Pianos encountered in a recent trip to Vienna
My son said afterwards that the piano was good, but not necessarily better than other model Ds he had played 
(He had just completed a summer piano program in an all-Steinway school.). I thought the piano sounded a bit too bright for my liking.
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I live in Vienna, know the Steinway flagship store and its current manager as well the independent previous "Steinway Austria" label the store was run under. I also know that this store is a 50 meter walk from the opera in one of the most central and tourist overloaded parts of the inner city. Unless you put stringent access policies into effect, that store would be overrun by thousands of people every single day, none of whom have a true interest in buying any of the grands, let alone the Spirio D that clocks in at 296,000 EUR.
I run a boutique piano store in Vienna and my flagship is a pristine and unique Steinway D from 1887, the only one left in its original condition and carefully vetted by a superb technician. I don't do walk-ins and only let people play the piano when they can show a true interest and purpose for renting that piano (It's not for sale).
Vienna has a lot more interesting piano stores and semi-private collections than any other city that I know of, but they don't necessarily advertise to non-buying non-customers. Which leaves the flagship stores of the known brands - and each and every one of them is tired of dealing with tourists wanting to play their pianos without bringing in any revenue.
Edit: Two paragraphs removed by @Mods
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I can see both sides of this.
For a dealer, and would-be buyer of that piano, it can feel like people "free loading" an experience to play a very high quality piano, and if that piano's mileage adds up, it definitely feels "pre-owned" at that point.
For an enthusiast however, it could be an opportunity of a lifetime. It's not everyday you get to play, for example, an Hamburg Model D, particularly if you're from a place like the US. So it could feel like someone- a Steinway sales person for example- blocking them from an amazing experience 
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cheeeeee I thought the piano sounded a bit too bright for my liking.
I'm going to assume it's because it's played all the time, as a recital piano. I've played recital pianos of numerous makes (Steinway Model D, Bluthner Model One, Bechstein D282, , Steingraeber E-272, Fazioli F308, Shigeru Kawai, Yamaha CFX), and they all sounded extremely bright.
What an interesting thread, it sounds like Vienna is to pianists what Graceland is to Elvis fans!
clavierhaus I can see things from that viewpoint - the store owners don't want hordes of tourists dropping by and trying out the pianos, like kids trying out slides in a local park. They are running commercial businesses, not providing a public amenity. No doubt there are ways of discerning potential buyers/renters, and these people would probably get the red carpet treatment and may be given appointments out of hours to try out pianos.
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
clavierhaus Edit: Two paragraphs removed by @Mods
Thanks. I won't bother you with any further contributions to this forum. It's worse than PW if that's the best you can do in terms of interacting with people, i.e. no interaction, no guidelines, no nothing.
Just hiding behind the wall of anonymous "moderators" whose agenda isn't known to anyone, but they run the show. Well, good for you. One more member that won't bother you in the future. Great way to build a community.
Bye.
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clavierhaus I've been overloaded and didn't get to sending you a message yet. I'll get right on it.
Edit: Done.
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Beach L168, Wish, baCh, WOW Petrof, Fake Steinway, VS
TIME
cheeeeee What an incredibly amazing experience! The pictures you shared make me feel like I'm almost right there.
It's good to see a part of the world where there's a vibrant piano community, so much so they aren't wanting for customers. The Steinway store experience parallels a similar one that I've had locally. It didn't leave a good impression on me as a potential customer.
I really really want to go check out Vienna now, but that's very unlikely to happen, so thanks so much for sharing this!
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Beach L168, Wish, baCh, WOW Petrof, Fake Steinway, VS
TIME
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Thank you all for reading this thread. We enjoyed every minute of our fun music experiences in Vienna, and we were grateful to all the people who we had the opportunity to meet during the process. I’m sharing the stories as how we experienced the events and people: It’s meant to be fun, not meaning to complain at all! 
。More to come!
Coming out of the Steinway house, we headed directly towards the Bösendorfer Salon which is less than 10 minutes walk away. Following the GPS, we arrived at the address. Looking up, we were utterly impressed. It’s right at the Musikverein building, the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra! We heard later that Bösendorfer Salon has been in this building for over 100 years.
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We heard music playing before getting through the door. A guy was playing on one of the pianos, surrounded by a small crowd of people, all smiling and with great interest. It was an unfamiliar piece but catchy. We joined the crowd and listened to him play. When he was done, he moved to another piano to play a tune. The crowd followed him and chatted about what they liked about each piano. The music and the people created an interesting ambience that was very different from the Steinway house. If one compares the Steinway house to a Mercedes dealership, Bösendorfer Salon felt more like a Toyota (or maybe Lexus) shop. 
I chatted with them afterwards. It turned out that one of the people in the crowd was the salon manager. The pianist and two others were professional musicians from Brazil. They met the salon manager at their concert the night before, who then invited them to visit the salon. After the piano testing, they hung out in the shop for a little while when the salon manager talked to them about the history of the salon and about Bösendorfer pianos. We eavesdropped and learned some fun facts. They then headed upstairs to see the concert hall. We were not able to follow them, unfortunately .
This was actually the first time that me and my family saw Bösendorfer pianos in real life! With the crowd gone, we were kids back to the candy store again. There were different models of a variety of sizes, and even an antique upright tucked in the corner that seemed to have some historical significance.
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I could see that my son was itching to get his hands on the pianos. I sympathized with him. A sales person was nearby. So I asked him if it’s OK for us to try the pianos. He said go for it! What a jackpot for us! We tried a couple of the pianos in the main showroom and one in the back. Then my son played his new go to piece - Rachmaninoff g-minor prelude - on the concert grand. At the end, he concluded that Bösendorfer was superior to Steinway .
We both liked this special edition the best. The action was smooth and buttery (right word?). We were told that the inside was gold plated. It was priced at a quarter million euros!
Their in-house concert grand. The room was messy at that moment. A piano was sold and the movers were there to pick it up. The movers waited for my son to finish his playing before picking up the rest of the parts.
On the way out, we were in a state of euphoria, feeling like the luckiest people on earth.
cheeeeee If one compares the Steinway house to a Mercedes dealership, Bösendorfer Salon felt more like a Toyota (or maybe Lexus) shop.
Heh... I haven't shopped for a car in a while, what does that mean?
I wanted an Apple Store experience when I went to Steinway, but instead, I had to make an appointment only to get a used car salesman treatment. On the other hand, I absolutely loved the Bösendorfer dealer... it was a great experience and I actually ended up buying my piano there, even if it wasn't a Bösendorfer!
cheeeeee Now that's a candy store!
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Beach L168, Wish, baCh, WOW Petrof, Fake Steinway, VS
TIME
In one place, you feel you are under a watchful eye and you are afraid of touching anything or breaking anything. In another place, you are handed the key to go for it.
cheeeeee I've really enjoyed reading about your experiences in Vienna. The love you have for your son, and the love the two of you have for pianos are beautiful to me. As to the specifics of management attitudes at Bosendorfer vs Steinway, I don't know enough to be sure, but my gut says this is not the same everywhere. I wonder, e.g., if visiting Steinway in Hamburg would be the same. Last, for now, is your comment about the Hamburg D being brighter than NY: again, I wouldn't generalize. I've played Hamburg D's that were not bright and were very nice. I suspect the that it was a matter of prep and taste. How did the action feel to your son vs the pianos at his school? Thanks again for your reminisce.
Pallas Visiting Steinway in Boston is very much as Navindra described. Used car salesman, hard sell.
yep, +1 here as well. in my local Steinway dealer, I went inside. Played a few new Steinways. When that asked me what I thought, I stated I didn't like the tone of those specific ones. His response, "oh! but we can change the tone!" (verbatim). At that point I walked out of the store.
Meanwhile, I went to a Yamaha/Bosendorfer dealer. Played all their pianos for about 3 days straight, with no interruption. Wasn't even looking for a large piano. Ended up getting their Bosendorfer 280VC, which was their nicest one. Received no pressure. Made a decision seamlessly, thanks to their "customers aren't exactly stupid" approach.
