How to buy a piano.
There are 5 steps to buying a piano.
1. Set a budget
2. Decide if you want an upright piano or a grand piano
3. Decide if the appearance or the tone is more important to you
4. Do you want a new or second hand piano
5. Decide whether to buy privately or from a dealer
How to buy a piano.
There are 5 steps to buying a piano.
1. Set a budget
2. Decide if you want an upright piano or a grand piano
3. Decide if the appearance or the tone is more important to you
4. Do you want a new or second hand piano
5. Decide whether to buy privately or from a dealer
Set a Budget
You get what you pay for. A good piano will last a very long time so although it may seem like a lot of money, it will last a lifetime. It's best to get the best piano that you can afford, but if you think you might not proceed with learning the piano, you may want to buy a cheap one to start off with.
Upright or Grand?
Full size Grand piano’s (roughly 11ft) take up a lot more room than upright piano’s, although you can purchase Baby Grand’s that are the same width as upright piano’s and around 6 foot in length.
Grand piano’s look the part. They usually come in the colours of either Black, Brown or white. You can also find some pianos with reversed coloured keys, so the normal white keys are now black and vice versa.
Appearance or Tone?
Do you want the piano as furniture or as a serious instrument? Usually the fancier the casework the older the piano, and the older the piano the more wear and tear. Generally a large upright piano will have a better tone than a baby grand. Many baby grand’s are built more as furniture pieces than quality instruments. Small grand piano’s are normally better as furniture than instruments.
Private or Dealer?
Private
Always get a piano checked out by someone who knows what they’re dealing with. As a rule if the casework looks bad the insides will not have been well looked after either. Look inside the piano, if it is straight strung avoid it.
Ask when the piano was last tuned, if it was longer than 10 years leave it well alone unless you get it checked out.
It is possible topick up a bargain privately for around £100 to £300.. In a higher price bracket small modern pianos can be picked up for between £300 and £1000 second-hand.
Dealer
You will pay more for a piano if buying from a dealer, but you know it’s right and it will come with a guarantee. Anything in a dealership for less than around £400 will not be worth bothering with.
New or Second-hand?
A new piano will give you well over 50 years of use if looked after well and should give no problems. New pianos tend to have sleek modern styling and durable polyester finishes.
A second-hand piano on the other hand will be larger and may need reconditioning but may well have a better tone than the modern counterpart. Second-hand pianos tend to have a lot more character and more interesting casework than modern pianos.
Avoid second hand pianos over 80 years old unless they are reconditioned name pianos.
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