Why Steinway Grand Pianos Are So Expensive | So Expensive

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

Channel: Insider Business

Views: 7,432,838

Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, Steinway, So Expensive, Pianos, Music, Musical Instruments

Id: mnquWUItsVM

Length: 8min 30sec (510 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 14 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/codewarrior128]

This was fascinating, thank you for sharing.

[u/the-midnight-rider69]

Thanks op really incredible video