Cost of pianos (was Re: Stephen Birkett in the news)

[Phillip Ford]

>Building a piano anyone can afford
>
>....
>Even when the very best Steinway grand can retail for half a million dollars,

I think this is somewhat misleading.  This would be for something 
like an Alma Tadema art case Steinway.  I don't think a pianist would 
think of this as 'the very best Steinway'.

>  and a lesser brand may suck $130,000 out of a musician's wallet,

Would a Fazioli be considered a 'lesser' brand?

>  the industry has been collapsing.

I will agree with this.  I have to wonder, though, if cheaper high 
end pianos will rejuvenate the industry.  There are certainly plenty 
of cheap pianos around now.  I think it's a fair question whether the 
industry is collapsing because of a flood of cheap pianos, or in 
spite of it.  And is it collapsing because of the nature of the 
pianos themselves, or because of more fundamental changes in society? 
The buggy industry didn't collapse because of the lack of cheap high 
quality buggies.

>...
>  The ultimate goal is to come up with a piano that costs less than 
>half of today's high-end products, and "maybe even take it down a 
>good deal more than that," Prof. Birkett says, so that "someone 
>could buy a grand piano who wouldn't even consider it today."

So, would that be half the cost of a half million dollar piano, or 
half the cost of a $130,000 piano?  I wouldn't consider a $65,000 
piano cheap.

But, this raises an interesting question.  Why do pianists think that 
good pianos ought to be cheap?  If you talk to other musicians, many 
of them accept the fact that their instruments are expensive.  A 
violinist looking for a serious violin would consider a $20,000 
instrument cheap.  A $100,000 instrument would be sort of middle of 
road, with the most sought after instruments in the millions.  It's 
not unusual for an orchestral musician to purchase an instrument that 
costs 2 or 3 times his annual income.  They seem to look on it as a 
necessary investment in the tool of their trade.  Pianists, in 
general, don't seem to hold the same view of things.

If cheaper high end pianos are the goal, I wonder if high tech is the 
path to that goal.  You can buy a hand made harpsichord or fortepiano 
for $15,000 - $25,000.  These are made in the old fashioned low-tech 
way, by hand, one at a time.  Why does something cranked out in a 
factory cost 10 times as much?

Phil Ford