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Why Steinway Grand Pianos Are So Expensive | So Expensive
Why Steinway Grand Pianos Are So Expensive | So Expensive
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it takes about 11 months to craft just
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one steinle and sons grand piano and
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these instruments don't come cheap
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a model d concert piano in ebony the
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most affordable finish of any steinway
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piano will cost you about a hundred
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eighty seven thousand dollars
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but that's nowhere near how high prices
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can reach
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steinway has produced two of the most
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expensive pianos in the world worth over
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two million dollars each
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the next most expensive piano is half
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the price at 1.2 million dollars
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but with several other premium pianos on
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the market is there something about
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steinway's sound that stands out
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and is that what makes these pianos so
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expensive
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named the rolls royce of pianos by the
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bbc
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steinway has produced some of the most
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sought after grand pianos for over 160
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years
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it's the piano of choice for billy joel
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long long and many other professional
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musicians
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but compared to other high-end piano
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makers it's often steinway's sound that
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sets it apart
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as a performer i can wear many different
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masks depending on the piece that i'm
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playing for some pieces you want to be
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very very diabolical you know enlist you
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know
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and at the same time lightness
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[Music]
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creating that sound starts here in new
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york at one of only two steinway
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factories in the world
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[Music]
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each grand piano is five to nine feet
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long and weighs between 540 and 990
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pounds
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often the bigger the piano the pricier
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it will be
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about 85 percent of a steinway piano is
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made of wood and one of the most crucial
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woods is used for the soundboard
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the soundboard is the life of the
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instrument the soul of the instrument
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this is alaskan sitka spruce this is the
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most expensive wood that we have in the
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piano and we actually get it from the
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trees primarily that are on the shady
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side the north-facing side of these
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islands so they grow very little each
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year and that means that we have growth
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rings that are very close together not
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spaced apart
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sica spruce is used in other strained
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instruments like guitars and it grows in
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a few areas in the northwest u.s
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but more than 50 percent of the alaskan
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sickest spruce they source won't meet
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steinway standards
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the wood must have a very specific grain
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density and direction both which can
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impact the quality of sound
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steinway looks for closely packed
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straight grains no more than plus or
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minus 15 degrees off a 90 degree
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vertical grain
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there's a reason it's so strict about
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this
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it's partly why when you press a key on
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a steinway piano
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you hear a distinctly long sustained
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tone
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the soundboard's edge must attach
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perfectly to the piano's rim the curved
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wooden frame of the
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instrument the full rim is made up of an
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inner and outer rim
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some piano makers attach each of these
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pieces separately but at steinway a team
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of artisans bends both together
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steinway says this method gives the
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piano a stronger foundation lowering the
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chances it will break
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steinway uses hard rock maple for both
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the inner and outer rims
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the key here is to use wood that will
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again allow sound to flow freely
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some companies as an example will will
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have hard rock maple for the outside rim
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but the inside room to save money
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they'll use something like luan luon is
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not as dense and hard as hard rock maple
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and when you have your sound waves in
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that sound board some of them are being
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absorbed a little bit by that luon more
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than they would be by hard rock maple
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[Music]
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the consistent touch of the keys is
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another valuable element unique to each
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sideway piano there are just two
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artisans in the entire factory trusted
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with weighing off all 88 keys of every
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keyboard
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this ensures each key is balanced so a
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pianist won't have to use more force to
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press one key over another i used to
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dream about the pianos chasing me
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now it's not a problem it's up to
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date of boss
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i listen you know i pay attention to
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what it wants the key to is pay
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attention
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and watch that hammer that's the key to
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it
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each key is connected to a felt hammer
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when pressed the hammer strikes the
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strings to create sound
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a key shouldn't respond to the fingers
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touch too quickly or too slowly
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so when i go to check the return it
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stays you see the hesitation it's no
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good that means it'll stay up in the
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piano
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you see how fast that one is
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that's too fast so i take this one away
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then i put this one back and it wants
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the small one
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you see so i put the small one you see
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how nice it is
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and that tells me what it wants
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so that shows you
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the difference
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everyone is different
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one of the most difficult jobs is the
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final tone inspection
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the goal is to create a balanced tone
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throughout the piano by slightly
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adjusting the hammers as needed
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from note to note we can soften or
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harden these
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mallets or hammers as we call them
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and balance the sound that they generate
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into the string the quality of piano's
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tone is incredibly nuanced something
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only an experienced ear can decipher
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well if i take this note
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and then soften it in this case i will
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put a needle in the hammer to soften it
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and you'll hear that tone change
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becomes a little bit smaller
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and in increments small steps i can go
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through
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and find the notes that are too big too
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bright and
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step them down
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well i'm 58 and i started when i was 28
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so that's 30 years and counting it's
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still
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i'm still learning how to do this it
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never stops
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like the ways you can customize a
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rolls-royce car you can do similarly
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with a steinway piano
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[Music]
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depending on special editions veneers
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and wood finishes prices for a single
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piece can reach five hundred thousand
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dollars like these pianos designed for
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steinway by lenny kravitz
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in the piano vault underneath the
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factory steinway houses one of the most
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expensive pianos it's ever produced
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worth two and a half million dollars
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on average the price of a new steinway
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piano increases about four percent every
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year
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this is partly because the cost of
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alaskan sitka spruce increases at a
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higher rate than inflation according to
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steinway
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[Music]
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and while the new pieces get more
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expensive old ones become more valuable
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too
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a steinway piano can last several
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decades with the required touch-ups and
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restorations
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[Music]
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a 1965 steinway model d piano is worth
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over 98 000 today
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that's more than 13 times what it likely
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sold for
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and although there are several elements
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that greatly impact the price
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it's the musician who ultimately decides
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what the piano is worth to them
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[Music]
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you
