PIANO THE MEDIUM:

The better the piano, the better these following things will be accomplished.

The goals of a piano:

Superior Sound                                
Superior Sustain
Superior Clarity
Superior Dynamic Range
Superior Tuning Stability
Superior Touch Response
Superior Durability
Superior Application

Definition of Tone

Attack
Body
Sustain
Decay
Focus

PIANO THE MACHINE:

The piano is a machine.  Physicists and material scientists agree with musicians that a good piano is the one in which transfer of energy is the most efficient. Quality of materials, design, and craftsmanship affect how well energy transfer is accomplished.  The potential for the piano to respond with the greatest efficiency at the hands of an artist determines the quality with which the instrument is considered to be.

As design, materials, or craftsmanship are compromised, so is the efficiency of a piano or any machine. Changing the recipe to reduce the price changes the taste of the pie. It can be stated quite succinctly:

Good Recipe-Good Piano   
Poor Recipe-Poor Piano
The piano being a machine must do certain things to work properly. Those things are actually very simple.  Not easy, but simple.  If one follows the recipe, a good piano will result. When a manufacturer determines that for reasons of price some part of the equation must be compromised the result is varying degrees of quality. Salesmen use this to obfuscate the facts thereby deceiving customers about the true quality of many a piano.

PIANO THE HISTORY:

Since Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the principle of escapement in the piano 300 years ago, no other musical instrument has influenced the course of musical history more dramatically. The piano transcends race, religion, culture, age, and musical style.  No instrument is more universally acknowledged than is this magnificent invention. No other instrument is used in so many different ways.