Why is a piano so expensive? One look at this complex instrument, and you should know you’re dealing with an ordinary product.
No matter if you select an upright or a grand piano, there are dozens – hundreds – of parts to make them into the instrument they are. If you open the lid and peer inside, you’ll see they are filled with intricate detail, not something that comes together easily.
If you slap a piano together quickly on an assembly line, you’d know it at the first touch. The sound wouldn’t be right. Even the feel wouldn’t be as it should.
Pianos are expensive because …
- They are made from the very best wood. The wood helps create the sound. And depending on the instrument, the wood has to be moldable to create a one-of-a-kind piano. Have you ever seen a grand piano that lights up the room? Now take a second look at the wood, the way it curves and flows. The way that it glows.
- Pianos are not made from a machine. That means every single piano is made by hand. (Just look at the process used to make Steinways.) It takes hours, days, weeks, to make every single part come together and form our modern day pianos. Depending on the size and the brand, a piano will have over 100,000 parts. And when you’re fitting them all into place by hand, ensuring they come together to create a beautiful sound, the price of the final product rises accordingly.
- Pianos use a combination of keys, hammers, and strings to create sound. Hundreds of strings are carefully aligned inside the body of the piano, each cut to a precise length. They have to be fitted in the right way, and tuned once they are finalized into place. Not only does this take hours of time, but it also takes skill and knowledge to know what to listen for with every key that is played.
- Depending on the piano you select, you’re also buying into the brand. Steinway. Bosendorfer. Chickering. These companies have built up a reputation for having high quality, all of the time. They spend extra time on every piano ensuring it meets certain standards. When you sit down at one of their pianos, you know you’ll make wonderful music, not too bright or mellow, with a full, rich, dynamic range. You have to pay for that. But you’ll also be rewarded with high quality, every time.
