We all have "the one that got away." I have two:

Affordable: a Pleyel 190 grand, from the same store where I bought my Pleyel upright. Lovely piano.

Not affordable: Brand new 6-7 ft Shigeru Kawai. What a gorgeous piano. I went to play another unattainable piano (August Foerster) but was totally blown away by the S Kawai.

Piano shopping is fun! (Keep saying that to yourself)

The nicest piano I ever played was Kenny's Mason Hamlin BB. I don't really play piano but I could play that one. Magic!

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The pianos that I think are wasted are the ones that nobody every plays.

I agree, MA!

Re your piano's suspected voicing, that's an interesting thought!

Nina,

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Piano shopping is fun! Smiler (Keep saying that to yourself)

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Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Cant wait to retire next month. I plan to devote at least an hour a day to my piano.

Well I cannot endorse or diss the piano playing plan because I haven’t played in years. I can however enthusiastically recommend the retirement gig!!

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Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Cant wait to retire next month. I plan to devote at least an hour a day to my piano.

Easier said than done, in my experience.
Have been playing again over the last three days. Hope I can keep it up.

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Originally posted by Nina:
We all have "the one that got away." I have two:

Affordable: a Pleyel 190 grand, from the same store where I bought my Pleyel upright. Lovely piano.

Not affordable: Brand new 6-7 ft Shigeru Kawai. What a gorgeous piano. I went to play another unattainable piano (August Foerster) but was totally blown away by the S Kawai.

Piano shopping is fun! (Keep saying that to yourself)

Have been very impressed by the S Kawais.
Have a K Kawai I am happy with, but...

I'll go ahead and say it out loud...

Most, if not all decent techs know the "how-to" part of regulating and voicing a piano. It is rarer to find those that are really gifted in both of these things that allow a piano to reach its full potential. (nah, I'm not one of 'em, but I know in town who I can suggest my discerning clients call!) Sadder are the techs that don't realize their own limitations and insist they do the best work...

Honestly, most clients couldn't care about paying more to get a more responsive piano, but if you are lucky enough to be in an area with a lot of techs, and looking for higher-level work, don't be afraid to ask around to find the upper tier techs! (Colleges, churches, symphony, piano stores and piano teachers are a good place to start...)

Ron, I would definitely want to find some references and/or examples of other work if I were asking for some significant work to be done.

First I need to get a grand though...

SK,
What you must do is find out who is the technician who prepared that particular Steinway M. That is the person responsible for what you experienced.

Then have him be your technician.

OK, now i read everyone else's comments and of course ron is already onto what i said.

two hours is not that far away for a tech to travel to work on a piano for someone who really appreciates what they do.

most people have no idea what their technician does, and don't even play their piano. you, however, would be a technician's dream client because you can hear what he did. and you were moved by it.

this is like dating. it's harder to find the right tech than the right piano.

i'm serious. find out who this is, and call them. tell them you fell in love and you can't afford that piano, but you want to buy a piano that can do what that M did to you.

he'll be glad to get that call.

I do plan to get the tech's name. We're going to visit that Steinway dealer again and I'll ask then. Otherwise maybe I'll just call and ask the salesman. I think he liked me - even though he said he used to work for Kawai right after I spent 10 minutes going on and on about how I didn't like the Kawai carbon fiber action!

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Originally posted by ShiroKuro: I think he liked me - even though he said he used to work for Kawai right after I spent 10 minutes going on and on about how I didn't like the Kawai carbon fiber action!

Have a knack for doing things like that myself.

Also, Shigeru Kawais have that carbon fiber action.

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Also, Shigeru Kawais have that carbon fiber action.

Really?? I wonder if the SK action is the same as the action on the under 6-feet Kawai grands I played last week. That would be surprising. And disappointing. I hated those actions. Did I already say that?

Maybe the action gets more attention in the more $$ models.
I like the action in my GX-2 Blak series, but you might not.

Kawai has transitioned most models, Shigeru included, to use the black carbon fiber action parts for many years.

If you still see wood or pink-ish plastic action parts in Kawai pianos, chances are those are just older pianos.

Even though my personal Kawai is an older model that has mostly wood action parts, I have played many newer models with the black action parts and I like them just fine. But that's just me.