Those Namiki pens are sick. They didn't list a price, but a quick google check gave me a quaint range of $500 to $150,000. Neat. As a pianist, my holy grail is a Steinway & Sons grand piano. The Model D is an absolute masterpiece of engineering, integrity, detail, and beauty. I can go on for a long time about what it takes to obtain the Steinway sound, and how much unmatched care is taken by the company to produce each one. I've had a few opportunities to play on a Model D, most notably at Carnegie Hall. The last thing that I was worried about was how it sounded to the audience. Listening to that thing with the acoustics of a performance hall was seriously a near-religious experience. Goes for about $80,000 new, priceless used.
Gimme a rundown on a Steinway D vs a Boesendorfer 290. 'cuz both of them are way cooler than I'll ever roll but I've had a love affair with Boesendorfer ever since I heard Tori Amos bragging about hers. Also, the music department at my undergrad had all Steinway. My high school had a Steinway. My elementary school had a Steinway. Prolly not Model D's, sure... but there's one dealer in the Pacific Northwest that has Boesendorfer and on a good day, he's got two.
It's the brand and its roots that make the difference, not the individual models. Steinway is American, it dominates the American market and thats why most music schools and colleges will have deals with the company to have all of their pianos supplied. The factory is in NYC (and its so worth a visit), and the "Steinway sound" is produced there, mainly by wrapping a single piece of (birch?)wood around the entire soundboard. It's bright and warm at the same time, its deep, harmonically broad and often referred to as a complex sound. Boesendorfer is Austrian. Its frame is built in (maple?) pieces, vertically right out of the soundboard. It feels a little easier to the touch, has a reliable and loud sound, but its very classical and simple build means you can grasp none of the range, intensity, and complexity that you can achieve with a Steinway. edit: in other words, nobody is gonna get caught playing jazz on a 'dorfer, but nobodys gonna complain about it before they start a Mozart sonata. in my opinion
To fix my edit: nobody is gonna get caught playing jazz on a 'Dorfer unless you're the second coming of Jazz Jesus.
for some reason i commented the same thing 4 times #bugski ._.