Hamburg - US-based piano maker Steinway & Sons unveiled Wednesday the most expensive grand piano it has ever built: a 1.2-million-euro (1.5 million dollar) instrument with inlays of 40 different woods.

The 150-year-old company, which has a main workshop in the German city of Hamburg, said it took four years to make the piano for a Chinese customer, Guo Qingxiang.

The lid of the model, named the Sound of Harmony, is decorated with a copy of a picture by Chinese painter Shi Qi. Woods used included ebony, ashwood and rosewood. (dpa)