Would you believe that the very first Steinway piano was built in a kitchen? 
Yes, Heinrich Englehard Steinway built it in his kitchen in Seesen in Germany in 1836! You can still see it today at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Over the next ten years, Heinrich built a further 481 pianos, and then emigrated to the US with his family in 1853.
In that year the first piano he built, no. 483, was sold to the Griswold family for $500 and this is also on display in the Museum of Art.
Of course, one of the most popular Steinways that has ever been built is the Steinway Model B and it is 6’ 10½”. A new one is going to cost you $109,000. Steinway pianos contain over 12,000 parts and even today the company turns out just 4.3 pianos a day from its’ factory in New York – about 1,000 a year in total.
A huge number of concert pianists insist on a Steinway, and that makes sense, because it is not the most famous piano in the world for no reason. If you are looking for a Steinway Model B for yourself, then it makes sense to look for a premium pre-owned (PPO) Steinway grand piano which will set you back a lot less than a brand new one.
How Do You Know What You Are Getting?
Even so, you are still looking at spending a lot of money, so you don’t really want to go hunting on Craigslist. If you do that, how do you know what you are getting?
The answer is that you don’t. You could get lucky and find one that has been lightly used but then again it is more likely than not that you could pay a lot of money for one that is almost at death’s door. For instance, it is calculated that the hammers on a new Steinway Model B will last for about 22,000 hours of playing. But how can you tell how long the piano you are looking at has been played?
This is why you need to come to Maestro Bruno at Concert Pianos in the little town of Bowie in Texas. Maestro Bruno has been buying and selling Steinway pianos for the last 45 years. An accomplished pianist himself, he knows what to look for in a Steinway and he only ever buys Model B’s that he would be prepared to use himself. Indeed, over the years, he has bought seven of them for his own use, so he understands them inside out.
If you’re looking for a Steinway, there is only one place to come: Concert Pianos in Bowie, Texas.
