We were in the market for an upright piano and, seriously, we were NOT looking forward to dealing with trying to find the right one. Especially since neither my wife or I know how to play! We just felt too vulnerable to misinformation, both from online websites and at the stores.
So we went into Music Exchange with a VERY skeptical attitude!
What happened over the next hour was refreshing, educating, comforting and gratifying. The person that came to help us was Richard Olsen, the store manager. Richard did not display ANY of the traits of a salesperson! This is just my opinion, but I don't think he cared if we bought a piano or not! That is how non-pressure our experience was. Totally refreshing!
Richard launched into the incredible and detailed history of Yamaha pianos. Without belaboring any particular area of Yamaha history, he elucidated all the pertinent facts, not hype or BS, regarding how Yamaha has come to produce a high quality piano; even throwing in how the later manufacturing of Yamaha motorcycles has affected the design of their pianos. Very educating, not to mention intriguing story!
I discussed many ancillary issues with Richard such as matching the piano size with our room acoustics, the need to be able to play silently, our music taste, what we wanted to accomplish with the piano and additional areas that Richard pointed out as being important when purchasing a piano. Richard made many of his points by physically taking us into different rooms and giving us examples of what he was verbally explaining. Very comforting indeed!
When we started honing in on two or three pianos we were considering, Richard played them for us so we could hear the differences. Then he showed us the many features; I don't mean he talked about them, he physically showed us; from opening the piano tops and plucking strings to plugging in headphones to showcase the silent feature. So we settled on a piano, settled on a price, paid for it and excitedly waited for it to be delivered in 3 days. A very gratifying experience as we have purchased the piano we wanted, even though we did not know exactly what that was when we walked into the Music Exchange store.
I also want to mention how sweet the woman was that was dusting off the pianos while we were there. She had a great sense of humor.
I also want to say how impressed we were with the three people that brought our piano to us and set it up. They arrived in the evening and did not exhibit any sign of fatigue, even though I knew it had been a long day of delivering and setting up pianos. They were totally professional, courteous and thorough.
If you are in need of a piano and do not know exactly what you want, go see Richard at Music Exchange; you will not be disappointed and you WILL come out knowing much more about pianos! read more