over on ebay, i found a seller who has put up his/her cristofori 185cm grand for sale at 4.3k. i was appalled at how cheap a grand could cost. it's cheaper than a less than 120cm yamaha upright!i thought i needed to know what's the make of it as i've never encouraged any friends to buy a cristofori piano (be it upright or grand). upon further read up, i found out cristofori grands are young chang oem. young chang is a korean piano manufacturer. interesting.
samick makes cristofori's upright.
cristofori is like a paste-over name.
i dropped the seller a sms to find out the age of the piano and price. he/she responded hours later that he/she is selling it at 4.3k and made no reply on the age.
again i messaged to find out the age and if i could arrange to try it.
no response. i guess he/she isn't too sincere about selling. doesn't bother me. because i'm not a big fan of cristofori's pianos to begin with. it was the price i was tempted by.
i had some discussion with dearie last night and he was against the idea of getting a grand. basically he justified that with his measuring tape and rationalised that we had no space at home. we could probably get a digital piano instead. this morning he offered the option of a silent upright or a yamaha u1.
i find silent pianos over priced. digital pianos i'm tempted with..but as i try to think of my experience with the clavinovas at yamaha, i stopped short.
don't you remember that dampered feeling..like the keys were striking against some cloth? remember how you said a digital would never replace an acoustics?
yea, i remember all that. i've been blinded by a new piano craze to recall how sure i was against a digital piano. i only fancy it's silent and recordable functions.
interestingly, as i read into the piano forums, i found a china brand which was repeatedly mentioned -hailun. i read all the possible reviews and faqs there were within the forum on hailun and found the feedback are pretty positive so far. of course it is still not on par with a yamaha/kawai but for its price, the quality is superb for something china made.
i called the singapore dealer of hailun pianos and gathered the prices for all its available grands (4'1, 5'4, 5'10). i was startled by the prices, they were 50-70% cheaper than yamaha ones of the same length. a baby grand(4'1) costs the same as the clp-380pe! waa..u let me choose, i'll take the baby grand over a digital piano anytime!
add 2k i get a 5'4..which is still a fantastic bargain because a yamaha equivalent costs thrice as much. thrice!
i was literally jumping in my seat because the grand dream seems possible now. i could almost feel the piano right in front of me.
but.
i forgot we don't have the space at home. i even tried to google on 'how to move a grand piano into hdb flat'.
i felt like i've fallen from the sky onto the ground with a big loud thud.
i tried to put things in perspective.
first and foremost, space is the biggest constraint. how am i going to find space to house the piano? that's if we threw the dining table out like dearie said. we simply don't have space in our small little flat.
secondly, dearie is right. grand pianos belong to a big space; like whales belong to a sea not a fish tank.
and of course, my playing does not justify a grand. who would use a grand to make so much noise? those who play on the piano should make beautiful music. i do not qualify a grand at all.
lastly, being a scrooge as always, am i ready to spend that kind of money on an instrument? how long would it take for me to earn it back? i am not some ceo of an mnc who gets millions for annual remuneration. do i not remember that i have just taken a part time job to earn more? (based on my part time job's monthly wage, i will need to work part time on every single weekend for the next 2.5yrs to afford a baby grand)
my heart has already sunk into the depths of the ocean.
conclusion: after all that, the only option is to stick with my upright. maybe till we move in another 5-10yrs' time.
the pic shows the hailun hg161.
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