Jump to content

How much does it cost to make a piano?


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Materials

Man hours

Transport

R&D

Infrastructure

Administration

Electricity bills

Customer service

 

The stores have to make a profit too. They make as much, if not more, on each piano sold than the companies that produce them. The same thing applies to the stores (employees, administration, building rent, electricity bills, etc.). And they have no choice but to make a bigger profit on each product since they sell a lower amount of products than an electronics store).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I am talking about the materials and the effort...


What is the real cost of a piano?


I bet it is less than the half of their retail price.

 

 

Your question ignores the sales and distribution chain. After a piano is manufactured, there is a cost to ship to a distributor or store. Then the store costs are involved.

 

Your question also ignores overhead costs at the manufacturer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

In the apparel industry, the wholesale price is usually about 200% of production costs, and retail price is about 250%-300% of wholesale price. So basically, the final price is about five to six times the production costs. I don't know if this is a general rule across all retail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

According to this book, it takes eleven months to make a Steinway concert grand piano from forest to finish. I'll bet my cheapo spinet didn't take that long.

 

Interesting thought: a Jupiter 8 would sound exactly the same, whether lovingly assembled by hand one at a time on a master technician's bench, or mass produced in a Shanghai sweatshop. But acoustic instruments still benefit greatly from the efforts of craftsmanship.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Don't forget the ridiculously specialized equipment that is required to build a piano.

 

 

Once upon a time, when pianos were standard equipment in most homes and canoes were the dominant form of inland watercraft, small companies could buy components (the action, the keys, cabinet parts) and assemble them in relatively small local factories. The quality of the piano would depend on the quality of the parts and the expertise with which they were assembled. I doubt that sort of thing is possible these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I bet it is less than the half of their retail price.

 

 

Of course it's less than half...the rest of the price is for shipping, inventory, advertsiing and marketing, etc. plus the markup above wholesale for the dealer to make his profit.

 

A lot of musical instruments wholesale for about 50% of MSRP. I don't know if pianos wholesale that low but it gives you a rough idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Making a piano involves 1000s of secret methods passed down from generation to generation. Watch the documentary The making of Steinway L1037. If you attempt to reinvent how to make a decent piano, prepare to make 100's before you get anything half decent. Unless you train under a seasoned expert.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Now I'm all curious: Danuniversal, what's your motivation behind these questions? Are you thinking about building pianos? Why?

 

I was thinking what could I do in the future with my future wealth...

 

Of course I do not have that money now, but I was wandering what could I do if I got enough money...

 

Just curiosity. :wave:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...