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Has their been a piano that you regret not purchasing because you were not planning on buying a new piano, did not have enough budget, etc.?

I recently came across a Blutnner model VI (190 cm), from 1995. The condition was great, very well kept, hammers and every parts like new. Even, responsive action. It was being sold for 5000 USD (you hardly ever come across anything apart from Petrofs, Weinbachs and Soviet pianos in my country).
I had already had a Petrof upright and had recently bought an Estonia grand 190 (Soviet era) so I missed the opportunity. I regret it to this day.

To calm myself I say that the sound from Bluthner was too meaty and resonant, would have been too much for my small apartment

Also another piano that was spectacular and I had not ever played on anything as musical and melodious before was a Bechstein I met in Germany. I was just walking and could not resist entering the pianoshop I passed by. I did not even ask the price but the tone of the piano I remember to this day and it was miles above compared to lots of Yamahas, Kawais and Steinways they had in that shop.
[video:youtube]https://youtube.com/shorts/FW74j0yROwg[/video]

Yes! When I was piano shopping I played a number of pianos that were above my budget! The ones that stick in my memory include a few new Steinways, a few new Bostons.... Yeah, none of those were within my budget by any stretch of the imagination!

Yes. A Fazioli 212. It was an amazing piano. Shoulda bought it.

Larry.

This is probably not the kind of story you’re expecting, and I’ve probably shared it before, but I’ve been watching for a free or nearly free upright for a learning project.

About 18 months ago I went to look at a 1997 Charles Walter. I’d been watching it on Craigslist, and the price had steadily dropped from 3k down to $1500. It was a very charming piano, and really sort of blew me away. I opted not to buy it, because I was deliberately looking for a junker, something I could poke around in and not worry about breaking or damaging it, and that would not have been the case with such a nice piano.

So, my decision not to buy it was rational, based on my criteria, but, like I said, it was very charming. I have on more than one occasion wish I had bought it anyway.

Too late to edit the above, but this was basically the model.

For some reason I cannot open the image of the Charles Walter piano.

YES... A bitter sweet story.

It was a Mangeot-Steinway parlor grand ca. 7ft 220cm from ca. 1871/72, gone through ebay France ca. 4-5 times. Nobody bade for the beauty. ...

A "whitey swan"; Queen Anne style.

I did not dare to bid for her because my wife was not pleased about the thought that our concert grand would be paired in ying yang style by a "precedessor" or quite similar old grand of another technique epoche.

It was five years only - our concert grand from 1877, with a modern design, and the parlor grand of 1871, old design of the both Henrys... but the parlor with open pinblock, no duplex scale, no sostenuto, and "other" innards i.e. harp.

It would have needed to fetch a Volkswagen bus or another small lorry, to go to Clermond Ferrand, some 900 kms to the south west, fetch the whitey swan and bring it to western Germany.

I had no place for that beauty. Had no idea where to store that fine thing.

It was for 1.000 EUR i.e. around 1.200 USD ... .
<sigh>

The story of the cooperation Mangeot and Steinway can be read in the german Wikipedia. Google translation may help. The official version today is made by the Steinway comp and some book writers who tell that Mr William Steinway had to pull the Mangeot bros. to court for "counterfeiting" Steinway grands. True story is that they cooperated in good will, and then at any time later William and Theodore S decided to make an own piano manufacture - then done 1880 in Hamburg.

Before that time they had a short time piano manufacture in London 1875, and to establish this, they cancelled the Mangeot contract.

But in Nancy seem to have been a lot of Steinway parts..., and the Mangeot bros. decided (or may have been decided) to build pianos from that material, so we have two time slots, an early phase when Mangeot assembled pianos into their cases, based on the contract, and to sell the pianos in France and Britain - and a late phase when they had the contract cancelled and may have tried to set forth piano building with the resting Steinway mechanisms and soundboards. ...

Soundboard...

A soundboard of Henry jr. design ...

There is my motivation to love those pianos: the soundboards made in the "Henry jr." style. I have played some of them, and their sound was all the time of utmost beauty for me. I would LOVE to have one of them, additionally.

But I don't want to lose my wife... ;-)

This white swan, with the case of the Nancy manufacture, was the utmost beautiest of them all.

Interesting, Bernd. A "Mangeot Frères et Cie, Systeme Steinway et Fils" was sold at the last Piano Auctions sale in London, last December. It fetched £1,900.

https://www.konzertfluegel.com/N_steinway.html

Sry german text only. Google translator may help.

Earlier there were pictures from the Mangeot Steinway in Berlin, Salon Christofori. They took out the pics. Text is not quite right as the moving of Mangeot to PAris took place later - at the times of the Steinway Mangeot cooperation they were a piano manufacture in Nancy, eastern France.

Theo Steinway will have had the contacts because his network of piano makers in Europe was excellent. The decision for the Mangeot bros. maybe was positive because they were no big competitors like Erard, Pleyel, Gaveau but a relatively small manufacture of high quality approach.

The Mangeot cooperation had started in 1866/67 in the sequence of one of the european fairs. Edouard Mangeot went to New York City to learn in the Steinway premises (in the 1860 inaugurated big plant 52/53 street) how to fabricate american pianos.

A real Mangeot Steinway has both names in the flap. It has a Steinway harp for which one should know that the harp in these days did NOT YET come from own casting manufacture in Ditmars, because Theo Steinway had started his own casting plant in 1872/73. At a time when I assume that the preparations for the London 1875 workshop were in their way, and the Mangeot cooperation contract may have yet been cancelled by William Steinway.

Then he sued the Mangeot bros. for counterfeiting.

So it was nasty business doing, first a good cooperation, then some "other thoughts", then a IMHO nasty behaviour to kick out the (ex) partners while leaving them (maybe) with a lot of material ordered and delivered - but not yet sold ...

OK it's business. I don't like it. I adore William Steinway for his business abilities but I am a man of honour, would never be able to act in this manner. I would have ended the contract but with the provision that the rest of the material is OK for being built and sold. When I had delivered 200 building sets, I cannot leave my partner with 135 sets unsold. Or there had to do some good cooperation in reselling the stuff, takeover of transportation costs et cetera. No single word in the Steinway diaries but only these nasty wording of "..had to go to court to stop the manufacture of counterfeited pianos..." something like this.

So we were told only the nasty end of story in 1872/73 - not the friendly beginning in 1866/67 when Theo Steinway made friend with the Mangeot Freres.

Known to me are four Mangeot Steinways as I eagerly watched the relevant websites for about ten years. Some tell that there were no bigger amounts of "Building sets" but others say that there might have been ca. 200 parlor grand building sets consisting of a harp, a soundboard and a mechanism. I don't know. The Mangeot bros. to build the cases, to install the U.S. material, to regulate, to sell the pianos in France and Great Britain. That was the initial deal.

The cooperation had started when the first good orders for Steinway grands had come from european customers also, then Theodore might have recognized that it had been a mistake to sell his shares of the Brunswick manufacture to Mr Grotrian jr, Messrs Helferich and Schulz.

That they might need again a European manufacture ... to overcome high import taxes.

I played with a 1864 parlor grand which is in the Seesen home museum, the grand had been ordered by a wealthy Hamburg family and then worked 100 yrs for the Seesen male chorus until ca. 2004.

Same design of "Henry & Henry", the second work for overstrung grands as the first design in 1858 was for concert size, but directly a derivate was done for private purposes in the 7ft size. design was finished ca. 1861.

OT - There is another grand of 1860 I regret not to have bought some years ago, also 7ft size but straight strung... It was offered in Hollywood ca. 2011 and I did not follow up this matter because I had no idea how to overcome the problems of crossing the U.S. custom authorities with ivory keys. It was #3023 I once was interested to buy. Should have cost 20.000 USD. I had the money...

A white elephant of piano history - A STRAIGHT STRUNG STEINWAY GRAND ...)

....sigh... ;-)

That would have been a gorgeous triple of grands ...

1- Steinway & Sons No. 3023 from 1860 in fancy style with "lion feet" - straight strung

2- Mangeot Steinway 1871 in white Queen Anne fancy style with golden lines, bordures ...

3- Steinway Centennial D 1877 ...

... don't disturb....
... author dreaming ...
;-)

iLaw - probably Fazioli is the "last word in perfection" currently?
Retsacnal - I have heard many good things about Walters on this forum. Let's hope another one comes up
BerndAB - I do not really love the sound of the period instruments, but they certainly have other aspects to be very excited about. And the history you just told about the company is so interesting. The idea of having a piano from the company that no longer exists, is already appealing:)

It should just pull into the thread and display.

The Mangeot-Steinway story is an interesting one.

Thanks. Yes, I've heard a lot of good things about CW, and the one I played certainly lived up to the reputation. But I've found the free or nearly free "junker" that I was looking for. I recently drug home an old Baldwin Hamilton studio upright! I say "junker," but I think it has a lot of potential. But it's definitely what I was looking for: an upright that I won't worry about digging into.

There have been some pianos that I regretted not purchasing at the time, but looking back, it was just as well that I did not.

When I got my Baldwin L there was an SD10. IT was a tough decision. I worried the SD10 would be too much for my home. The cost difference was about 6k. I LOVE my L. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE... I only wish it had Renner Action like my Schulze Pollman... Oneday, perhaps I can replace the action...

Not an ABSOLUTE regret, but a regret none the less... sizewise, the SD10 would have been fine in my home. You can see my music room - picture 9. Picture 1 is when we were deciding on the L or the SD10.

https://deniselepardspianostudio.godaddysites.com/pictures

I regret once passing on a vintage Mason & Hamlin upright from 1915. Early 20th century M&H uprights are solid candidates for the honor of best verticals ever made.

I remember following your story when you got your L!
Mainly because I used to live right "next door" in Bonita when I was a kid, so Chula Vista caught my attention.

Hi Neighbor!!!

Haha. We moved away in '69. My mom moved to Coronado when my parents split up, and I spent all my summers there until the 80's when she moved to her hometown in WA state. Since then I've only been back to San Diego once, in '15 to attend a conference, but I arrived a day early and stayed a day late so that I could visit all my old haunts (including the Wienerschnitzel in Chula Vista).