Steinway tech who had been servicing it. I'm only the 2nd owner of my 1927 instrument. If my house is on fire I will save my wife then roll the piano out! LOL

[@hurricane_hazel]

I feel this way about my M as well. True love.

[@e.castlerock8454]

Wow, very interesting! Thanks for the info.

[@giorgio.]

About 25 years ago, I worked as a new car salesman at a couple of dealers. The model you’re describing makes me think of how car dealers work with expensive inventory held at interest, deals with the manufacturer, incentive programs, transport costs, pre-delivery inspection and sometimes repairs, protected territories, etc. There’s a lot that goes into new car sales and profit margins can be razor-thin with the exception of certain models with high demand in some periods. That’s why many salesmen prefer used car sales, the ownership cost for the dealer isn’t so high and profits margins are usually substantially higher.

[@thomasmcclain8116]

Very Informative! Thank you for sharing.

[@tomclemans]

Interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing this! I bought a new Kawai upright two years ago from a Seattle piano store. I was hoping to find the model I wanted in a matte finish. At the store, they had a used one with glossy finish and a new one with the matte finish I wanted. Surprisingly, the new matte finish piano was $5,000 lower than the regular price, and $200 less than the used glossy one. Puzzled, I asked about the prices of the two pianos. The salesman told me they get new Kawai upright pianos in batches of six, and this matte one was the last of the current batch. They couldn’t order a new batch until all of the current batch had sold. This piano had been on sale for over a month, the price being lowered weekly, with no one wanting the matte finish until I came along. I got the piano I wanted at an awesome price, which then enabled the dealership to order a new batch of pianos with the finish most people want.

[@vitale6633]

Very Informative - Thanks Robert for the insight.

[@TheMisterGriswold]

Very interesting! 🎹

[@DrQuizzler]

You're right. I didn't know ANY of that stuff about how piano store owners do their thing. I just know these two guys who own a used piano store I go to sometimes, are always happy to see me, and they regale me with 100 stories about stuff they've seen in the music business. I try out a few of their pianos, and they often steer me toward one that's just been conditioned and ask me to try it out and tell them anything I notice with it. Then I start playing something to open it up a bit, and a few minutes later, if someone walks in with their checkbook open, these guys whisk me into the back out of sight, where they keep the Steinway Ds. I guess I can't blame them. They know I'm a digital guy.

[@bryang3635]

No two pianos are alike, even with the same name. Pianos require a lot of maintenance and tuning as well. If a piano has not been tuned in years, they will go flat overtime and the tuner would have to pull pitch which means the tuner would have to go through the entire piano and tune it sharp, then gradually bring it down and that can require multiple tuning sessions. This is why it is important to have the piano tuned regularly. New pianos have a break in period, in high humidity areas, usually need to be tuned like once a quarter for two years, then tuned twice a year after that. If you live in a high humidity area, such as in the southeastern United States, I strongly recommend running a dehumidifier in the same room your piano is in especially since pianos are extremely sensitive to humidity.

[@riffraftmusic8669]

Untapped piano market? Students/instrumentalists who play their own axe, but can’t play piano (and have always wanted to learn). Performance venues: cozy chamber halls surrounding a larger, symphonic area. Each could be showcasing a different performer/ensemble simultaneously, and not just at night. Live music, reproduced music, and music education are fundamentally important to society.

[@paulbennett274]

It's interesting to compare the contrast in retail practices between the USA and the UK where (excluding sales taxes) in most other market sectors USA prices are nearly always significantly lower than over here, despite the restrictive practices of retail price maintenance and anti-competitive territorial restrictions being illegal for decades in the UK. Market size is usually cited as a justification as to why actual USA prices are lower; just compare the camera/video, computer, or hi-fi markets as examples. The exception does appear to be in the Piano retail market where we appear to have the price advantage for a change!

[@thepianoplayer416]

When it comes to buying a new piano that can be very expensive, do people really shop around? Especially when you know you're going to keep it for at least 10 years or longer. If you like a brand, the sound and action, and you have to money you'd just buy it. Digital keyboards tend to be mass produced items where there is a suggested retail price on each item. You can usually get a store to price match a keyboard sold at another easily. Don't think there is a suggested retail price policy on pianos. There are second hand pianos and there are vintage pianos that can be more than 50 years old. They are refurbished even to the point of having all new keys so it's hard to put an estimate on the item.

[@Petro00D]

Piano stores sound a lot like auto dealerships. It seems as though the number of piano stores is greatly decreasing. I imagine inflation is greatly hurting the piano dealers.

[@harrymcintosh2940]

How does the digital piano market affect piano stores? Do stores feel pressure to sell both kinds of pianos?

[@pasadenaphil8804]

You know your in a good big city piano store when they display pianos on the sidewalk in front of the store

[@paulkolodner2445]

It's the same thing here with fish.

[@davemeeks8109]

What piano maker built the unit on your left side with the beauty legs. 😊

[@LivingPianosVideos]

That's a rebuilt vintage Steinway A: livingpianos.com/pianos/steinway-victorian-art-case-grand-piano/

[@nerdsunscripted624]

Looks like a late 1880’s early 1890’s Steinway A or B

[@kittyfruitloop8264]

WOW!

[@James_Bowie]

0:25 ... hey, this is the 21st century and has been for 24 years now. :-)

[@LivingPianosVideos]

Time flies when you're having fun!

[@JoshuaMilrad]

Great video Robert!

[@LivingPianosVideos]

Thanks - glad you enjoyed it!

[@christopherzimmer]

Robert- hi. We’re in the 21st century, not 20th. 😊

[@marluxia-od3fw]

i would have preferred a more indepth video about this as you must have lots more hidden knowledge of piano sales from your decades of experience

[@LivingPianosVideos]

Like any other high-end sales, there are all sorts of techniques and strategies sales people use to help people make the right decision, and regrettably, in some cases to coerce people.

[@qwaqwa1960]

21st c. ;-)

[@mschembri1409]

We are in the 21st century not 20th

[@984francis]

Non “name” brands are cheap and can be very good.

[@jeremykeller211]

Your title assumes that I DO know something about piano stores. Why do you make this unsupported assumption?

[@3209-f4h]

These stores sell more than pianos. And most people don’t know that.. maybe because of your college dudes.

[@AtomizedSound]

I doubt it. Just uninformed