Acoustic piano

How to choose and buy it ?

To buy a piano - call a specialist:

It looks like repetetif, but one more time, the best advise is -  call your piano turner...If you really must choose your piano by yourself, without a tuner, here is some practical advice:

Do not buy a piano that is more than 20 years old or which has been heavily used, such as a rental piano or a music school piano. To know the age of the piano, you can use the serial number. This number is found in the interior or back of the piano. You will find catalogs at piano stores and from piano tuners. For most known brands this information is also found on websites. Useful links:

Yamaha / Bechstein / Steingraeber & Söhne / Bösendorfer / Steinway & Sons /  Other brands

Apart from some very important brands, don’t buy pianos from before the 20^th century. They are certainly very beautiful on the exterior, but you risk great disappointment with the sound quality. Piano manufacturing has made significant progress since those years.

 Don’t buy a very cheap acoustic piano. A good piano commands a certain price. For the top new acoustic pianos, low-end pianos below £2500 are not recommended. At these prices one will find used instruments more interesting pianos.

For an upright piano two types of mechanical workings are significant: Renner and Yamaha. To determine which type of mechanic is in the piano, open it and look for the manufacturer’s inscription. For Yamaha pianos the most interesting models are U1 and U2. It is possible to find very good used pianos with these models. The U3 pianos have a slightly heavy mechanic.

 Some practical tests for choosing a piano:

-        Try to play very softly to see if you can get very soft sounds. Then more and more loud, you can distinguish at least a dozen sound possibilities with the same key.

-        Lift the cover off the piano and look at the crossing of the ropes. This crossing corresponds from E to E flat. The sound should be pretty close between these two notes. This test checks the regularity of the piano.

-         Test the repetition of the notes: repeatedly press a key very quickly. The key should not stick and the repetition should be clear.

 How to choose and buy a piano?

What piano to buy? When? For how much?

Piano for beginners:

You have decided to learn piano, you are starting the course. The first two months of the course, you can attend without buying an instrument. That will enable you to evaluate your motivation, your time, and your desire for the investment. Afterwards, surely, it will be essential to acquire an instrument.

It is easy to find beginners’ electric pianos in the classifieds, on Ebay, and at piano stores. A used electric piano should cost around £ 500. There are better designed, higher quality pianos: for those you must enquire at your local piano store. Of course, your initial investment will be greater, on the order of 1000-1500 Euros. Electric instruments present the advantage of having a small size and a quiet working which are beneficial in an apartment; and also they don’t need to be tuned.

 There are also acoustic pianos with a silent system. These are relatively expensive. In all cases, it is better to buy a factory-installed silent system rather than to have one installed after buying the piano. 

Pianos can also be rented.

How to choose an acoustic piano:

The ideal approach, when choosing an acoustic piano, regardless of whether it’s an upright piano or a grand piano, is to call in a professional. That is, a piano tuner. She or he will be independent and can give you indispensible advice. This service has a very reasonable cost and you will avoid spending sometimes thousands of euros on a piano that is not worth it. This is valuable for used pianos as for new ones, and even for pianos sold in a shop.

Avoid ordering a piano from a catalog. The piano is a very subtle instrument. Within the same brand and range, the differences in sound are very important. Each piano has its own personality.

 Also note one peculiarity: your instrument will need to evolve with your skill in piano. At a particular moment you will be confronted with the need to sell your piano before buying a better quality piano that responds better to your interpretation needs. A piano bought new will rapidly lose a part of its value (up to forty percent in the first two years). A used piano carefully chosen can bring the same price and in certain cases more than its original purchase price.