A nice gentleman came by last week searching for a grand piano for his oldest daughter. He was referred to our store by several close friends and colleagues. She has been studying piano for several years, and she is at the level where a grand piano will help her proficiency and prepare her for more challenging and competitive playing. She also really loves piano, and Papa wants to support her passion and hard work. Also, his younger daughter is nearly ready to begin playing. Does this scenario sound familiar to anyone else?
His family’s first piano was a Yamaha console. He bought it gently used from his local dealer and it served the family well. His friends, many of them musicians, safely suggested that a Yamaha grand piano would be the logical next step. His pursuit for a good deal on a gently used Yamaha grand (as well as the personal referral of those same friends) led him to visit with us one week ago. He spoke with my father and we had two good choices in range of his budget. I greeted him in our showroom.
While welcoming our new customer, we walked through our showroom discussing pianos and learning his needs. He stopped curiously to ask about a piano that caught his eye. He thought the piano was beautiful, but it was the name that puzzled him. He’d never seen an Estonia piano before. I spent a minute introducing the piano, but we continued on to the Yamaha grands. We had two Yamaha grands, a 5’3″ GC-1 and a 5’8″ C-2, both well-prepped and in the very best condition. After comparing, he saw the value in investing a little more for the larger C-2. The decision was basically made, but he was going to share with his family and let me know. Our visit ran into his next appointment, but his curiosity about the Estonia pianos caused him to spend a few more minutes with them and take a brochure. I think at that point he was as interested in Estonia, the company and the country, as he was in the piano that caught his eye. The brochure, while lovely, tells only part of Estonia’s story, so I put together a few extras from the world around to send to him after he left.
We continued to communicate over the next few days, still satisfied with his choice of the Yamaha, but asking questions about the Estonia. I’m going to share some of my substantive e-mails to him:
Hello ******,
First, I will make the arrangements to have the Yamaha and Estonia on our showroom floor for side by side comparison. I can make that happen by Wednesday afternoon. I will convey to our staff this is will remain a surprise.
I feel the side by side comparison truly is the best way because selecting a piano is less about “the better brand” and more about subjective preferences. My advice to customers becomes simplified, look among pianos/brands whose quality you are comfortable with and then select the one you like playing/listening to the best. If your committee prefers the Yamaha, then wonderful, but if the conclusion is the Estonia, then I hope you will accept what so many of my other customers have come to learn about this relatively hidden gem. Yamaha is a big, successful brand and I’ve sold more Yamaha pianos than Estonias over the years, but the only times I’ve ever had a Yamaha selected over an Estonia is because of budget.
I’m going to answer your question as best as I can. I have nothing bad to say about the Yamaha C-series piano, but I do want to shed some perspective. Billy Joel, in an 2007 interview in Keyboard Magazine said “I’ve noticed with Yamaha, you’ll always get a good piano. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a bad Yamaha. But I don’t think Yamahas are exceptionally brilliant pianos. They’re always consistently good.” He goes on to talk about Steinways as either “flawed or absolutely brilliant” and “most Bosendorfers aren’t good – they’re really good. They’re always top-notch pianos.” This is the perspective that I consistantly see. When an artist or performer is traveling to different venues, their fear of a bad instrument outweighs their desire for a wonderful one. This is Yamaha’s strength, consistancy, predictability, utility. Beyond that, people, artists and the rest of us, will desire more for our personal choice.
Yamaha’s best known artist, Elton John, plays a custom built instrument that is nearly as much electronics as acoustics that allow him to create a unique stage show. The size and scope of Yamaha’s artist program is a wonderful thing that their success has afforded them.
If you ever watch the TV show House, in early seasons, Dr. House plays on an older Knabe piano, but with the success of the show, Yamaha saw an opportunity to fit in a product endorsement and put a huge logo on all sides of the now new piano.
Estonia pianos are a remarkable story. I love the Austin, Texas’ Steinway dealer’s comment from the AJC article. “We may only get 10 a year because they don’t make that many and they really are pieces of art,” showroom manager Matthew Bird said. “The technicians that tuned the ones we just got in already have been raving about their sound and quality.” That article ran in over 75 papers nationwide.
Barker Hickox, well-known music and arts philanthopist, became fascinated by Estonia pianos and helped put them on stage for Jazz festivals around the country. His love of the pianos led to friendship with Dr. Laul who was one of his pall-bearers when Mr. Hickox recently passed.
WRTI, Philadelphia’s only classical music station, had a new studio built including a state of the art” recording space that can also be used for live performance and masterclasses. The piano in the space is an Estonia 190. There have been numerous recordings made with this piano, particularly chamber music, as this space has become a preferred place for many Philly Orchestra members.” – Rich Gallassini, Piano Forum. Marc-André Hamelin recently recorded an album there.
https://bit.ly/1iLpSm is a link to Rachmoninov plays Rachmoninov (Amazon.com). The historical Ampico player recordings were reproduced and recorded on an Estonia Concert Grand. Great care went into this project, and Estonia was selected for the task.
In the last few months, one of Canada’s most prolific Jazz recording studios in Calgary run by Aaron Young has selected an Estonia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5wVWWvFiNs keyboardist from the rock band, Smashing Pumpkins, gave a great video review of Estonia pianos.
Stories like these keep piling on top of each other.
An artist program is very expensive to develop, and even Steinway could not afford to start one today. They can largely rely on the existing instruments in various venues. For most companies, to support an artist, they have to truck the piano around with them. Very few artists can support this expense (by generating extra sales).
I know of several local teachers who have selected Estonia pianos from us in the past several years. I am reaching out to them to see if they are available for you to speak with.
Estonia is a brand that has, in the past, survived because of great value and is now thriving because of great quality.
Mostly, let’s see how your daughter likes it.
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She visited, she selected the Estonia as her favorite, and her godmother (a very good player and member of the “piano selection committee”) was equally impressed. In that moment, the decision to upgrade the family piano changed. It went from “the right time to get a grand” to a genuine opportunity to add to the family. He saw the legacy being built, this piano inspired feelings about music, his relationship with music, music and his daughters. This was worth the cost; this is what we in the piano industry would prefer to refer to as an “investment.” He invested in the time spent and values of his family.
We delivered his new Estonia piano yesterday. Both the family and friends were gathered at their home as we pulled up with the piano. We had both trucks running around town, so Yes, I was back on the delivery crew. It was an exciting afternoon, and I think everyone was taking lots of pictures. Mom and Dad were pleased, daughter was playing and hugging the piano, it looks beautiful, and that is only the beginning of this piano’s story.
I’ve faced many challenging requests from customers. I know that everyone would like pianos to be cheaper. So would I. There are so many elements to a piano, shape, size, sound and fun features. It’s fun to think about the ideal instrument. I’ll start with mine.
I have to set out my restrictions. I will obey the laws of physics and keep the piano conventionally the same, not a new instrument. I don’t live in a palace with a ballroom for my Bosendorfer Imperial, but I’d give up my dining room table to have a medium-sized grand piano. My May Berlin upright is great, but let’s see what I can come up with.
First, I’ll start with aesthetics. I love polished nickel hardware, so that is easy. My May Berlin already has nickel/chrome hardware, which is also nice. I also love wood finishes. It’s very hard to decide which type of wood, but I also like the somewhat rare, open-pore satin finish. I love rosewood and teak. There are many beautiful woods, but I saw this piano in person and fell in love. The finish is called Aruba.
I know this will not be everyone’s favorite look, but that’s the point. My dream piano has nothing to do with anyone else’s choice. I’ll have my favorite piano for the rest of my life, so I can stop concerning myself with resale value or how popular the brand is. It becomes a pure selection.
To be honest with myself, I do love a piano’s decal. I like Bosendorfer’s early logo, Steinway’s vintage soundboard decal, Fazioli’s modern logo, Estonia’s little leaves, Schimmel’s crown, but rather than a name, I might just use Yamaha’s crossed tuning forks emblem. Undecided.
Now I must reveal my most difficult choices relating to the sound. Do I pick a speific model of piano or imagine a hybrid? Here is where I would have to have two pianos (at least!), one to play and one to listen to. The position of the pianist is too close to get the fully developed sound, but I want it to sound good while I play. While there are shared elements among my favorites, I have pianos I prefer when playing and pianos I prefer when listening.
I’ll start with my favorite to play. Among smaller grands under 6′ I love the scale of vintage Mason & Hamlin model A and Estonia model 168. If I move up in size, I love the Grotrian 192 and Steinway’s former “long-scale A” and at 7′, I love Schimmel’s K213 and Mason & Hamlin “BB” new or pre-Great Depression. I couldn’t fit anything bigger, so I can stop.
Which pianos are my favorite to listen to…is an easier question, Bosendorfer. I love sitting in the room with different players playing different styles, and I always love the sound of Bosendorfer. I don’t subscribe to the idea that certain pianos are only suitable for certain types of music. A happy musician will pull the music out of the piano.
I will have to have friends to share my piano with friends, musicians and everyone who is a better player than I am. Even though I will never be a great player or even a skilled player (having started so late), I do enjoy fine pianos and find it worthwhile to aspire to such an instrument. I can be a happy piano player.
I find that customers walk into our store with all types of attitudes and expectations. Many are excited about the prospect of buying a wonderful instrument, but almost as many are reluctant to get started for several reasons. Let’s face it, good quality pianos are expensive, and how you go about choosing the right one is a mystery for most of us. This leads to apprehension, feeling foolish about your questions or even fear of being taken advantage of. But I have good news for customers who walk into our store. Not only to we have a great variety of pianos, but the experience you will have here will be helpful whether or not your final selection is one of our pianos.
In order to put our customers at ease, we focus on education. I like to find out what my customers background, experience and assumptions are and then fill in the details. If you come in blind, we are happy to start your introduction to pianos. This isn’t a lecture; you will see, touch and compare pianos as you learn. I worked as an elementary school teacher while in college, so don’t be afraid to ask the “stupid questions.” I think good educators are inherently entertaining.
The goal here is to help you make music, to problem solve with the many resources that we have after a lifetime devoted to the business, and to find the right instrument. For myself, I take the role of teacher and matchmaker which gives me pride in my business.
If your desire is to better appreciate the variety of instruments, we can cover that. If you are more interested in learning about the inner workings, we can tour our restoration facility and see nearly every stage of piano building. We’ve even had piano teachers arrange field trips for their students. And if you have limited time to shop, we can fast forward your process. We know what we’re doing and nearly all our business is direct referrals from satisfied customers, piano teachers, and technicians who trust us to take care of their customers. You may drive by a piano store on your way to work or hear an ad on the radio, but when you ask the people you trust, see what they say about PianoWorks.
We never know what Sunday brings to our business. Even our front door says, “Sundays ~ by Appointment” though we only close on Sundays in July. Some Sundays, we field a few phone calls and sell some piano sheet music, and on others, we feel overwhelmed with customers. Two families will be trying pianos while a third will wish to visit our downstairs showroom, someone else will need assistance with metronomes or digital pianos all while directing visitors to our recital hall. It’s a good problem to have, but it is a problem.
Were Sundays more predictable, we would have these staffing issues solved. We have great people, but in this economy, we choose to stay lean. Today, like most Sundays, we hosted a piano recital for a local teacher. I should say for a clan, really, as today we had a family of piano teachers. We get to know three generations since the grandchildren have visited often enough to recognize us as well. The parents show up early and many express gratitude for the recital hall and the opportunity for young musicians to play on world-class concert grands like Bosendorfer and Schimmel. We make friends and take our role in nurturing the next generation of musicians and customers. Sundays are good for that.
Sundays are a tough day to sell pianos. Our method of presenting pianos can take a while because we feel there is so much to learn. Today, like many Sundays, I had customers past close. I find Sundays to be a good day to shop, but with the Sunday afternoon mindset, church obligations, distractions like football, many customers find it difficult to make decisions.
When Sundays are light, it gives me opportunity to plan. I enjoy planning events, considering inventory, reviewing our industry news. Last week, we planned to cycle musical instrument accessories (from our band and orchestra rental days) on ebay and today we got the first of hundreds of items listed. If you are in the market for violin strings or clarinet maintenance kits, there are some good deals there. We’re new to the ebay community. Welcome us.
While you don’t need a Sunday appointment, I’d love to for you to make one so I can share my business with you.
This afternoon, PianoWorks hosted the Winners Recital from the North Dekalb Rachel Howard Sonatina/Sonata Competion. Yesterday we hosted the actual competition…272 contestants, 6 judges, over 20 volunteer piano teachers as organizers and many supporting parents and family members steadily came from 8 am to 7 pm. Here’s a big round of applause for the hard work of all the competitors and the many devoted teachers. Thank you to the volunteers and supporting families.
The overall turnout was great, surprising even. This is the third installment of this biannual event, and the event grew almost 60% from two years ago. This was a good competition as well. Top prize for the advanced group was $400 of the appoximately $3,000 in total awards. In the spirit of the day, PianoWorks added a drawing for $350 worth of door prizes.
North Dekalb Music Teachers Association did a great job of stretching the small entry fee. Other than the cost of the judges and supplies (awards, signs, applications, etc.) they kept the organizing costs down. PianoWorks provided the facilities, 6 judging rooms, 4 freshly tuned grand pianos and 2 upright pianos and a few warm-up instruments + registration & waiting areas. In addition to our staff, the piano teachers came through with at least 10 teachers “on duty” at all times. This allowed the judges to award about 75% of the budget in prize money. Make no mistake, the checks awarded helped motivate the competitors as evidenced by the proud smiles on the winners’ faces.
I witnessed many performances this weekend, and these kids worked hard at their music. I find this wonderful and reassuring to see these values passed on.
01-October-2009
PianoWorks
2805 Buford Highway,
Duluth, Georgia 30096
Attn: Don Bennett
Dear Don,
I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation for the efforts put forward by you and your staff to ensure that the recently identified issue with my Yamaha C3 was addressed. As any company can look good when things always go well, the true measure of an organization is how well it functions when dealing with adversity and in this case, a relatively serious issue. I can categorically state that I have been nothing but impressed with PianoWorks since I first walked into the store over 18 months ago. I continue to be bowled over by the outstanding service and your high level of dedication to customers.
As you know, music is an integral part of my life and the relationship that I enjoy with my piano is very personal. The rapid response to the situation and the generosity of the offer that allowed me to replace the piano with an instrument of significantly higher quality is something that I will not soon forget.
I would also like to note that several members of your direct and associate staff also went significantly out of their way to provide assistance. Specifically, I would like to express my appreciation to Chris who took the time to carefully examine the issue with the C3. It should also be noted that he and his team did an excellent job in removing the C3 and carefully placing the new Schimmel in our home. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Linda who worked patiently with me to ensure that I was pleased with the new instrument. And of course, I can not say enough good things about Harry who is always there to watch out for me.
Again, I am most appreciative of all your efforts and I am nothing but excited at owning such an elegant piano.
Sincerely,
Richard Boulifard
Whenever I look over our showroom floor, I am constantly making evaluations. One key to PianoWorks’ success is our commitment to offering high value products for our customers. Sometimes this means hard choices, but our addition of Casio Privia digital pianos was an easy choice.
We service, repair and restore acoustic pianos; that’s who we are. While we believe that digital pianos cannot replace the experience of a quality acoustic piano, digital pianos have a lot to offer. Their value as starter pianos, as portable pianos and as tools for digital music cannot be ignored, but now I fast forward to our choice of Casio.
Several years ago, we decided to enter the digital piano market. I went to NAMM, the music industry’s largest trade show, with a mission; I went to find the best digital pianos to be starter pianos. I compiled a list of necessary features from several piano teachers but then I shopped like one of our more educated customers might. I wanted the right features, high reliability, a good sound, and a low price. I ran around for two days and played every digital there. I shopped rather than looking at sales figures, market share or profit margin. I took my task seriously. You might buy one. I was going to buy many in the coming years.
There are sooo many digital pianos out there. There were more than a dozen brands that I’d never heard of and nearly everybody makes a good product. There were some brands that had great sound but deficient feel. There were some that had amazing features but would not be accessible starter pianos. Casio emerged. There were several other brands that had all the right features but fell short of the Casio in either reliability, technology, and consistantly in price. Casio offered the most important features for the least amount of money. I think that is one of the listed definitions of Value.
Just a few weeks ago, we received the next installment of Casio Privia digital pianos, the PX-130 and the PX-330. I sold the first PX-130 before it even arrived to a very excited adult beginner. I sold two of the PX-330’s before they arrived, one to a friend and local piano teacher, the other to my aunt, a music minister. I believe in my products. I sold the entire first shipment including the floor demos within two weeks. We’re not Best Buy, these things are fantastic. I pre-sold another before my next shipment arrived to a very excited parent. If you are in the market, go try one.
The highlights for the Privia digital pianos include 88-notes in a scaled-weighted feel (like the real thing), great piano sounds (as well as others), very light weight (PX-130 is just 25 lbs.), and for our most popular offering, a great integrated stand and 3 pedals package making it look and work like a console. Add USB connectivity and some standard digital piano offerings (like built-in metronome) and the value is the best out there.
Reprinted with permission
Last Friday my father picked me up very early and we ventured to Gallatin, Tennessee where Samick USA is located. We had about 4.5 hours of driving ahead of us then a tour of corporate headquarters, their 200,000 sq foot piano and guitar distribution and most importantly the Knabe assembly line. Somewhere in there I hoped to have lunch before driving back later that night. But for now it is early and I’m not a morning person.
Despite my plan to finish my night’s sleep on the ride up, I stayed awake to keep my father company. My father, Don Bennett, is an RPT turned business owner and in the last few years I’ve learned even more about what it takes to have a small business. This day was about that, about trading a day-off for a long day of pianos to learn more for our customers and hopefully translate that into doing better business. We spent the morning discussing pianos, our current sale, future plans. And the drive has a few highlights like crossing the Tennessee River as well as the climb over Monteagle.
Gallatin, Tennessee is about 40 minutes NE of Nashville. The town is certainly small by Atlanta standards and Samick’s headquarters is located in a sprawling business park away from the center of town. Our trusty GPS guided us to their front door of what looked like a stately municipal building except for the compact and intricate sidewalk and landscaping out front. Inside, the lobby is spare, hardwood floors, a receptionist greeted us and tucked under the grand staircase was a lovely Knabe piano.
Jane Jones, Piano Service Manager, greeted us while we waited for Baik Lee, CEO of Samick USA and Mike Sweeney, our Knabe rep, to meet us. I saw their extensive lines of guitars in one showroom as well as some new models they had set up for photos. Baik and Mike joined us in the piano showroom as we saw their different lines: Samick, Kohler & Campbell, Kohler Digitals, Pramberger, and Knabe. I saw an original antique Pramberger, a piano that was featured in a recent Hollywood movie and a Knabe that Ellen DeGeneres picked out. It had a big white handwritten sign on it that said “Ellen’s Piano. Don’t Touch” Dear Ellen, I promise I resisted the temptation. I saw a few prototype Samick uprights with etched glass front panels and a lovely
I also met Roger Jolly for the first time. Roger is a great technician brought in as a consultant by Samick to improve their piano lines overall but mostly to focus on the American assembly of the Knabe grand pianos. He has great excitement and energy, and as an outside consultant he was blunt about some deficiencies of past pianos and specific about the many areas of steady, committed improvement over the last few years. He and my father immediately retreated into their own world of touchweights and voicing. After touring the office and meeting the staff that moves such a large operation, we headed into town for lunch.
After lunch, we headed straight to the distribution center. Calling it a warehouse is inadequate. It is a huge space divided into 3 large but not equal rooms. To the left are mountains of guitars, the middle is stacks of pianos, and to the right is still more pianos in a general prep facility being uncrated, checked, prepped and re-crated. Beside this is Knabe’s assembly.
My immeadiate impression is that this operation is more like a large piano workshop than a piano manufacturing plant. The bodies of the pianos come in and are set on shop dollies and the Knabe crew sets about building the actions and finishing the pianos. They have workstations as well as voicing rooms set up but you get an overwhelming sense of the tremendous amount of hand work that goes into each piano. Instead of CNC machines, you see drill presses, hand tools, nearly all of the jigs are made of wood and piano parts, simple, practical, and efficient only on this scale…5-8 pianos each week. Demand is strong so they have plans to hire and train more workers, but the scale of the “piano shop” can’t be ignored.
For the first time, I saw the new 7’6″ Knabe grand. With Baik overseeing, Roger Jolly shared his charge, to make a piano better than a Yamaha C7 for less cost. The C7 is a flagship model and that is a tall order, but from what I saw, the new Knabe piano is already there with still more improvements to come. They started with a Bechstein scale. For several years, Samick partnered with Bechstein and this scale is one of the results. While full and powerful, the piano still seems to have more European roots than American roots that the 5’8″ and 6’4″ models possess so clearly. The use of US and Canadian woods shades that identity, but Roger admitted that he is struggling with which voice to give the piano. In many ways, these pianos are now his children and he draws his experience from many great piano manufacturers. From what I heard, Knabe has developed another piano that I would want. My father selected a warm and full sounding 7′ model off the line for our showroom as well as a 5’8″ to replace some of our recently sold Knabe pianos. We’re looking forward to displaying them in the coming weeks.
The drive home seemed longer, but then Saturday was the beginning of our Labor Day weekend sale. I think my next visit will see even more steady improvements as this company builds here in America. Only Steinway, Mason & Hamlin and Knabe produce grands here (very notably, Charles Walter builds fine uprights here), so even on a small scale, I was proud to see one manufacterer coming to the US after all the others have left.
PianoWorks opened last Saturday morning earlier than usual. Pulling in at 8:30 am, Linda noticed 15 people camped outside, and by 9:00 am when PianoWorks opened their doors, at least 25 teachers were waiting their turn. What could have made these piano teachers line up like they were waiting for the new Harry Potter premier? Spring Recital Season!
Among the many devoted piano teachers in the area, the early arrivals displayed a competitive desire to book piano recitals for the peak season. August 1 is the day PianoWorks opens its Spring ’10 recital schedule for private events. At 10 am, the phone lines were opened, and before noon, all of the available weekends in April and May were full.
This demand has been growing in recent years. PianoWorks’ Recital Hall has become an integral community facility where hundreds of events are scheduled each year. Last August about 6 teachers were waiting for PianoWorks to open, and this year marks new growth in community awareness and demand. Most of the events are student recitals for their friends and families, but PianoWorks also hosts concerts, senior recitals, teacher workshops, master classes and many judged competitions like Guild and Festival.
PianoWorks is a community partner for so many music teachers that provides worldclass pianos in a beautiful hall acoustically suitable for recording. While many visitors sit back, enjoy the show and take the experience for granted, the majority are very appreciative of the time, work and financial support that goes into creating such a facility.
To those piano teachers who haven’t yet called for Spring ’10 bookings, there are still dates available. Don’t get left out. The PianoWorks staff will be happy to help you plan your next event.
Having been a customer of PianoWorks’ founder, Don Bennett, for almost twenty-five years I highly commend him and his staff for piano sales, piano restoration services, piano moving, and routine piano maintenance in the Atlanta metro area and throughout the United States.
For over two decades I have played professionally at churches and other venues where PianoWorks has provided outstanding pianos (Bosendorfer, Schimmel, restored Steinway & Yamaha). Whether renting an artist piano for events at major arenas or helping my students purchase pianos for their homes, PianoWorks has always exceeded the expectations of all concerned.
For the past ten years I have served as music assistant at Johns Creek Baptist Church in the north Atlanta suburb of Atlanta. PianoWorks has sold and maintained several notable pianos during my tenure at the church: a walnut Schimmel grand piano, two re-conditioned Yamaha grand pianos, several studio pianos and the jewell in the church’s piano inventory – our Bosendorfer Imperial grand! All of these pianos have performed well under very demanding conditions.
PianoWorks’ restoration, service, and maintenance departments are second to none. On numerous occasions I have called one of their service technicians at the last minute to touch up the tuning on a piano prior to an important performance – they have always responded immediately and with utmost professionalism. They have a terrific team of piano movers who have moved my personal piano – a 1913 Steinway Long-Scale “A” with the tender loving care it deserves. Pianoworks provides outstanding service to each customer, from customers who purchase entry level console pianos or digital pianos to world-class performers who demand the finest brands available in today’s market (like Bosendorfer, Schimmel, Steinway & Yahama).
The sheet music and music accessories department at PianoWorks provides all the materials needed for my studio of piano students and their staff provides exceptional levels of personal service. In addition their substantial inventory allows for many options when selecting metronomes, piano lamps, ancillary learning methods, and musical gifts.
Need more information? Check out their website: www.pianoworks.com
We would love to hear from you