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In such a context of extreme subjectivity, varying priorities, and contradictory expert opinions, making too fine a distinction among brands based on their quality tends to give a false impression of scientific objectivity, and inhibits shoppers from making their own judgments and possibly discovering something wonderful for themselves. Furthermore, even those responsible for the technical design of pianos often can’t agree on which features and specifications produce the best instruments. If quality refers to its musical performance, is that in a concert venue, a teaching studio, or a living room? If in a concert venue, solo or with an orchestra? For playing Mozart, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, or Gershwin? And whose preferences in tone and touch should we enshrine as the standard by which all pianos should be measured? Each answer to those questions will produce a different ordering of pianos by quality. Depending on the buyer’s priorities, quality could refer, among other things, to a piano’s musical performance, to the aesthetics of its furniture, to its ability to hold up under the demands of heavy use in a school, or to its ability to survive in difficult climates.
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In addition, the definition of quality itself is extremely vague.
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While it’s still clear that high-end pianos are better than entry-level ones, comparisons of instruments that are closer in price are less conclusive, and much more subject to the whims of personal preference, how well the pianos have been prepared for sale, room acoustics, and so forth. Due to globalization and the computerization of manufacturing, virtually all pianos now sold in the West are competently made and without major defects, and the differences between them are increasingly subtle and subjective. and in developing countries, had significant defects that made separating good instruments from bad relatively easy. Why don’t we strictly judge piano quality in Piano Buyer? During the last half of the 20th century, a great many pianos, especially low-end instruments manufactured in the U.S. Why We Don’t Precisely Rate Piano Quality Nevertheless, in the larger picture and speaking very generally, price and reputation are associated with quality closely enough that this chart can be used as a rough guide to the quality of today’s new pianos, though not as a precise or authoritative one. As will be discussed later, while price and reputation are often associated with quality, that association is far from perfectly consistent. That is, if a dealer carried every brand, how would he or she position those brands, in terms of relative quality, when presenting them to prospective purchasers?įor pianos intended for consumer use, this positioning is usually done along lines of price for high-end and luxury instruments - where price is less likely to be a buyer’s primary concern - there is a rough pecking order based on reputation. This summary is not, strictly speaking, a ranking of quality rather, it is intended as a description of how manufacturers and dealers position their products in the marketplace. The chart and commentary that follow are intended to provide the newcomer to the piano market with a simple summary of how this market is organized.