Anybody heard of Becker pianos?
Ian Mercado
offering to sell us a Becker upright for $2200 shipped/tuned/etc. He
says the reason we've never heard of them is that they just started
importing them from East Germany/Russia. Supposedly, the quality is
good enough (given the price range for that particular model).
Has anybody ever heard of Becker, and can they reccommend on for this
price range ($2000-$3000)?
Any info would be appreciated.
Ian
Les Smith
: We were shopping yesterday for new pianos, and the salesman was
: Ian
Any piano you buy is going to be with you a long time. So the question
is not just how does it look and sound on the showroom floor TODAY, when
it's in top comdition, but how is it going to sound and play and look
10, 15 maybe 20 years down the road. If you're buying a name brand, some-
thing that's been around for a while, one way to determine this is by
looking at and playing their older instruments. However good that Becker
may look and sound TODAY, you have no way of knowing how it will hold up
over the long term. What you DO KNOW is that when instruments like Kawai,
Yamaha, Young-Chang and Samick first started coming in the states they
had a multitude of problems, bad pinblocks and soundboards, sticking and
sluggish actions, warped case parts, poor tone-quality and the inability
to hold a tune. These problems didn't necessarily show up the the dealers
floor when they were new, but they developed within a very short time after
the pianos were sold. It took Yamaha, Kawai, Young-Chang, Samick and others
YEARS to get these problems under control and some of them are STILL working
at it. All of which is to say that when you're buying an unknown brand of
piano without any established track record of how they will stand up over
time, you're taking a BIG chance. I would suggest that you might want to
look at something that has already proven itself over the years.
Les Smith
less...@buffnet.net
Ty Fairchild
wrote and I quote:
:We were shopping yesterday for new pianos, and the salesman was
:offering to sell us a Becker upright for $2200 shipped/tuned/etc. He
:says the reason we've never heard of them is that they just started
:importing them from East Germany/Russia. Supposedly, the quality is
:good enough (given the price range for that particular model).
:
:Has anybody ever heard of Becker, and can they reccommend on for this
:price range ($2000-$3000)?
:
:Any info would be appreciated.
Haven't heard of Becker per se, but I have had experience with pianos
from both East Germany (of old) and the USSR (of old). Suffice it to
say that IMHO they rank right down there with migraine headaches and
excessive stomach acid. To be the most conservative, I would suggest
that you consider brand names that are more universally known and
which have a proven record of acceptable service history. OTOH if you
wish to proceed on a roll of the dice, go for it; it could work out
quite well.
--
==========================
All Rights Reserved To Post Flame Email
Ty
"Pain validates life." Tudor Williams (1941 - )
Rykk L. Viergutz
>
>Has anybody ever heard of Becker, and can they reccommend on for this
>price range ($2000-$3000)?
>
>Any info would be appreciated.
>
>Ian
About 3 years ago, a salesman told me that Becker was the best selling
Piano in Europe. I really don't know much about Becker pianos but I
think they are made by Kimball..
Ian Mercado
>On Mon, 19 Feb 1996 01:20:28 GMT, ia...@servantis.com (Ian Mercado)
>wrote and I quote:
>:
>:Has anybody ever heard of Becker, and can they reccommend on for this
>:price range ($2000-$3000)?
>:
>Haven't heard of Becker per se, but I have had experience with pianos
>from both East Germany (of old) and the USSR (of old). Suffice it to
>say that IMHO they rank right down there with migraine headaches and
>excessive stomach acid. To be the most conservative, I would suggest
>that you consider brand names that are more universally known and
>which have a proven record of acceptable service history. OTOH if you
>wish to proceed on a roll of the dice, go for it; it could work out
>quite well.
Well, after talking with my wife we've decide to roll the dice. We
feel a bit better knowing that we get a 5 year price guarantee (if we
want to trade up) and a 10 year warranty. Also, the dealer that we're
purchasing from has been supplying our church for almost 50 years.
Hopefully these factors help to relieve a lot of the potential risk on
purchasing a piano brand that is relatively unknown.
Comments/opinions about price guarantees and warranties? I'm still
certainly listening!
Ian
ba...@uni2a.unige.ch
> The dealer in St. Louis that I have been going to recently has a couple
> of "J. Becker" grands on the floor.
>
> They look like ~5', maybe 5'3, and their "sticker price" is $4,995. The
> salesman told me that they are imported from Russia, and the
> manufacturer gives NO warranty. Evidently this is common for products
> from Russia. Anyway, that is his reason for the apparent "used" price
> on a "new" piano.
>
> My cursory visual inspection of these pianos did not lead me to believe
> that they had much quality control in their manufacture, at least in the
> "fit & finish" department. I noticed lots of misaligned parts in the
> cabinet, as well as a general low-quality look.
>
> I admit that I didn't play the piano, so I have no opinion of the action
> or the way it sounds.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
>
> --
> Matt Cleland email: cle...@sgi.com
> Systems Engineer vmail: (800) 326-1020 ext: 57756
> Silicon Graphics, Inc. tel: (314) 213-7000
Les pianos Becker sont d'excellents pianos russes , j'ai joué un grand concert
qui a appartenu à Rachmaninoff, en Suisse. Leur sonorité
ressemble aux Bösendorfer.
Matt Cleland
Paul Smith
>offering to sell us a Becker upright for $2200 shipped/tuned/etc. He
>says the reason we've never heard of them is that they just started
>importing them from East Germany/Russia. Supposedly, the quality is
>good enough (given the price range for that particular model).
>
>price range ($2000-$3000)?
>
>
>Ian
Hi Ian,
I was in the Becker factory 4 times (hired as a consultant). The quality
improved with each visit but still falls behind Korean and certainly
Japanese standards. They are producing the best upright pianos in Russia
from what I could see. (I visited 4 factories in total).
Personally I would look at Korean if you can afford to pay a little more.
Paul
>
Les Smith
: In article <4g8j5j$3...@moe.cc.emory.edu>, ia...@servantis.com says...
: Hi Ian,
: Paul
: >
Good advice, Paul. The Russian pianos I've seen, some of which weren't
meant for import to the US, looked good on the outside, but when you
looked inside you found actions that looked like the very worst we had
to offer during the 50's and 60's: loose, buzzing windings on the bass
strings, mis-aligned hammers, leaking dampers, sluggish, unresponsive
actions, etc.. They still have a LONG way to go to catch up to even the
Koreans, who, themselves, are still trying to catch up to the Japanese.
And who wants a warranty that says they'll fix it for free, if you'll
pay for the cost of returning it to the manufacturer! In Russia! :)
Les Smith
less...@buffnet.net
kaygo...@gmail.com
> We were shopping yesterday for new pianos, and the salesman was
> offering to sell us a Becker upright for $2200 shipped/tuned/etc. He
> says the reason we've never heard of them is that they just started
> importing them from East Germany/Russia. Supposedly, the quality is
> good enough (given the price range for that particular model).
>
> Has anybody ever heard of Becker, and can they reccommend on for this
> price range ($2000-$3000)?
>
> Any info would be appreciated.
>
> Ian
