...is many things to many people. To a musician, it is a means to an end to acquire an instrument of sufficient quality that:
1) it is an investment in the musical sense – it adds value over a period of time to the ability of the musician to play what he/she wants to play in the way that he/she wants to play it.
2) It is an investment in the monetary sense – the instrument will retain its value over a period of time and in some cases even grow in value.
Whilst the capital cost of an instrument is obviously a critical part of the equation, it is not the only thing that in my view needs to be taken into account.
I have a Martin acoustic guitar that I bought in 1976. It is still played regularly (by my son rather than me) and is still in the same condition as when I bought it. In money terms, it has been valued at 6-7 times the amount I paid for it. One has to allow for inflation of course, but basically I have not lost by buying it, despite the fact that it took a sizable amount of my very limited resources at the time to buy it.
Short term, people thought I was mad. Long term, the guitar has been everything I wanted and more. Friends who bought lesser guitars have long since consigned them to the scrap heap.
The same thing applies to the Stuart. Yes it is a lot of money, but that is only one part of the equation. You have to consider the acquisition of one of these instruments as a long term investment, and when you do this, the piano begins to make eminent sense.
You hear much discussion about second hand (pre-loved, used – whatever euphemism you want) Steinway, Bosenyamaha etc pianos. Why? Because these are ‘cheaper’ than buying a new one. Was buying the new one in the first place a good investment? Consider the following:
• The cost of a 2.9 metre Stuart piano is around the $Aus215K mark (including GST).
• The Sydney Conservatorium (which incidentally has two Stuart pianos) recently bought a 2.9 metre Steinway for around $Aus250K and that didn’t include the cost of sending two people over to Germany to select it nor the cost of transporting it back to Australia. The Sydney Opera House also just bought a new Steinway for the same amount.
• There is a Bechstein baby grand (~1.6 metre, not 2.2) in a showroom in Sydney priced at $Aus225K.
We know of three Stuart pianos in private hands that have been on sold for more than the price that was originally paid. The 2.9 metre piano that Gerard Willems played in his award-winning Beethoven recordings was sent to London last year and sold within three weeks for the same price as a new piano – and this piano was built in 1999. It’s now domiciled in Switzerland in a lovely house with a high roof next to a lake. And it still sounds great.
Now we add in the intangible benefits. My piano is not only for me. Its for my son, and his children, and his children’s children and so on. Its an investment for the next generations and as such, amortised over that period of time, the initial cost is essentially immaterial. I am a long-term investor.
Wayne normally makes a maximum of around six pianos per year, but there are about ten in the pipeline as I write this. There is no production line. Each piano is individually crafted, and no two are identical. No-one else will have a piano the same as mine. It is unique, and will remain so.
Based on our experiences to date, Stuart pianos will not lose their value over time. You can’t say that about any other piano past or present.
Now, you tell me. Which of the above three is the best investment?
Actually, don’t tell me. I know the answer already.