Wow, what a day.
So first of all, the ‘bad’ news: During the inspection, it turned out that there are several cracks in the bass bridge double (hope that's correct englisch; Bassstegdoppel in German) and the wood itself has already ‘moved’, if I understand correctly (see photos). This has no effect on the sound at the moment, but it definitely won't get any better, and if it gets worse (not necessarily, but possible) a repair of currently around €2000 will be due. Apart from that, it hasn't increased my confidence in the build quality or the local conditions of the piano so far. I don't know how I could have missed this - I guess I just didn't expect it to happen to such a young instrument at this price. Interestingly, only a short time ago someone described in the pianoworld forum that cracks had appeared in the double bass bridge of his new (!) R124 - these were of course repaired under warranty. The spots in the soundboard that I reported are not yet cracks, but here, too, they could potentially become cracks if the piano is kept dry. As I suspected, some of the bass strings are already deaf (here too: Question marks regarding the manufacturing quality of an 18 year old top instrument).
The tuning pins were good and stable, the tuning evenly dropped. Action good, but also tough as I wrote, cost of regulation 300-400€. All in all a nice piano according to the piano technician, but the very good price is relativized by the defects and ‘only’ a good price. He told me to sleep on it; he didn't advise me against it per se, but that I just have to take these things into account. I realised straight away that I wouldn't buy it because of the defects. If I spend €9,000 (that's what it would have been with transport, tuning and regulation), everything has to be fine, that's it, my gut feeling has to be right and such a young instrument of this class shouldn't already have such defects in my eyes, at least if I spend a lot of money on it. It was already outside my feel-good budget anyway and then everything should have been right. A potential total of €11,000 is simply too much for me. In this respect, I was able to make the decision against the Bechstein quickly and easily.
And in another place further to the left.
So at this point, I'd like to thank you once again for advising me to get a professional assessment!
Then the good news: I spontaneously went to the piano technician's shop because I had seen that he had a very nice Pfeiffer piano 116 from 1983 in walnut and was selling it for around €7200. I wanted to have a look at it anyway and as the Bechstein was very close to his shop I wanted to take the opportunity. And, what can I say - it clicked straight away and that's what it turned out to be. I realised: this fits, this is what I want! Wonderful warm and clear, but round sound, very precise and smooth action, precise pianissimo playing, plus what I consider to be a very beautiful, tasteful and warm look, a very appropriate size for my 12 square metre room, the price, which for me is much more within my feel-good budget - and the extremely likeable piano maker, who made me feel very comfortable. Pfeiffer enjoys the reputation of being the very best in upright pianos and the piano technician could only confirm this and was full of praise for the quality of workmanship of Pfeiffer pianos. "Der schwäbische Steinway" is a saying in German. We agreed on €6400 including transport, tuning, a matching piano bench and a 5-year guarantee as well as one or two wishes regarding intonation and regulation. I'm really very happy and satisfied! 😊
Wohoooooooooo!
