Piano Ratings

Pianoforte is an Italian term which literally translates loud soft, is today what we simply call as the piano. Piano was invented in 1700 in Italy by a harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori and has been around for more than 300 years.

During the 1800s, many improvements and inventions were made to the piano. The creation of the upright piano, modern piano action, cast-iron plate, extended the range of octaves, duplex scaling, cross-stringing and etc. Although many changes took place, pianos made today are not very much different than those in the past.

Piano is a complex machine and is made largely of wood with over 10,000 moving parts. Just as every person have a unique voice, different pianos have different sound qualities. This is largely due to 3 basic combinations of piano building; the scale design, the type of materials and the level of workmanship. Thus no pianos are better than another in terms of tone and touch except that they are different.

Therefore, when choosing a piano it is very important to pick based primarily on the tone and touch you like. So make sure you play as many pianos prior to purchasing it.
 

Tier I – Highest Quality Performance Pianos

These pianos are built to the very highest quality using the finest materials and emphasize high attention on hand work in the manufacturing and refinement details. Many of these piano manufacturers have a very limited production. These pianos are for those who wants "the best" and can afford it.



One very widely recognized author, Larry Fine of the “The Piano Book” calls it “the highest quality performance pianos”. There are only a few pianos that fall in this category and these include the Bösendorfer we sell. The grand piano takes over a full year to produce and it is spectacularly well finished inside and out and a dream to play one.

Mostly pianos fall in this group are made in Europe and America.
 

Tier II – High Performance Pianos

These pianos are built to a standard promoting high-performance features, best selected materials and impeccable workmanship and these include the Petrof we sell. Pianos in this group are excellent instruments, which perform and sound at very high level and made of enormous hand work set into refining the tone and touch.



The price different is substantial as compare to the "Tier I" pianos yet very small different in quality thus making these pianos a great value for those who can afford for “almost the best”.

Mostly pianos fall in this group are made in Europe and America, few higher-quality models of WAGNER (Euro-Edition) and few higher-quality models from Japan.
 

Tier III – Better Quality Consumer Graded Pianos

These pianos are manufactured using premium raw materials emphasize more of equal weight to economy and performance. Majority are mass produced with great attention on the detail and very consistent from start to finish. These pianos are very much suitable for home and institutional and these include the Wagner and Hailun we sell.



Most beginner and moderate level of pianists are happy with this level of pianos. Depending on the models, some Japanese and Korean pianos are in this group.

Beware of recond pianos imported from Japan. These pianos are not comparable to any new pianos in this group other than look new and having the "brand" on the fallboard.

Mostly pianos fall in this group are made in Japan, Korea and few higher-quality models from China.
           

Tier IV – Medium Quality Consumer Graded Pianos

These pianos are built in view of more economy than performance, which are entry level beginner's pianos. These pianos can vary very much in quality and playability and majority are Chinese pianos. Depending on the models, some Japanese and Korean pianos are in this group.

Pianos in this category can be viable alternative to the recond pianos imported from Japan. A piano which have been heavily used is never comparable to a new piano of the same brand.

Mostly pianos fall in this groups are made in China and Indonesia.
 

Tier V – Economy pianos

Pianos that fall in this category offer minimal refinement of touch and tone, required great attention on the preparation by the dealers before sale.

Mostly pianos in this category are made in China and countries of the former Soviet Union.